EQUATORIAL CLIMATE: FLORA, FAUNA AND MAIN CHARACTERISTICS - GEOGRAPHY - 2025

The equatorial climate is a type of climate that is characterized by high temperatures throughout the year. In fact, the average temperature tends to exceed 27 ° C. The rains are abundant, generally exceeding 2000 mm a year.

It is a subdivision of the tropical climate. It resembles a humid tropical climate because both tend to have high temperatures.

However, it differs from this by the fact that the equatorial climate presents more intense and lasting periods of rain.

This climate occurs in the areas of the Earth located in the Equator, which is the invisible line that divides the planet horizontally.

In this sense, this variant is typical of countries such as Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Indonesia, the Congo, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Madagascar, among others.

Thanks to the abundant rains, the vegetation in the equatorial areas is varied. There are ombrophilous forests (with evergreen trees) and semi-mangrove forests (with deciduous trees).

Main features

- Temperatures are high throughout the year. They generally exceed 27 ° C. Furthermore, temperatures do not usually drop or rise drastically: the range of variation is about 5 ° C.

- Annual rainfall is abundant. The average is about 2000 mm per year.

- Due to the abundance of rainfall, the areas in which the equatorial climate occurs have high levels of humidity.

- There is no differentiation between stations. It is not possible to speak of a period of drought since the rains are continuous throughout the year. In the driest month they fall about 800 mm.

- Thanks to the rains, in the regions with an equatorial climate there are the largest rivers on planet Earth: the Amazon River (in South America) and the Congo River (in Africa).

- The equatorial climate tends to have equatorial forests, which are dense plant formations of great extension composed of large trees. Most of these forests are evergreen. However, there are also deciduous ones.

Equatorial climate and humid tropical climate

The equatorial climate and the humid tropical climate have certain similarities. To begin with, they are both subtypes of tropical climate. Furthermore, the variation in temperature is almost zero.

The difference between these two is that the equatorial climate presents much more intense rainy periods than those of the humid tropical climate: while in the first one can exceed 2000 mm per year, in the second this scale is rarely reached.

In addition to this, the humid tropical climate consists of two seasons: a dry and a rainy one, which do not occur in the equatorial climate.

Flora

The equatorial climate favors the development of vegetation. The equatorial forests are lush and have no distinctive species.

In these plant formations higher plants can be present, such as bamboo, eucalyptus and mahogany. Likewise, there are lianas, orchids, lichens and mosses.

Due to the presence of large trees, very little sunlight reaches the earth's surface. For this reason, herbaceous vegetation is scarce.

There are two types of equatorial forests: ombrophilous and semiombophilic.

Umbrophilic forests

The ombrophilous forests are those that occur in areas where rainfall is abundant throughout the year.

The trees that make up these forests are evergreen, which means that they do not fall.

Semi-mangrove forests

They are those that occur in regions where rainfall is not so abundant. The trees that are part of these forests are deciduous. This means that the trees lose their leaves due to the absence of water.

Despite the fact that the leaves are falling, in semi-mangrove forests there are no seasons.

This is because the trees do not lose their foliage simultaneously, but do so individually according to their resistance to the absence of water.

Fauna

The equatorial climate conditions allow the development of various animal species. In addition, the existence of equatorial forests favors biodiversity.

In the forests there are hundreds of birds, insects, snakes, lizards, among others. With regard to mammals, small species abound, such as mice, squirrels, hares, monkeys, among others.

These animals are the most suitable for life in the forest, since they can move easily among the dense vegetation.

In recent years, the exploitation of equatorial forests to extract wood and mineral resources from the soil has caused many species to lose their habitat. This problem has caused the loss of biodiversity and the extinction of several animals.

Where does the equatorial climate occur?

The equatorial climate is typical of areas near the Equator, which is the line that divides planet Earth into the northern and southern hemispheres. Thus, there are areas with an equatorial climate in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

In America the equatorial climate is typical of the areas that belong to the Amazon basin (south of the continent). Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana and Peru belong to this group.

In Central America a variant of the equatorial climate is found in Guatemala, Belize and Panama. This variant is called the subequatorial climate and is characterized by the presence of abundant rainfall, even during the dry season.

In Africa, the equatorial climate occurs in the areas belonging to the Congo Basin and in the coastal areas of the Gulf of Guinea.

However, there are African countries located in the equatorial strip in which this type of climate does not occur.

Such is the case in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, where the existence of monsoon winds makes abundant rainfall impossible.

In Asia, the equatorial climate occurs in the Malay Peninsula and in the Indonesian archipelago. Continuous rainfall makes the development of large forests possible.

Finally, in Oceania this type of climate occurs in Papua New Guinea.

References

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2. Equatorial Climate. Retrieved on December 7, 2017, from geoforcxc.com
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5. Tropical rainforest climate. Retrieved on December 7, 2017, from wikipedia.org
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7. What is an equatorial climate? Retrieved on December 7, 2017, from reference.com