Question

Factors responsible for variation
s in vegetation

Answer 1

Answer:  

Factors which influence vegetation

Factors which influence vegetation

There are four major factors which influence the nature and growth of vegetation. These are: climate, soils, nature of the surface, and man. Where the factors are favourable, plants grow well, where they are not, plant growth is slowed down.

Climatic factors

These include temperature, rainfall, insolation and winds.

The most critical of these factors are temperature and rainfall and a proper balance must be maintained between the two for plants to grow well. An example, in cold lands,plants growth is impossible below 6°C no matter how heavy the rainfall is. That is why, in the temperate lands, plants grow well only in the summer when temperatures rise beyond this critical level, but shed their leaves and remain dormant in the winter when temperature drop below 6°C. In the cold tundra region, there is no plant life most part of the year.

In hot dry lands where the temperature is adequate all the year round for plant growth, rainfall becomes the critical factor. In these lands, where rainfall is light and below 25cm per annum, even this little amount is lost by evaporation, so deserts prevail. where it is moderate and seasonal, grasslands occur while heavy rainfall all year round gives rise to forest.