Name: Ibrahim Hussain Nawab

Class: IX

Section: E

Roll no.: 20

Topic: Natural Regions of the World

Sub-Topic:

1. Equatorial Region.
2. Tundra Region.
3. Mediterranean Region.
4. Temperate Grasslands.
Serial Number Topic

1. Acknowledgement

2. Introduction

3. Equatorial Region

4. Tundra Region

5. Mediterranean Region

6. Tropical Monsoon Type Climate

7. Conclusion

8. Bibliography
 Acknowledgement

First and foremost, I thank the Almighty for making me capable to complete this interesting
project. I would also like to thank my mentor, my Geography Teacher, Mrs. Priya Kapoor for
giving such an interesting topic for the project and also for guiding me and for giving clear
instructions which helped me complete this project comfortably. Last but not the least I thank my
family and my friends for supporting me throughout and helping me in doing my research for
this project.
 Introduction

A natural region (landscape unit) is a basic geographic unit. Usually, it is a region which is

distinguished by its common natural features of geography, geology, and climate.

From the ecological point of view, the naturally occurring flora and fauna of the region are likely
to be influenced by its geographical and geological factors, such as soil and water availability, in
a significant manner. Thus most natural regions are homogeneous ecosystems. Human impact
can be an important factor in the shaping and destiny of a particular natural region.

1. Equatorial Region:-
i) Location: The Equatorial Region extends between 0-10 north and south of Equator.

ii) Area: This region covers the area of-

Asia: Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, and the southern part of the
Philippines.
South America: The coastal lowlands. between the Guiana and Brazilian Highlands,

iii) Climate: The climate in the Equatorial Region characterised by heavy rainfall and co
high temperatures throughout the year. The region lies in the Torrid belt. At and near
t Equator, the Sun's rays have a high and incidence which varies between 66% and
during the year. The days and nights are almost of equal duration throughout the year.

iv) Natural Vegetation: The Equatorial region has a dense forest cover known as Tropical
Rainforest or Selvas in the Amazon Basin. The rainforest occupy low altitude areas
near the Equator in South America especially in the Amazon Lowlands, Central and
West Africa, in the Indo-Malay peninsula, and the New Guinea region. These forests
are thick and luxuriant. The trees have broad leaves and are evergreen The vegetation
in these forests shows our distinct layers-emergent lager, canopy, understorey and
forest floor. The emergent layer at the edge of the forest has trees like the kapok and
mahogany which reach up to the height of over 50 meters. The canopy is the top
layer, formed by the crowns of trees which grow close together. The canopy blocks
out sunshine and wind. The next layer is the understorey. Since the light is blocked by
canopy the plants have larger leaves to maximise the light to be absorbed. The bottom
layer or the forest floor has ferns and shrubs as well as climbers. The main trees of
rainforests include ebony, mahogany, cinchona, green Jwart, rosewood, and rubber.

v) Human adaptation: In the Equatorial regions the primitive people practise hunting and
gathering, whereas the advanced ones practise shifting cultivation, In the clearing for
shifting cultivation, crops like topioca, yum, bananas, groundnuts and maine are
grown. Many plantations have been established in the Equatorial regions, especially
in Java, Sumatra, Malaysia, West Africa and Central America The most outstanding
of these plantations are natural rubber and cocoa. Malaysia and Indonesia are the
leading producers of natural rubber in the world, accounting for more than a third of
the world production. Cocoa is most extensively cultivated in West Africa; Ghana
and Nigeria being the important producers. Other crops grown in the Equatorial
regions include bananas, coconuts, coffee, cinchona, sugar, spices, sago, tea, tobacco
and pineapples.
2. Tundra Region:-
i) Location: This region lies roughly beyond 65° North on the northern side of the taiga
region.

ii) Area: The tundra is a treeless polar desert found in the high latitudes in the polar
regions, primarily in Alaska, Canada, Russia, Greenland, Iceland, and Scandinavia, as
well as sub-Antarctic islands. The region's long, dry winters feature months of total
darkness and extremely frigid temperatures.

iii) Climate: The tundra is the coldest of the biomes. It also receives low amounts of
precipitation, making the tundra similar to a desert. Tundra is found in the regions just
below the ice caps of the Arctic, extending across North America, to Europe, and
Siberia in Asia. Much of Alaska and about half of Canada are in the tundra biome.
Tundra is also found at the tops of very high mountains elsewhere in the world.
Temperatures are frequently extremely cold, but can get warm in the summers.
Tundra winters are long, dark, and cold, with mean temperatures below 0°C for six to
10 months of the year. The temperatures are so cold that there is a layer of
permanently frozen ground below the surface, called permafrost. This permafrost is a
defining characteristic of the tundra biome. In the tundra summers, the top layer of
soil thaws only a few inches down.

iv) Natural vegetation: Vegetation in the tundra has adapted to the cold and the short
growing season. Mosses, sedges, and lichens are common, while few trees grow in
the tundra. The trees that do manage to grow stay close to the ground so they are
insulated by snow during the cold winters. Due to extremely harsh climatic
conditions, only few plants can survive in the Tundra. There are no trees in the
Tundra region because of very short growing season of three months and the warmest
month having 10°C temperature. The most common type of natural vegetation
includes mosses, lichens and sedges. Some hardy grasses grow in the more favourable
coastal lowlands.

