Forest and wildlife in India Upsc

Forest and wildlife in India

India is one of the world’s richest in biological diversity. Also, several numbers of species are yet to be discovered. Some estimate that 10% of wild flora and 20% of its mammals are on the threatened list.

Natural Vegetation and Planted Vegetation

Natural vegetation is something that certain plant species left undisturbed over some time. For example, in a forest or mountain terrain, these plant communities start to adapt themselves to the conditions, might be soil or climate, etc.

On the other hand, Planted vegetation, is growing a specific plant from the forest or some source and planting it in the farm/garden under some human supervision.

India’s land is huge and it is so large that it is called the Indian subcontinent, which has a large variety of natural vegetation. Also, India has got so many types of vegetation that differ from one place to another. Due to this, there are great variations in climate and soil in India.

For example, the Himalayas has temperate vegetation. This is in the North part of India. On the other hand in places such as Andaman and Nicobar, Western Ghat, etc. These two places are separated by hundreds of miles of sea but still, these two has similarity in vegetation. These two are Tropical Rain Forest.

To completely contrast the above two vegetation we find yet another type of vegetation that is desert and semi-deserts of Rajasthan. It is known as Cactii, it is a kind of busy or thorny vegetation.

You will find tropical forests and mangroves in the deltaic regions.

 Types of Forest in the India

1. Tropical Evergreen and Semi-Evergreen Forest
2. Tropical Deciduous Forest
3. Tropical Thorn Forest
4. Montane Forest
5. Littoral and Swamp Forest

Tropical Evergreen and Semi-Evergreen Forest

Ok, these Woods are found in Andaman Nicobar Is, Northeastern regions, and Western Ghats slopes.

As far as climate is concerned these are generally in warm and humid places, where there are rainfall of excess of 200 cm and an annual mean temperature of almost 22 degrees Celcius.

The tropical evergreen forest is well arranged with a layer that is nearer to land and is well sheltered with creepers, and shrubs. A unique pattern is found, a short tree along with a variety of tall trees in this vegetation.

These trees of evergreen forests reach up to 60 meters and above. You know another exciting fact about this vegetation, there is a definite period these trees for fruition, flowering, or shedding their leaves.

It appears green throughout the year. Examples of Evergreens are ebony, aini, mahogany, rosewood, etc. Next, the other one is found in the less rainy area which has an amalgamation of moist deciduous trees and evergreen that is known as a semi-evergreen forest.

Another characteristic feature is the presence of Climbers.

The main examples of semi-evergreen forests are white cedar, kail, and hollock.

Someone might have known the value of these forests, Yes that someone is the British, who knows the commercial value of the woods, they replace Oak forest with Pine in Kumaon and Garhwal.

Oakwood was used to lay rails and for constructions as woods were insulators. Also, Brits cleared forests for the plantations of rubber, tea, coffee.

Tropical Deciduous Forest in India

These are like viruses, like everywhere in India, it’s widespread and also called monsoon forests. They found where the precipitation was around 70-200 cm.

Based on the amount of water and moist presence, these are further divided into moist and dry deciduous.

Moist Deciduous found in heavy precipitated areas with 100-200 cm, found in the Himalayan foothill in the northeastern Indian states.

Also found in eastern ranges of the western ghats and parts of Odisha. Some of the tree species are Teak, Sandalwood, sal, Kusum, etc. Dry Deciduous found in margins of wetter areas where there is the transition, moist to drier to thorns. The precipitated areas with 70-100 cm.

Cover vast regions of the country. Found in the Indian peninsula, UP plains, and Bihar and also in higher Peninsular plateau and north Indian plains.

These have striking characteristics such as patches of grass in common, with trees scatter between other things and mixed with teak. Another common feature is, these trees shed their leaves and become leafless in dry seasons

Some of the tree species are Axlewood, tendu, palas, etc. Due to low rainfall and perhaps overgrazing to some extent, this vegetation is found very low in the western Rajasthan and southern Rajasthan.

Tropical Thorn Forests in India

From the word thorn, you might have concluded this kind of vegetation is found in dry areas. Thorn forests are found in areas where there is very low precipitation of about less than that of 50 cm.

Thorn vegetation, yes it consists of a variety of Shrubs, grasses, thorns, etc. In India, as you know it is found Northwestern part of the country, where the land is semi-arid.

