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savanna |
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savanna or savannah (both: səvăn`ə), tropical or subtropical grassland lying on the margin of the trade wind trade winds, movement of air toward the equator, from the NE in the Northern Hemisphere and from the SE in the Southern Hemisphere. The trade winds originate on the equatorial sides of the horse latitudes , which are two belts of high air pressure, one lying between ..... Click the link for more information. belts. The climate of a savanna is characterized by a rainy period during the summer when the area is covered by grasses, and by a dry winter when the grasses wither. Savannas near the equatorial belt, e.g., in Nigeria, support clumps of trees. The most extensive savannas—all important pasture lands—are in Africa; others include the llanos and the campos of South America. savanna [sə′van·ə] (ecology) Any of a variety of physiognomically or environmentally similar vegetation types in tropical and extratropical regions; all contain grasses and one or more species of trees of the families Leguminosae, Bombacaceae, Bignoniaceae, or Dilleniaceae. Savanna The term savanna was originally used to describe a tropical grassland with more or less scattered dense tree areas. This vegetation type is very abundant in tropical and subtropical areas, primarily because of climatic factors. The modern definition of savanna includes a variety of physiognomically or environmentally similar vegetation types in tropical and extratropical regions. The physiognomically savannalike extratropical vegetation types (forest tundra, forest steppe, and everglades) differ greatly in environment and species composition. In the widest sense savanna includes a range of vegetation zones from tropical savannas with vegetation types such as the savanna woodlands to tropical grassland and thornbush. In the extratropical regions it includes the “temperate” and “cold savanna” vegetation types known under such names as taiga, forest tundra, or glades. See Grassland ecosystem, Taiga, Tundra How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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And as upon the invasion of their valleys, the frosty Swiss have retreated to their mountains; so, hunted from the savannas and glades of the middle seas, the whale-bone whales can at last resort to their Polar citadels, and diving under the ultimate glassy barriers and walls there, come up among icy fields and floes; and in a charmed circle of everlasting December, bid defiance to all pursuit from man. The sufferings of the travellers among these savage mountains were extreme: for a part of the time they were nearly starved; at length, they made their way through them, and came down upon the plains of New California, a fertile region extending along the coast, with magnificent forests, verdant savannas, and prairies that looked like stately parks. |
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