Range Areas of the United States
Climatic conditions vary widely in the United States. Mean annual precipitation ranges from less than 12 to more than 250 cm. Temperatures vary from subtropical to perpetual snow cover. Altitude, which has a great influence on temperature and rainfall, ranges from 95 m below sea level in Death Valley to more than 4700 m above sea level in the adjacent mountains. The continental body of the United States (excluding Alaska) lies between the latitudes 24 and 49 north.Variation in latitude also influences temperature, day length and length of the growing season. As a result of this wide range of environmental conditions, there are equally wide differences in vegetation, which varies from deciduous forest in the East to sparse grassland in some portions of the Great Plains and alpine meadows in the high Rocky, Sierra, Cascade, and Olympic Mountains; from subtropical vegetation in Florida and luxuriant conifer-forest in the western part of Oregon and Washington to the relatively barren deserts of southwestern Arizona, southeastern California, and the southern tip of Nevada.
Grassland Ranges
Tallgrass or True Prairie | Plains Grasslands | Coastal Prairie | Southwestern Shrub-Steppe | Intermountain Bunchgrass | California Annual Grasslands
Forest Ranges
Eastern Forest Range | Western Forest Range |
Montane Forest | Ponderosa Pine. | Douglas-fir. | Subalpine Forest. | Spruce-fir
Woodland Range
Shrub Ranges
Northern Desert Shrub | Southern Desert Shrub
Shrub Woodlands
California Chapparal | Texas Savanna
Tundra Range