India is one of the 12 mega biodiverse countries in the world in plant and animal diversity.
In-plant diversity:
- 10th place in the world and 4th is in Asia with having approximately 47,000 plant species in India.
- Approx. 15000 flowering plants comprise 6 % of the world's total number of flower plants.
In animal diversity:
- Approx. 90,000 animal species with a rich variety of fish in fresh as well as in marine water.
- Natural vegetation;
- It refers to plat communities that are grown naturally without the help of humans and left undisturbed by humans over a long period of time. It is also known as virgin vegetation.
Types of natural vegetation:
Two types of natural vegetation:- Endemic or indigenous
- Exotic plants
Endemic :
The plants which are purely Indian are called endemic.
The plants which are purely Indian are called endemic.
Exotic plants:
The vegetation which came from outside India is termed exotic plants.
The vegetation which came from outside India is termed exotic plants.
Flora word is used to denote plants of a particular region over the period.
Fauna:
The species of animals are referred to as fauna.
The huge diversity of flora and fauna is due to the following factors:
- Relief: land, soils
- Land:
- Different type of vegetation is found in mountain, plateau, and plain areas.
- Fertile land is used for agriculture.
- Rough terrain is for grassland and woodland.
- Different types of vegetation are found in different soil.
- Sandy soils: cactus, thorny bushes vegetation.
- Wet, marshy, deltaic soils: Mangrove vegetation.
- Hillslope with a depth of soil:
- Conical trees.
- Climate:
- Three major deciding factors:
- Temperature
- Photoperiod ( sunlight)
- Precipitation
- Temperature:
- Based on the temperature tropical, subtropical, temperate, and alpine vegetation are grown.
- Tropical:
- Mean temp. More than 24' C
- Mean temp. In January: more than 18' C
- Subtropical:
- 17 to 24
- 10 to 18 c
- Temperate:
- 7 to 17 ' C
- -1 to -10 C
- Alpine:
- -7C
- Less than -1 c
- Photoperiod:
- Due to the larger duration of sunlight in the summer season, the tree is grown faster.
- Precipitation:
- Dense vegetation is grown in heavy rainfall areas.
Importance of forest:
The following are important:
- Enhance the quality of the environment
- Forest modifies local climate, and temperature, and causes rainfall.
- Control soil erosion
- Regulate streamflow
- Provide a scenic view
- Provide humus to the soils
- Habitats to wildlife
- Support a variety of industries
- Provide fuel
- Control wind forces
- Control soil erosion.
As per the 2011 India state forest report:
- Forest cover in India is 21.05 %
- Highest forest cover in %: Mizoram 90%
- Lakhswadeep 85%
- Andaman and Nicobar 81 %
- Arunachal Pradesh 80 %
- Punjab and Haryana: 5 %
Types of vegetation in our country
- Tropical evergreen forest
- Tropical Deciduous Forest
- Tropical thorny shrub forest
- Montane forest
- mangrove forest
Tropical evergreen forest:
- These forests are found in heavy rainfall areas ( more than 200 cm annual)
- Great height: 60 meter
- Since warm and wet climate all the year, hence luxurious vegetation of all types such as a tree, shrubs, creepers. It gives a multilayer structure of vegetation.
- Vegetation appears green all the year, as no definite time to shed their leaves.
- Vegetation such as Ebony, Mahogany, Rosewood, Rubber.
- A common animal such as:
- Elephant, one Horne rhinoceros, monkey, lemur, deer
- Areas;
- Western Ghats
- Lakshadweep
- Andaman Nicobar
- Tamil Nadu coast
- The upper part of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, and Nagaland.
Tropical deciduous forest:
- It is also known as the monsoon forest.
- Spread in a large part of India.
- Rainfall 200Cm to 70 cm
- Shed their leaves for about six to eight weeks in dry summer.
- It is further divided into:
- Moist tropical deciduous forest
- Dry deciduous forest
- Moist deciduous forest:
- Found in areas between 200 to 100 cm rainfall.
