The weather and climate of the tropics, Part 9 - Climate, flora and fauna

Much of this series has covered the weather types experienced in the tropics. Following on from the introduction to tropical climates in Part 1 (Galvin, 2007), this penultimate part describes the major climates and their relationship to the plants and animals of the tropics, including humankind, that have settled in all tropical environments. A map of the climatic zones of the tropics appears as Figure 1. In many places, humans have altered the distribution of plant and animal species; in almost all areas they use plants and animals for food or labour. These changes in turn affect the climate, as significant alterations are made to the appearance of the environment. The zones discussed below are classified according to their natural vegetation, although settlement has often removed this. The climates discussed include those that are only under the influence of the tropical air mass in summer (Galvin, 2007), including those along its poleward limits: the Caribbean, southern USA, northern Mexico, north Africa, southwest Asia, Tibet, central southern China, the southern tip of Africa, northern Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Paraguay, southeastern Brazil, northern Chile and parts of southern Australia. In winter, these areas have weather dominated by mid-latitude weather systems, or are dry. Tropical rainforest