NCERT Class 7 Geography Natural Vegetation and Wild Life

Natural Vegetation and Wild Life

Salima was excited about the summer camp she was attending. She had gone to visit Manali in Himachal Pradesh along with her class mates. She recalled how surprised she was to see the changes in the landform and natural vegetation as the bus climbed higher and higher. The deep jungles of the foothills comprising sal and teak slowly disappeared. She could see tall trees with thin pointed leaves and cone shaped canopies on the mountain slopes. She learnt that those were coniferous trees. She noticed blooms of bright flowers on tall trees. These were the rhododendrons. From Manali as she was travelling up to Rohtang pass she saw that the land was covered with short grass and snow in some places.

From Salima’s observations, we surmise that there is a close relationship between height of land and the character of vegetations. With the change in height, the climate changes and that changes natural vegetation. The growth of vegetation depends on temperature and moisture. It also depends on factors like slope and thickness of soil. The type and thickness of natural vegetation varies from place to place because of the variation in these factors. Natural vegetation is generally classified in to three broad categories as follows:

(a) Forests: Which grow where temperature and rainfall are plentiful to support a tree cover. Depending upon these factors, dense and open forests grown.

(b) Grasslands: Which grow in the region of moderate rain.

(c) Shrubs: Thorny shrurbs and scrubs grow in the dry region (Fig. 6.2).

Salima was sharing her experience of Himalayan trip with her father. Her father visited various places in the world. He told Salima about his observations of the variety of vegetation in different parts of different continents.He mentioned about coniferous forests in the sub polar regions, thorny bushes in the deserts, thick tropical hardwood forest in the humid regions and many more. Salima realised the Himalayas have almost all variety of vegetation which one can see while moving from the equator to the polar region. 

The changes in the type of natural vegetation occur mainly because of the changes of climatic condition. Let us get to know the different types of natural vegetation of the world with their characteristic features and wildlife inhabiting there.

Exercises

1. Answer the following questions.

(i) Which are the two factors on which the growth of vegetation mostly depends?

(ii) Which are the three broad categories of natural vegetation?

(iii) Name the two hardwood trees commonly found in tropical evergreen forest.

(iv) In which part of the world and tropical deciduous forest is found?

(v) In which climatic conditions, citrus fruits cultivated?

(vi) Mention the uses of coniferous forest.

(vii) In which part of the world is seasonal grassland is found?

2. Tick the correct answer.

(i) Mosses and Lichens are found in:

(a) Desertic Vegetation

(b) Tropical evergreen forest

(c) Tundra vegetation

(ii) Thorny bushes are found in:

(a) Hot and humid tropical climate

(b) Hot and dry desertic climate

(c) Cold polar climate

(iii) In tropical evergreen forest, one of the common animals is:

(a) Monkey         (b) Girraffe     (c) Camel

(iv) One important variety of coniferous forest is:

(a) Rosewood     (b) Pine      (c) Teak

(v) Steppe grassland is found in

(a) S. Africa        (b) Australia    (c) Russia

3. Give reasons.

(i) The animals in polar region have thick fur and thick skin.

(ii) Tropical deciduous trees shed their leaves in the dry season.

(iii) The type and thickness of vegetation changes from place to place.

4. Activity.

(i) Collect pictures and photographs of forests and grasslands of different parts of world. Write one sentence below each picture.

(ii) Make a collage of rainforest, grassland and coniferous forests

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 7 Geography Natural Vegetation and Wild Life