IGCSE Geography / Rural environments

Grasslands, deserts and tundra

Edexcel International GCSE Geography (4GE1), chapter 5: Rural environments, specification point 5.1a. Free lesson.

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Grasslands, deserts and tundra form where conditions are too dry or too cold for forests. Comparing their climates, ground and plants helps explain how vegetation survives in each biome.

Why grasslands have few trees

Grassland grows where there is too little rain for forest but too much for desert. The two types are tropical grassland, also called savanna, and temperate grassland. Savanna is found in central Africa and northern Australia. It is hot all year and gets about 500 to 1,300 mm of rain. Rain falls in a wet season lasting 6 to 8 months, followed by drought. Savanna has grass with scattered trees. Grass can regrow from its roots after fire, and trees have fire-resistant bark. Temperate grassland includes the prairies of North America and the steppes of Eurasia. It gets about 500 to 900 mm…

How deserts and tundra differ

Deserts are hot, while tundra is frozen for much of the year. However, both are very dry. Precipitation means rain and snow together. The Sahara and the Mojave are deserts. A desert day can reach about 38 °C, while night temperatures can fall to about −4 °C. It gets about 250 mm of precipitation a year or less. Tundra is found around the Arctic, including northern Alaska and Siberia. Its winter mean is −34 °C, and summer temperatures are only 3 to 12 °C. It gets about 150 to 250 mm of precipitation a year. Desert ground is bare sand or rock. Cacti store water in their stems, and their…

How to read the tundra climate graph

The climate graph is for a town on the north coast of Alaska, at 71°N. The months run along the bottom. Read precipitation from the left axis and temperature from the right axis. The bars show precipitation and the line shows temperature. Total precipitation is only 137 mm a year, shown by the very small bars. Temperature is below freezing for 8 months. The coldest month is February, at about −24 °C, and the warmest is July, at 5 °C. Plants have a growing season of only 50 to 60 days.

Why snow does not make tundra wet

Snow can cover the tundra for months, but that does not mean it is a wet biome. It stays because temperatures are too low for it to melt. Tundra gets under 250 mm of precipitation a year, about the same as a desert. Describe tundra as cold and dry, with low plants and no trees. Do not describe it as wet or say that pine trees grow there.

Explain how grassland plants survive fire

A long dry season can bring fires to tropical grassland. Grasses can survive because the parts that regrow are protected below ground.

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