Figure 2

The map (left pane) and climatic characteristics (right pane) of the vegetation zones. Legend: 42 – tundra, 14 – larch forests, 36 – needle-leaf forests, 13 – summer-green broad-leaved forests, 4 – evergreen broad-leaved forests, 8 – tropical rainforests, 6 – deserts, 27 – semi-desert scrubs, 7 – shrublands, 15 – grasslands, 10 – subhumid woodlands, 3 – raingreen forests. Points mark mean values, ellipses delineate standard deviations from the mean values, and lines highlight ecological series (ecoclines). The blue line highlights the series of biomes succeeding each other along the gradient of mean annual temperature, and the red line the series of biomes succeeding each other along the gradient of annual precipitation. (The map of vegetation zones is based on the data from TGER data set [20], climatic characteristics are based on CLIMATE database version 2.1 [W. Cramer, Potsdam, personal communication].)