Vegetation In Eastern Africa - Social Studies CBC Grade 6 Notes

• Map Of Eastern African Showing The Main Types Of Vegetation
• Characteristics Of The Main Types Of Vegetation In Eastern Africa
  
  • Tropical rainforest vegetation
    
    • Characteristics Tropical Rainforest Vegetation
  • Savannah Woodland Vegetation
    • Characteristics Savannah Woodland Vegetation
  • Savannah Grassland Vegetation
    • Characteristics Savannah Grassland Vegetaion
  • Swamp Vegetation
  • Mangrove Vegetation
  • Mountain Vegetation
  • Semi-desert Vegetation
    • Characteristics Semi-desert Vegetation
  • Desert Vegetation
    • Characteristics Desert vegetation

Vegetation

• Vegetation refers to plants that grow in a place.
• It consists of trees, bushes, grass and shrubs.
• The vegetation that grows on its own is called natural vegetation
• The vegetation that is planted is called planted vegetation
• Types of vegetation in eastern Africa
  
  1. Tropical rainforest vegetation
  2. Savannah woodland
  3. Savannah grassland
  4. Mountain vegetation
  5. Swamp vegetation
  6. Desert vegetation
  7. Semi-desert
  8. Mangrove vegetation

Map Of Eastern African Showing The Main Types Of Vegetation

Characteristics Of The Main Types Of Vegetation In Eastern Africa

Tropical Rainforest Vegetation

• Also called equatorial vegetation
• Found in equatorial climatic region

Characteristics Tropical Rainforest Vegetation

• Tall trees that form canopies
• Vegetation is evergreen
• Trees have straight trunks
• Trees have broad leaves
• Trees have buttress roots
• Forests are thick and dense
• Trees are mainly hardwoode.g.oak, teak, mvule, mahogany, ebony, camphor,obeche, iroko, heartwood, ironwood, rosewood, sapele, limba, okoune

Savannah Woodland Vegetation

• Comes immediately after tropical rainforests
• Mainly consist of trees

Characteristics Savannah Woodland Vegetation

• Trees are of medium height
• Trees are widely spaced ( scattered)
• Trees are deciduous
• Tall grass between the trees
• Tree tops are umbrella shaped
• Common trees are acacia and baobab
• Trees are deep rooted and have thick barks

Savannah Grassland Vegetation

• Mainly consist of grass and few scattered trees

Characteristics Savannah Grassland Vegetation

• Drought resistant vegetation
• Grass may grow upto 2m
• Tall elephant grass
• Few scattered trees
• Trees have thick barks
• Trees have thorny leaves
• Main trees are baobab, acacia, cacti, euphorbia

Swamp Vegetation

• Common in swampy regions, along rivers and shores of small lakes
• Mainly grows in poorly drained areas.
• Main vegetation are; Papyrus reeds, Water lilies
• Found in South sudan bahr-el-ghazal-sudd swamp, kyoga in Uganda, malagarasi swamp in Tanzania, amboseli swamp in Kenya

Mangrove Vegetation

• Grows in the muddy salty waters along shores of Indian ocean
• The mangrove trees they have breathing roots (aerial roots)
• Trees are mainly hardwood ever green and medium height
• Is found along the shores of Indian ocean and mouths of r.ruvuma, r.juba

Mountain Vegetation

• Grows on the slopes of mountains
• Is widespread on the windward sides of the mountains
• Vegetation changes as altitude increases
• Vegetation is mainly influenced by the altitude
• Is also called alpine or montane vegetation from top to bottom the vegetation ranges from bare rocks, health and moorland , bamboo, rain forest and savannah.

Semi-desert Vegetation

• Found in areas with rainfall between 250mm-500mm

Characteristics Semi-desert Vegetation

• Short scanty thorny bushes
• Short tough and scattered patches of grass
• Vegetation is drought resistant with modified for thorns
• Common plants cactus, baobab and euphorbia

Desert Vegetation

• Found in areas with rainfall less than 250mm

Characteristics Desert vegetation

• Stunted plants
• Plants have thorny or needle-like leaves ( catus is the most common plant)
• Large section of Ground is bare
• Plants have thick fleshy stems
• Plants are deep rooted
• Spiky scanty grass
• Found in true deserts e.g. Kaisut and chalbi and taru deserts