Biosphere – vegetation distribution by latitude and altitude
GeographySoils, Biosphere & EnvironmentAges 15–16
Use it with your class: students open it from a link or a QR code, with no account needed.
Next in Soils, Biosphere & Environment
The top strip is a cross-section from the Equator to the pole: vegetation and soil groups change into zones running parallel to latitude, alongside curves of average annual temperature and rainfall. The bottom strip shows a mountain at the chosen latitude: for every 100 m of elevation, temperature drops about 0.6°C, so vegetation belts repeat with altitude just as they do moving toward the poles. Click the cross-section or the mountainside, drag the latitude, elevation or rainfall sliders, or press Play to climb automatically; the data panel shows temperature, rainfall, vegetation type, soil group and the limits of the biosphere.
Lesson: The biosphere and factors affecting the growth and distribution of organisms
What it shows
The biosphere is the thin layer of Earth where life exists, reaching from ocean trenches more than 11 km deep up to about 22 km in the atmosphere. Climate is the main control on where plant communities grow. From the Equator to the poles temperature falls, and vegetation and soils change in zones parallel to latitude. Climbing a mountain gives a similar sequence, because temperature drops about 0.6 °C per 100 m. At the same temperature, rainfall decides whether forest, grassland or desert develops.
How to use
Click the cross-section or drag the Latitude slider to choose a place, then read its temperature, rainfall, vegetation and soil group. Drag Elevation, or press Climb, to move up the mountain and watch the vegetation belts change. Next, keep the latitude in the tropics and lower Rainfall to see forest turn into savanna and then desert. Turn on Show upper and lower limits of the biosphere to see how thin the living layer is.
Parameters you can change
- Latitude 0–90 °
- Elevation of the survey point 0–6000 m
- Rainfall at the survey point 0–3500 mm/year
- Show vegetation belts on the mountain
- Show upper and lower limits of the biosphere
Questions to explore
- Why can two places at the same latitude have rainforest in one case and desert in the other?
- By how much does temperature fall when you climb from sea level to 3000 m?
- How does the order of vegetation belts up a tropical mountain compare with the order from the Equator to the pole?
