The natural regions They are units of territory (geographic spaces), which present a certain relief, climate and vegetation. These are large areas of territory demarcated in a country, continent or worldwide.
These regions are characterized by having a specific location and area, as well as a dominant relief. In the same way, they have a defined climate in its entirety with its own temperature and precipitation conditions..
They also show a characteristic vegetation, with certain dominant plant formations such as the forest, the jungle, the savannah, the meadow, among others..
The boundaries between one natural region and another are not always clearly defined and their delimitation will vary according to the criteria used by the researcher. This gives rise to different types of natural regions.
When the relief (altitude variation of the terrain) stands out, there will be orographic regions. Whereas if the emphasis is placed on the climate, climatic regions will be defined, while the vegetation will provide us with phytogeographic regions. Although different criteria are combined, generally one predominates, depending on the characteristics of the territory.
Natural regions are boundaries that are established on a specific territory to facilitate its planning. In other words, it is a way of dividing a particular area into smaller areas according to differences and similarities in natural conditions..
Therefore, a natural region is characterized by having a specific location and extension as well as a relief, climate, vegetation and fauna. Natural regions are different from political and administrative ones that are defined based on non-natural criteria. For example, Mexico is politically divided into 28 states, but it only has 7 natural regions.
Every natural region occupies a defined space, with a variation of latitude and longitude, resulting in a specific area or extension. The latter is generally expressed in square kilometers (Kmtwo) or hectares (ha).
Natural regions can develop in a terrestrial or marine environment. In the case of the terrestrial environment, different bodies of water may be present (lakes, rivers, others), but terrestrial areas predominate. In marine environments, water is the dominant element.
This gives rise to terrestrial natural regions, where the greatest variety is found and the marine natural region.
This is the most relevant characteristic when delimiting the natural regions in a territory. It is the vertical shape of the land, in terms of height above sea level (masl).
The relief is an important climatic factor, since it affects temperature, rainfall and winds, which in turn influences the type of vegetation that develops.
In the emerged part of the Earth, the relief varies from 417 meters below sea level to 8,848 meters above sea level. In the first case it is the depression of the coast of the Dead Sea, and in the second of Mount Everest.
Closely related to the location on the earth's surface and the relief is the climate. In such a way that each natural region has weather conditions that are repeated every year..
Thus, elements such as temperature and precipitation (rain or snow) remain within certain ranges each year. Therefore, in certain areas of the planet snow never falls, nor are temperatures below 0 ° C. While in others the temperatures are always low and covered with ice.
In most cases, when delimiting the natural regions of a country, vegetation is a very important factor. This refers to the predominant type of plant formation, that is, whether it is jungle, forest, savanna, pampas or other.
In this case the emphasis is placed on the structure of the vegetation and not on the species that compose it. The structure refers to the predominant life forms or biotypes, such as trees, shrubs or herbs among others..
For example, a jungle is a plant formation where trees predominate, forming several strata by size. In addition there are many epiphytes and climbers, and an understory (lower part) of herbs and shrubs.
Every natural region includes a characteristic fauna, although this element is more variable than vegetation. This is due to the mobility that characterizes most animals, which often makes their distribution wider. Therefore, two different and adjacent natural regions can have quite similar fauna..
When delimiting the natural regions in a territory, researchers establish a series of criteria. These will depend on the specific characteristics of the territory that you want to divide into natural regions..
You can take characteristics of the relief, the climate, the vegetation or combine several criteria. For example, the natural region known as Los Andes, defined in several South American countries, is mainly based on relief.
In fact, in this natural region there are different types of vegetation and the climate also varies. While the Mangrove natural region combines hydrology, relief and vegetation.
Orography refers to the shape of the land in terms of its relief, that is, its height variations. Mountainous natural regions are defined, when the relief is markedly irregular with high altitudes separated by valleys.
For its part, the natural region of plains or plain is characterized by the presence of plains located at low altitude. As long as it is a very high plain above sea level, we speak of plateau regions.
When the terrain is undulating, with small elevations, it is referred to as a hilly region. There are also depressions, even below sea level.
As its name indicates, the determining factor here is the climate (conditions of solar radiation, temperature, rainfall and prevailing humidity). Three major natural regions have been defined corresponding to the three climatic zones of the Earth, which are:
These regions are defined by the dominant vegetation type and correspond broadly to the Earth's biomes. The prefix "phyto" means plant, and "geography" is the study of the earth's surface..
So these regions are delimited according to how the types of vegetation are distributed on Earth. This gives rise to the region of jungle, temperate forest, savanna, scrub, chaparral, among others. Within these there may be subdivisions and, for example, in some countries they differentiate the high jungle region from the low jungle.
In this case, water is the determining element in the definition of natural regions that are river, lake, coastal and marine. The coastal region is the boundary between land and sea, while marine regions are located offshore and oceans.
On the other hand, when the dominant thing in the region are the lakes, it is a type of lake region, while in the fluvial region the rivers stand out..
Examples of natural regions in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Spain are explained below:
In this country bordering North and Central America, they have delimited the natural regions highlighting the vegetation and climate. Thus, 6 of its 7 natural regions are defined mainly by these criteria.
These regions are the dry forest, the humid forest, the forest, the bushes, the grasslands and the desert. While the seventh is the marine region, under a hydrological criterion.
There is also another classification focused on the climate that divides the country into 4 natural regions. They are arid (the most extensive), temperate, subhumid tropics and humid tropics..
In Colombia 6 natural regions are recognized: the Amazon, the Andean, the Caribbean, the Insular, the Orinoquía and the Pacific. Here vegetation and hydrology criteria were combined, and in the case of the Andean region,.
Both in the Amazon, as in the Orinoquía, there are jungles and savannas as well as abundant water courses. But they differ geographically because they are separate basins in the country. While both the Pacific region and the Caribbean region are geographically differentiated coastal regions..
Although the proposals of natural regions for this country vary in some aspects, in general 5 regions are recognized, where climatic, relief and hydrological criteria were combined. These are the Northwest, Northeast, Pampeana, Cuyo and Patagonia regions..
For example, the Cuyo region ("country of deserts"), which is located in the central west, has a mountainous, arid and sparsely vegetated relief. While Patagonia, located to the south, is the most extensive and has a cold climate and varied relief.
In this country there are those who equate the natural regions with the so-called regions and therefore exceed a hundred. However, there are more restricted proposals that limit natural regions to 54.
This is a large number of natural regions compared to other countries of greater size and biodiversity. This is because in their delimitation they consider a more detailed scale and include ecological criteria, in addition to relief..
For example, the Pyrenees mountain range is represented by three natural regions, one being the Atlantic Pyrenees. While the others are the Middle Pyrenean Mountain and the High Pyrenean Mountain.
If the large units into which the Spanish geography is divided are considered, only 7 natural regions would be defined, mainly considering relief and hydrology. They are the Central Plateau, the Cantabrian Coast, the Ebro Valley, the Guadalquivir Valley, the Penibética, the Levante and the archipelagos (Balearic and Canary Islands).
Natural regions of Mexico
Natural regions of Colombia
Natural regions of Peru
Natural regions of the world
Cultural regions
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