Detailed Characteristics of Landscape Zones
Tropical rainforest: Extremely dense, evergreen, multi-layered forest. These forests are relatively undeveloped by humans due to their inaccessibility.
Savanna: Grassland area, sometimes dotted with shrubs and isolated trees. During the dry season, savannas are dominated by gray and yellow colors.
Example: The African savanna is home to iconic wildlife such as lions, elephants, and giraffes, adapted to the grassland environment.
Hot desert and semi-desert: Areas with little to no vegetation, often covered in sand, gravel, or stones.
Mediterranean vegetation: Originally consisted of dry, spiny, and hard-leaved shrubs. These areas are now largely used for agriculture.
Steppe: Grassland in warm continental temperate climates.
Temperate deciduous and mixed forest: Once covered vast areas of Eurasia and North America but has been significantly reduced by human activity over centuries.
Tundra: Found in the polar regions in areas not covered by ice.
Ice desert: Permanent ice cover on land or sea.
Taiga: Grows in Eurasia and North America in the cooler variant of the temperate climate. Unlike deciduous and mixed forests, it has not been as extensively cleared by humans.
Highlight: The taiga, or boreal forest, is the world's largest land biome, playing a crucial role in Earth's carbon cycle.