- Trees are:
- Teak, Bamboos, Sal, Shisham, Sandal Wood, Khair.
- Areas;
- Eastern part of India
- Northeastern states
- Foothills of Himalayan
- Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, and Chhatisgarh
Dry deciduous forest:
- Found in rainfall areas between 100 to 70 cm
- Trees:
- Teak, sal, peepal, and been
- Parts of peninsular plateau, plain areas of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
- The thorny forest and shrubs:
- Rainfall was less than 70 cm.
- Plants:
- Acacias
- Palm
- Eupharhias
- Thorny trees and bushes
- Animals:
- Lion, rats, tiger, fox, deer, camel, horses, wild ass, rabbit
- Trees have a long roots and penetrate deep into the soil to get moisture.
- Leaves are small and thick to minimize evaporation.
Montane Forest:
- In mountainous areas, the decrease in temperature with increasing with height leads to a change in vegetation.
- The succession of natural vegetation belts in the same order as we see in tropical to tundra regions.
- 1000 to 2000 meters: wet temperate forest, evergreen broadleaf trees such as oaks.
- 1500 to 3000 meters: Temperate forest. Coniferous trees such as pines, deodar, silver for, and cedar. These trees mostly covered the southern slope of the Himalayan.
- 3,600 meters or more altitude: Alpine vegetation
- Higher altitude: Mosses and lichens form parts of tundra vegetation.
- Common animal:
- Kashmir stag, spotted deer, yak, snow leopard, wild sheep, Tibetan antelope.
Mangrove forest:
- The mangrove forest is found in coastal areas where the least influence of tides, Mud, and silt gets accumulated.
- Root if plants submerged under Water.
- Sundary trees are found in Ganga Brahmaputra delta.
- Animals:
- Royal Bengal tiger, turtle, crocodile, gharial, and snakes.
- Medicinal plants:
- 2000 plants described by Ayurveda.
- Sarpgandha: use to control blood sugar.
- Jamun: use to control diabetes.
- Neem: has high antibiotics And anti-bacterial properties.
- Tulsi uses to cure cough and cold.
Wildlife:
India has:- 90,000 animal species
- 2000 bird species which comprises 13 % of the world
- 2,546 species of fish 12 % of the world's total.
- India has 5 to 8 % of the world's reptiles and mammals.
- The elephant in life in hot wet Forest
- One Horne rhinoceros: lives in swamps and marshy lands.
- Wild ass and camels: arid areas of rann of Kachchi, Thar desert.
- India's Bison, deer, and several species of monkey.
- 1972: wildlife protection act.
- India is the only country that has both a lion and a tiger.
- Gir forest in Gujarat is home to an Indian lion.
- Mp, Sundarbans, and Himalayan region are home to Tiger.
- In the Himalayan region yak, wild ox, Tibetan antelope, snow leopard, and red panda.
Conservation:
- Every species has a role to play in ecosystems. Hence, conservation is needed.
- As insects help pollination of crops.
- Due to the excessive exploitation of plants and animal resources by human beings, the ecosystems have been disturbed.
- 1300 plants species endangered
- Many species are extinct and endangered.
- The major threat by:
- Hunting
- Pollution is due to chemical and industrial waste and acid deposits.
- Introduction of alien species
- Reckless cutting of forests leads to habitat loss
Conservation measure:
- 18 biosphere reserves are set up for flora and fauna. 10 of these included the world network of the biosphere reserve.
- Financial and technical assistance to many botanical gardens such as Kachh, cold desert, Seschachalam, Panna
- Project tiger, project Rhino, project great Indian Bustard.
- 103 national parks, 535 wildlife sanctuaries, and zoological garden.
Try to solve the following question:
- Identify the importance of biotic resource regions of India and highlight their problems. ( UPSC 2016,250 words, 20 marks)
- Evaluate the impact of technology on resource utilization in India. (UPSC 2016, 200 words, 15 marks)
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