v) Human adaptation: Northern people found many different ways to adapt to the harsh
Arctic climate, developing warm dwellings and clothing to protect them from frigid
weather. They also learned how to predict the weather and navigate in boats and on
sea ice. On the tundra, human activity includes residential, recreational and industrial
uses Many of the permanent residents of tundra regions are indigenous people, such
as Alaska's Aleut and Inuit tribes, and rely on subsistence hunting and gathering in
order to survive. The permanently snow-covered Tundra region is too cold for the
cultivation of any crop. It is inhabited by a few semi-nomadic people. In Alaska,
Greenland and northern Canada, these semi-nomadic people are called the Eskimos.
They live as hunters, fishermen and gatherers. They derive their food from fish, seals,
walruses and polar bears. They hunt reindeer and other animals which provide them
with milk, meat, fat, skins and bones. They also rear fur-bearing animals on a
commercial scale. However, in the southern part of the Tundra region, new variety of
wheat which has short maturing period is being cultivated.
3. Mediterranean Region:-
i) Location: The Mediterranean Region is so called because the largest stretch of area
here lies along the margins of the Mediterranean Sea. The regions having similarities
with the Mediterranean region are located on the western margins of continents in the
latitudinal belt between 30° to 45° North and South latitudes. Therefore, these regions
are known by the common name of the Mediterranean region of the world.

ii) Area: This region covers the area of-

Europe: The margins of South Portugal. Bulgaria, France. Greece, Italy, Romania,
Serbia, Montenegro (formerly Yugoslavia) and Spain.
Asia: Israel, Lebanon, Syria and parts of coastal Turkey
North America: The coastal California around San Francisco.
South America: Central Chile.
Africa: The coastal area of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and the region around
Cape Town in South Africa.
Australia: South-west area around Perth and southern Australia around Adelaide.

iii) Climate: As the Mediterranean region lies between the Tropical Deserts on the
Equatorward side and Cool Temperate West Margin region on the Poleward side, it
shares the summer drought conditions of the deserts at lower latitudes and rain in
winter. Therefore, this climate region is also known Subtropical Winter Rain Zone or
the Warm Temperate West Margin Climate.

iv) Natural Vegetation: The vegetation here is of deciduous type. It is adapted to

withstand a long period of summer drought. So the trees in this region have long roots
and thick barks to retain moisture in the dry summer months. Short stature, moisture
retentive trees grow here especially citrus fruits. Conditions favourable for vegetation
are - higher intensity of light, moderate amount of precipitation and longer growing
season. The dominant trees in the Mediterranean region of Europe include oak, laurel,
cork, oleander, beech and ash. All these are evergreen trees. Olive is the most
common tree. Eucalyptus, introduced from Australia, is also now commonly found In
Europe, most of the natural vegetation has been replaced by cultivated plants like
orange, lemon and laurel. The North American Mediterranean region is still rich in
flora. There are more dominant species of the chestnut, maple and hemlock The
forests of California are famous for the redwood trees. There are also a large number
of undergrowth plants such as the blue bell. Towards the Polar regions and in
highlands, coniferous evergreen trees are found. Cedar, pine, fir and cypress are the
common varieties. The climatic conditions in the Mediterranean region favour growth
of bushes instead of grasses on the outer edge of forests. Most of the bushes are sweet
 smelling and scattered in clumps. Common species of bushes are lavender, rosemary,
myrtle, and laurel.

v) Human Adaptation: Due to warm, bright summers and cool, moist winters a wide
variety of crops are cultivated in the Mediterranean Region. This region is
particularly famous for orchard farming where a wide variety of citrus fruits like
oranges, limes, lemons and grapefruit are grown. In fact, the Mediterranean regions
accounts for 70 per cent of the world's export of citrus fruits. Besides citrus fruits, the
other important fruits cultivated in the Mediterranean region are olives, grapes,
walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds. The other crops grown in the Mediterranean regions
include wheat, barley, rice, cotton and tobacco.
4. Tropical Monsoon Type Climate:-
i) Location: Tropical monsoon climate is mainly found between 5° to 30° latitudes in
the Southern and South-Eastern part of Asia.

ii) Area: The areas which lies in this region-

Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Southern China, Cambodia,
Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, the islands of Hainan, Taiwan and the Philippines.
Australia: The northern tip of Australia.

iii) Climate: In tropical monsoon type of climate, there are two dry seasons with low
rainfall. For example in India, summers and winters are dry with only little rainfall.
Rest of the country experiences hot and dry summers and cool and dry winters. There
is a distinct rainy season with very high rainfall.

iv) Natural Vegetation: This region is characterised by a wide variety of vegetation types.
Many of the islands and coastal areas have Tropical Evergreen Rainforests. This
vegetation type differs marginally from the Equatorial Rainforest vegetation. The
trees are tall above 60 metres in height. During the summer rains, there is a luxuriant
growth of climbers, epiphytes, ferns and bamboos. Common species of trees include
rosewood, ebony, sisam and bamboo. Some of the trees have broad leaves to give out
excess moisture and to receive more sunlight. Islands in the Indian Ocean, the slopes
of the Western Ghats, western parts of Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu in India
have forests.

v) Human Adaptation: Agriculture is the main occupation of the majority of people in

the Tropical Monsoon region. Crops are grown on small farms in the plains and
terraced hills. Tropical agriculture is dependent on natural rainfall and a large labour
force. The major crops grown in the Tropical Monsoon regions include rice, wheat,
maize, millet, sorghum, gram and beans. A number of cash crops like sugarcane,
cotton, tea and coffee are also grown.
 Conclusion

Working on this project was very interesting. I am satisfied because my purpose has been
achieved and I have learned many informative things from it, like how many regions can be there
on earth and what are their specialty that makes them differ from each other and the areas they
cover.
 Bibliography

I have successfully completed my project by using sources from my school’s Geography Book
which is “Morning Star- Total Geography for Class 9” by Dolly E. Sequeira and Jasmine Rachel
and also I have took some sources from the internet.