What is it about?
The tropics is the area between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn where the sun is overhead at least once during the year. But where is the subtropics? There have been many attempts at defining this zone, but as this paper shows, most people have applied the term to the region between the tropics (23.4 degrees north or south of the equator) and 30 degrees north or south. This is pretty arbitrary, but it allows interesting comparisons between the major subtropical regions.
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Why is it important?
A clear definition of the subtropics allows us to make comparisons between subtropical zones, and their vegetation, animals, and agriculture, in different parts of the world.
Perspectives
I was trying to find a definition to use in a paper I was writing and could not find a satisfactory one. It was obvious, however, that the World did not need yet another definition, so I decided to look, instead, at how the word was actually used in the ecological literature. It turned out that, despite the absence of an agreed definition, we all - or, at least, most of us - agreed on where it was.
Dr. Richard T Corlett
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Where are the Subtropics?, Biotropica, February 2013, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/btp.12028.
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