Natural zones

Rocks, water, air, soil, plants and animals are the components of nature; they are linked and form a natural complex (if one changes, the others change too). Since the Earth is a sphere, the Sun’s heat decreases from the equator to the poles, so large natural complexes that differ in climate, soil, plants and animals – natural zones – succeed one another from the equator to the poles. In the equatorial forest zone the temperature is ≈ +25 °C all year and precipitation exceeds 2000 mm a year; next come seasonally humid tropical forests, savannas (tall grass, few trees, elephants, lions, zebras), semi-deserts and deserts (little rain; camel-thorn, saxaul, camels, lizards), steppes, mixed and broadleaf forests, taiga, tundra (dwarf birch, moss, lichens) and ice deserts. Nature also changes from the foot of a mountain to its peak – this is altitudinal zonation. Most of Uzbekistan lies in the desert and semi-desert zone, and its mountain regions have altitudinal belts.