Shrublands―Biomes, By GeoDivide

Biomes is a documentary series created by GeoDivide, which explores our planet with beautiful high-quality documentaries including the latest in timelapse and drone technology.


Shrublands are relatively arid regions of Earth where it is too dry for trees to flourish. Often overlooked, they take second or third place to forests or grasslands when it comes to beauty contests. They are a mix of shrubs and grasses, spanning the subtropics to the temperate latitudes. Shrublands have surprising biodiversity considering their parched appearance. They are a place of heat and drought, yet still abundant with life.

From the Mediterranean to Southern California, Central Chile, the Cape of South Africa, and Australia, the Mediterranean scrub biome dominates. While in the subtropics, from Texas and Mexico to the Caatinga of NE Brazil, the Gran Chaco of Paraguay, the Sahel of Africa, these are transitions between the Savannah and deserts.

Savannah―Biomes, By GeoDivide

Biomes is a documentary series created by GeoDivide, which explores our planet with beautiful high-quality documentaries including the latest in timelapse and drone technology.


The Savannah is the vast open country of the tropics. It consists of a patchwork of trees and shrubs on a bed of grass. It is a place of deluge and drought. It dominates the continent at the center of our world. Of all the world’s habitats, it supports the earth’s most famous wildlife, the safari.

The tropics of our planet have two habitats that are instantly recognizable. The first of these is the tropical rainforest. The other, much drier one is that of the tropical savannah. Spreading out over vast plains across three continents, the Savannahs of the tropics make up for any lack of biodiversity compared to their richer rainforest cousin in the sheer quantity of large mammalian wildlife, feeding on the endless grass, and on the animals that eat that grass.

So where in the world do we find Savannah? Well if we apply the strict definition of a natural mix of trees, shrubs, and grass, then they can occur in temperate and subtropical latitudes as well as the tropics. But these areas are relatively small compared to the tropical savannah that dominates the tropics, in South America, Australia, and above all, Africa.

Marcus Maeder: The Language of Growth

The strange synthetic sounds heard in the video are sonification of growth data that were measured in three places on a tree (Pinus sylvestris) by the ecophysiologist, Roman Zweifel, from Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL.

In data sonification, a series of numbers – for example from a measurement – are used to control sounds that are generated with a computer. The growth spurts of the tree control the pitch of sine tones, creating a tonality that is reminiscent of a language, a voice.

WSL researchers also discovered that trees grow especially at night – in the early hours of the morning.

Spring is the beginning of the vegetation phase: the forest awakes with more intense sunlight, the longer days, and the higher temperatures – flowering and growth begin.

The video sounds best with headphones!