NATURAL VEGETATION AND WILDLIFE

1.Natural vegetation refers to a plant community, which has grown

naturally without human aid and has been left undisturbed by humans for
a long time. This is termed as a- virgin vegetation.

2. The virgin vegetation, which are purely Indian are known as endemic or
indigenous species but those which have come from outside India are
termed as exotic plants.

3. The character and extent of vegetation are mainly determined by

temperature along with humidity in the air, precipitation and soil.

4. On the slopes of the Himalayas and the hills of the Peninsula above the
height of 915 metres, the fall in the temperature affects the types of
vegetation and its growth, and changes it from tropical to subtropical
temperate and alpine vegetation.

5. In India, almost the entire rainfall is brought in by the advancing

southwest monsoon (June to September) and retreating northeast
monsoons.

6. These forests are restricted to heavy rainfall areas of the Western Ghats
and the island groups of Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar, upper parts
of Assam and Tamil Nadu coast-Tropical Evergreen Forests
7. They are at their best in areas having more than 200 cm of rainfall with
a short dry season. The trees of tropical evergreen forest reach great
heights up to 60 metres or even above.

8. Since the region is warm and wet throughout the year, it has a luxuriant
vegetation of all kinds — trees, shrubs and creepers giving it a
multilayered structure- Tropical Evergreen Forests

9. Some of the commercially important trees of Tropical Evergreen Forests

are ebony, mahogany, rosewood, rubber and cinchona.

10. The common animals found in these forests are elephant, monkey,
lemur and deer. Onehorned rhinoceroses are found in the jungles of
Assam and West Bengal. Besides these animals, plenty of birds, bats, sloth,
scorpions and snails are also found in these jungles.

11. the most widespread forests of India. They are also called the monsoon
forests and spread over the region receiving rainfall between 200 cm and
70 cm- Tropical Deciduous Forests

12. Trees of this forest type shed their leaves for about six to eight weeks
in dry summer- Tropical Deciduous Forests

13. On the basis of the availability of water, these TROPICAL DECIDIOIUS

FOREST forests are further divided into moist and dry deciduous. The
former is found in areas receiving rainfall between 200 and 100 cm.
14. These Tropical Deciduous Forests exist, therefore, mostly in the
eastern part of the country — northeastern states, along the foothills of
the Himalayas, Jharkhand, West Odisha and Chhattisgarh, and on the
eastern slopes of the Western Ghats
15. Teak is the most dominant species of this forest. Bamboos, sal,
shisham, sandalwood, khair, kusum, arjun and mulberry are other
commercially important species.

16. The dry deciduous forests are found in areas having rainfall between
100 cm and 70 cm. These forests are found in the rainier parts of the
Peninsular plateau and the plains of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. There are
open stretches, in which teak, sal, peepal and neem grow.

17. In these dry deciduous forests, the common animals found are lion,
tiger, pig, deer and elephant. A huge variety of birds, lizards, snakes and
tortoises are also found here.

18. In regions with less than 70 cm of rainfall, the natural vegetation

consists of thorny trees and bushes. This type of vegetation is found in the
north-western part of the country, including semi-arid areas of Gujarat,
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
Acacias, palms, euphorbias and cacti are the main plant species

19. In these dry deciduous forests the common animals are rats, mice,
rabbits, fox, wolf, tiger, lion, wild ass, horses and camels.

20. The wet temperate type of forests are found between a height of 1000
and 2000 metres, Evergreen broad-leaf trees, such as oaks and chestnuts
21. Between 1500 and 3000 metres, temperate forests containing
coniferous trees, like pine, deodar, silver fir, spruce and cedar, are found.

22. At higher elevations, temperate grasslands are common.

23. At high altitudes, generally, more than 3,600 metres above the sea
level, temperate forests and grasslands give way to the Alpine vegetation.
Silver fir, junipers, pines and birches are the common trees of these
forests.

24. they get progressively stunted as they approach the snow-line.

Ultimately, through shrubs and scrubs, they merge into the Alpine
grasslands. These are used extensively for grazing by nomadic tribes, like
the Gujjars and the Bakarwals.

25. The common animals found in these forests are Kashmir stag, spotted
dear, wild sheep, jack rabbit, Tibetan antelope, yak, snow leopard,
squirrels, Shaggy horn wild ibex, bear and rare red panda, sheep and
goats with thick hair.

26. At higher altitudes, mosses and lichens form part of tundra vegetation.

27. The mangrove tidal forests are found in the areas of coasts influenced
by tides. Mud and silt get accumutated on such coasts. Dense mangroves
are the common varieties with roots of the plants submerged under water.
The deltas of the Ganga, the Mahanadi, the Krishna, the Godavari and the
Kaveri are covered by such vegetation.

28. In the GangaBrahmaputra delta, sundari trees are found, which

provide durable hard timber. Palm, coconut, keora, agar, etc., also grow in
some parts of the delta.
KEORA – TALLEST TREE OF SUNDARBANS
29. Royal Bengal Tiger is the famous animal in these MANGROOVE forests.
Turtles, crocodiles, gharials and snakes are also found in these forests.

30. India is the only country in the world that has both tigers and lions. The
natural habitat of the Indian lion is the Gir forest in Gujarat. Tigers are
found in the forests of Madhya Pradesh, the Sundarbans of West Bengal
and the Himalayan region.

31. Like its flora, India is also rich in its fauna. It has approximately 90,000
animal species. The country has about 2,000 species of birds. They
constitute 13% of the world’s total. There are 2,546 species of fish, which
account for nearly 12% of the world’s stock. It also shares between 5 and 8
per cent of the world’s amphibians, reptiles and mammals.

32. The elephants are the most majestic animals among the mammals.
They are found in the hot wet forests of Assam, Karnataka and Kerala.

33. One-horned rhinoceroses are the other animals, which live in swampy
and marshy lands of Assam and West Bengal.
34. Arid areas of the Rann of Kachchh and the Thar Desert are the habitat
for wild ass and camels respectively. Indian bison, nilgai (blue bull),
chousingha (four-horned antelope), gazel and different species of deer are
some other animals found in India.

35. kiang (Tibetan wild ass).

36. About 1,300 plant species are endangered and 20 species are extinct.
Quite a few animal species are also endangered and some have become
extinct.

37. Eighteen biosphere reserves have been set up in the country to protect
flora and fauna. Ten out of these, the Sundarbans Nanda Devi, the Gulf of
Mannar,the Nilgiri, Nokrek, Great Nicobar, Manas, Simlipal, Pachmarhi and
Achanakmar-Amarkantak have been included in the world network of
biosphere reserves

38. Some of the wetlands of India are popular with migratory birds. During
winter, birds, such as Siberian Crane, come in large numbers. One such
place favourable with birds is the Rann of Kachchh. At a place where the
desert merges with the sea, flamingo with their brilliant pink plumage
come in thousands to build nest mounds from the salty mud and raise
their young ones.

39. Financial and technical assistance is provided to many botanical

gardens by the government since 1992.
Kachchh
Cold Desert
Seshachalam ( EASTERN GHATS )
Panna ( M.P )

40.104 National Parks, 535 Wildlife sanctuaries and Zoological gardens are
set up to take care of natural heritage.