Natural Vegetation in India

1. India is What is natural vegetation? 3. India's factors for the distribution of plants 4. Types of vegetation 4.1 Tropical Evergreen Forests 4.2 Tropical Deciduous Forests 4.3 Thorn Forests and Scrubs 4.4 Mountain Forests 4.5 Mangrove Forests 5. Endangerment of Forests

India is... ● One of the 17 megdiverse countries ● About 47,000 plant species make India occupy tenth place in the world and fourth in Asia in plant diversity ● Over 15,000 species of flowering plants in India, which account for 6 percent of the total plant species in the world

What is natural vegetation? ● 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 ● Also called virgin vegetation

India's factors for the distribution of plants ● Temperature: The character and extent of vegetation are mainly determined by temperature along with humidity in air, precipitation and soil. The fall in temperature affects the types of vegetation and its growth, and changes it from tropical to subtropical temperature and alpine vegetation. ● Land: India has a huge variety of different types of land for all sort of plants. ● Soil: Different types of soils provide basis for different types of vegetation. ● Photoperiod (Sunlight): Due to longer duration of sunlight, trees grow faster in summer. ● Precipitation: It gets most of its rainfall through the monsoon.

Types of vegetation

Tropical Evergreen Forests ● Above 200 cm of rainfall ● Up to 60 meters ● The trees in these belts have dense growth ● No definite time for trees to shed their layers ● Important varieties of trees are sishu, chap lash, rosewood, mahogany, bamboos, garjan and sandalwood. ● Common animals: elephants, monkey, lemur and deer

Tropical Deciduous Forests Deciduous or Monsoon type of forests ● Rainfall is between 100 cm and 200 cm ● The trees of these forests shed their leaves during dry winter and dry summer. ● The main trees are teak, sal, sandalwood, deodar, blue gum, ebony, sis am, jackfruit, mahua, pal ash, arjun, khair and bamboo. Dry deciduous forests and Scrubs: ● Rainfall is between 70 cm and 100 cm ● Dwarf Deciduous trees and long- grasses grow in these regions. Most of the areas are used for agriculture. ● Common animals: lion, tiger, pig, deer and elephant

Thorn Forests and Scrubs ● Less than 70 cm of rainfall ● Thorny trees and bushes ● Trees are scattered and have long roots penetrating deep into the soil in order to get moisture. ● The stems are succulent to conserve water. ● Leaves are mostly thick and small to minimize evaporation. ● Common animals: rats, mice, rabbits, fox, wolf, tiger, lion, wild ass, horses and camel

Mountain Forests ● On the foothills of the Himalayas unto a height of 1500 meters, evergreen trees, (Sal, teak, bamboo and cane) grow abundantly ● On higher slope between 1,500 meters to 3,500 meters, temperate conifer trees, (pine, fir, oak, maple, deodar, laurel spruce, ceder) grow ● At the higher altitude of the Himalayas, rhododendrons and junipers are found ● Beyond these vegetation belts, alpine grasslands appear up to snowfield

Mangrove Forests ● These forests grow along the coast and on the edges of the deltas e.g., the deltas of the Ganga, Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri ● Trees of these forests are sundari hogla, garan, gewa, golpata, gilepata, pasur etc. These forests are supply timber and fire wood. Palm and coconut trees adorn the coastal strip.

Indian Forestry faces many problems. Over grazing and forest fire often destroy forests. Reckless cutting of the trees causes forest destruction. Jhum cultivations destroy forest; it invites soil erosion. To preserve the forest, the Govt. of India has taken up a series of programmers: The forests are declared as Reserved Forests. The government has chalked out a good proggrame of ‘Van Mahatsov’. Thousands of trees are planted every year in the months of July and August to promote new forestation. The Forest Research Institute has been set up at Dehra Dun for the promotion and preservation the forests properly.