S1 CLIMATE AREAS: REVISION

The spread of people across the Earth’s surface is uneven:

• Densely populated areas are crowded. They have advantages for people such
as the climate being not to hot or cold so food can be grown, there are resources
nearby that people can use and there will also be good jobs and services

• Sparsely populated areas have few people, because it is difficult to live there.
Hot deserts (too hot and dry); tundra (too cold) and rainforests (too hot and wet)
are sparsely populated because they have difficult climates and are mountainous.

What is Climate?

Climate is the average or typical weather a place can expect to get. It is worked out
by measuring the weather for a long period of time (usually over 30 years)

The climate of a place can be shown by a climate graph. It shows both temperature
and rainfall (also known as precipitation)

The temperature is
Highest The range of
shown by a line (°C)
temperature temperature is the
highest minus the
lowest in °C

Lowest
temperature

Highest
rainfall

Lowest
rainfall
The rainfall is
shown by a bar
chart. It is
Months of the year measure in
millimetres (mm)
TROPICAL RAINFOREST

The tropical rainforest has a hot and wet climate. The temperature does not usually
drop below 25°C and the amount of rain it gets in one year is over 2,000mm. It also
gets plenty of sunshine so the weather conditions help plants to grow very tall.

Rainforest Structure The emergents are

the tallest trees

The canopy is a
thick layer where
most life is found

Less light gets through to

the undercanopy

Shrub layer

The forest floor is dark

buttress roots

To adapt to the climate the plants have features such as:

• Buttress roots to support the huge weight of the very tall trees
• Very large leaves to catch sunlight for photosynthesis (how plants produce food)
• Drip tips at the end of leaves to help get rid of the water when it rains
• Lianas are vines which grow up other trees to help reach the sunlight

Why is the Rainforest Hot and Wet?

At the equator, the sun’s rays are usually

directly overhead which means the area
heats up quickly and remains hot.
The rainforest is also a dark green colour, and
darks colours absorb the sun’s energy, so
temperatures are hot all year round.

It is very wet due to a process known as convectional rainfall. The sun rises in the
morning and heats up the forest. Water drops on the leaves (from the rainfall the
previous day) and in rivers, is evaporated into the air. As it rises up, the water drops
cool down and condense (change from a gas to a liquid) forming clouds. The clouds
build up during the day and when they can’t hold any more water droplets, it rains in
the afternoon. This process is repeated every day.
RAINFOREST TRIBES

Despite the hot and wet climate, people do live in the rainforest. These are mainly
tribal people such as the Ticuna in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil.
They live a sustainable way of life, which means they do not cause much damage to
the forest and get all their resources nearby such as water and fish from rivers; wood
and bamboo from the forest and they also gather nuts, fruit and berries. However
most of their food comes from a process known as shifting cultivation

The tribes cut a small plot of land in the forest

(No. 1). The trees which are of no use are
1 2 3 burned to help fertilise the soil. Crop such as
beans, corn, pineapple and manioc are
rainforest
grown, but after 3 or 4 years the soil becomes
infertile and a new plot is made. This
6 5 4 continues until after 30 years or so the first
plot made can be farmed again.

DEFORESTATION

Over the last 30 or 40 years many countries (e.g. Brazil) have cut down lots of their
rainforest. This can help poorer, developing countries to make money and to help
sell things abroad as many of them have large debts

The forest is being lost to activities such as:

• Logging. The hardwood trees e.g. mahogany are sold abroad for furniture
• Cattle ranching. The forest is cleared to create land for cattle to graze on and
produce beef. This is the largest cause of deforestation
• Mining. Minerals such as iron, copper, gold and oil are found in the forest and the
trees are cut down so these can be dug out
• Roads and railways. These are needed to transport the minerals and logs.
• Hydro-electric power. The many rivers in the Amazon can be dammed up to
generate electricity (from running water) to supply Brazil’s cities.

The activities can help bring money into Brazil, they help create jobs for the people of
Brazil and the hydro plants can supply cheap electricity.

For tribes such as the Ticuna, outsiders many bring in new technology to use such
guns for hunting and motor boats for transport. Many of their children now have a
proper education.
THE IMPACT OF DEFORESTATION

Cutting down the rainforest can cause a number of problems.

• The huge range of rainforest species loses their habitat and may become extinct
• Waste from mining can pollute rivers
• With no forest remaining, soil erosion occurs as heavy rains wash the soil away
into rivers, meaning nothing can grow back
• The cures for many diseases, which could be found in the rainforest plants, may
be lost forever before they have been discovered
• Many tribes have been forced off their land (illegally) by developers
• The tribes suffer from “new” diseases that outsiders bring in such as the flu

One of the biggest problems cause by cutting down the rainforest is climate change.
The rainforest helps to control the gases in the atmosphere. It takes in carbon
dioxide,(CO2,) by photosynthesis and gives off oxygen. However with fewer trees to
absorb the CO2, there is more of this is in the atmosphere. CO2 is a greenhouse gas
and it traps more heat in the atmosphere causing the planet to warm up.

Climate change has good points and bad points:

Advantages
• If Arctic ice melts, shipping routes
could go past the North Pole saving
ship journeys time and money
• There will be less icebergs for ships
to worry about
• As areas warm up they may be able
to grow crops for more of the year
• Lower heating bills
• More tourism in some places
Disadvantages
• Sea levels will rise as warmer water
expands and this will flood low lying
areas (very expensive to fix)
• Areas will dry up and have droughts and
crops will fail
• Tropical areas will have more hurricanes
• Some species cannot cope with warmer
temperatures e.g. polar bear and become
extinct
• Ski centres will close down

PROTECTING THE RAINFOREST

There are a number of ways in which the rainforest could be protected:

• National Parks or Reserves can be set up where only the tribes are allowed to
practice their way of life. No logging or mining is allowed
• The government can give bigger fines and jail sentences for those cutting down
the forest illegally
• Replanting areas that have been cut down
• Only picking out the trees that are valuable and leaving most of them standing
• Rich countries could help poorer countries out with their debts by cancelling them
• Rich countries such as the UK can refuse to buy hardwoods from the rainforest. If
there is no demand for it, the forest won’t get cut down