NCERT Book Class 11 Geography Natural Vegetation

NATURAL VEGETATION

Have you ever been to a forest for a picnic? You might have surely gone to a park if you live in a city or to a mango, guava or coconut orchard, if you live in a village. How do you differentiate between the natural vegetation and the planted vegetation? The same variety may be found growing wild in the forest under natural conditions and the same tree may be the planted one in your garden under human supervision.

Natural vegetation refers to a plant community that has been left undisturbed over a long time, so as to allow its individual species to adjust themselves to climate and soil conditions as fully as possible.

India is a land of great variety of natural vegetation. Himalayan heights are marked with temperate vegetation; the Western Ghats and the Andaman Nicobar Islands have tropical rain forests, the deltaic regions have tropical forests and mangroves; the desert and semi desert areas of Rajasthan are known for cactii, a wide variety of bushes and thorny vegetation. Depending upon the variations in the climate and the soil, the vegetation of India changes from one region to another. 

On the basis of certain common features such as predominant vegetation type and climatic regions, Indian forests can be divided into the following groups:

TYPES OF FORESTS

(i) Tropical Evergreen and Semi Evergreen forests

(ii) Tropical Deciduous forests

(iii) Tropical Thorn forests

(iv) Montane forests

(v) Littoral and Swamp forests.

Tropical Evergreen and Semi Evergreen Forests

These forests are found in the western slope of the Western Ghats, hills of the northeastern region and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. They are found in warm and humid areas with an annual precipitation of over 200 cm and mean annual temperature above 22oC. Tropical evergreen forests are well stratified, with layers closer to the ground and are covered with shrubs and creepers, with short structured trees followed by tall variety of trees. In these forests, trees reach great heights up to 60 m or above. There is no definite time for trees to shed their leaves, flowering and fruition. As such these forests appear green all the year round. Species found in these forests include rosewood, mahogony, aini, ebony, etc.

The semi evergreen forests are found in the less rainy parts of these regions. Such forests have a mixture of evergreen and moist deciduous trees. The undergrowing climbers provide an evergreen character to these forests. Main species are white cedar, hollock and kail.

EXERCISES

1. Choose the right answer from the four alternatives given below.

     (i) Sandalwood is an example of:

        (a) Evergreen forest                       (c) Deltaic forest

        (b) Deciduous forest                       (d) Thorny forest

   (ii) Which one of the following was the purpose of Project Tiger?

        (a) to kill tigers                              (c) to protect tigers from illegal hunting

        (b) to put tigers in the Zoo              (d) to make films on tigers

   (iii) In which one of the following states is the Nandadevi Biosphere reserve situated?

        (a) Bihar                                        (c) Uttaranchal

        (b) Uttar Pradesh                            (d) Orissa

   (iv) How many of the following numbers of Biosphere reserves are recognised by the IUCN?

        (a) One                                          (c) Three

        (b) Two                                          (d) Four 

   (v) Which one of the following proportion of area of the country was targeted to be under forest in Forest Policy of India?

         (a) 33                                            (c) 55

         (b) 44                                            (d) 22

2. Answer the following questions in about 30 words.

    (i) What is natural vegetation? Under what climatic conditions are tropical evergreen forests develop?

    (ii) What do you understand by social forestry?

    (iii) Define Biosphere reserves?

    (iv) What is the difference between forest area and forest cover?

3. Answer the following questions in not more than 150 words.

    (i) What steps have been taken up to conserve forests?

    (ii) How can people’s participation be effective in conserving forests and wildlife?

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 11 Geography Natural Vegetation