Prominent areas of Tropical Thorn are southwestern Punjab that borders Punjab and Rajasthan, and of course Rajasthan, Gujarat, MP, and UP. In thorn vegetation, the plants are leafless throughout or most of the year.

Examples of Thorn vegetation are Babool, Ber, Wild Date, Palas, etc. A kind of grass grows up to 2m called Tussocky grass.

Montane Forest in India

These forests are classified based on altitude and amount of rainfall. Accordingly two different types of forest namely the Eastern Himalayas Forest and the Western Himalayas forest.

Eastern Himalayas

Found on the slopes of the mountains in northeast states. These forests receive rainfall of more than 200 cm. The vegetation of the eastern Himalayan forest is evergreen type.

The altitude is between 1200- 2400 m found in this type of forest Sal, Oak, Laurel, Amura, Chestnut, Cinnamon are the main trees. At the altitude of 2400 to 3600m, oak, birch, silver, fir, fine, spruce and juniper are found.

Western Himalayas

In this region rainfall is moderate. Western Himalayas forest is found in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

Up to 900m altitude semi-desert vegetation is found. This region is known for bushes and small trees. At an altitude of 900 to1800m, chir tree is most common. Other important trees of this region are sal, semal, dhak, Jammun, and jujube.

At the altitude of 1800 to 3000m, is covered with semi temperate coniferous forest, Chir, Deodar, Blue pine, poplar, birch, and elder.

Alpine

Alpine is found all along the Himalayas with above 2400m altitude. They purely have coniferous trees. Oak, Silver fir, pine, and Juniper are the main trees of the Alpine forest.

The eastern parts of the Himalayas have a large extent of these forests.

Tidal Forest

Tidal forests are found in and around the deltas, estuaries, and creeks prone to tidal influences. The tidal forest is also called Delta Forest or Swamp Forest.

The delta of Ganga – Brahmaputra has the largest tidal forest. The deltas of Mahanadi, Godavari and Krishna rivers are also known for Tidal forests. These are also known as Mangrove Forest.

Coastal Forest

These are littoral forests. Coastal Forest is found in coastal areas. Casurina, palm, and coconut are the dominant trees. Both the eastern and western coasts have this kind of forest.

The coast of Goa and Kerala is known for its coastal forest.

Riverine Forest

Riverine forests are found along the rivers in Khadar Area. These are known for Tamarisk and Tamarind Trees. The rivers of great plains are more prominent for this type of natural vegetation.

Wildlife

Wildlife includes Animals of any habitat in nature. The non-domesticated animals are wild animals. The wild animals include vertebrates such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals and invertebrates such as bees, butterflies, moths, etc.

Flaura means plants and Fauna means animals. India has a fauna of about 81,251 species out of 1.5 million species in the world.

India has 6500 species of invertebrates, 5000 species of mollusks, 2546 species of fishes, 1228 species of birds, 458 species of mammals, 446 species of reptiles, 204 species of amphibians, 4 species of panthers, and 6000 species of insects.

India is home to tigers, lions, leopards, snow leopards, pythons, wolves, foxes, bears, crocodiles, rhinoceroses, camels, wild dogs, monkeys, snakes, antelope species, deer species, bison, and the mighty Asian elephant.

Various human activities caused troubles to various species that led them to decrease in population and even cause extinction.

A conversation of biodiversity is necessary to maintain ecological balance. IBWL (Indian board for wildlife) was created in 1952 to suggest ways of protection, conservation, and management of wildlife to the government.

In 1972, the union government passed the Wildlife (Protection) Act. The objective of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 is to effectively protect the wildlife and control poaching, smuggling, and illegal trade of wildlife.

UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992 recognizes the sovereign rights of states to use their Biological Resources. India developed 102 National Park and 515 Wildlife Sanctuaries to preserve the wildlife.

Biosphere Reserves

Biosphere Reserves are protected areas of the land, coastal environment, where the people are also part of the system. There are 18 Biosphere reserves established by the Indian government.

Biosphere reserves protect a large area of natural habitat and usually include one or more National parks along with buffer zones. Buffer zones are open to some economic uses.

Eleven of the Eighteen biosphere reserves in India are under the list of Man and Biosphere programme of UNESCO. They are Gulf of Mannar, Nandadevi, Nilgiris, Nokrek, Pachmarhi, Simlipal, Sundarbans, Agasthiyamalai, Great Nicobar, Kanjanjunga and Amarkantak.

Project Tiger launched in April 1973. Its object is to conserve the tiger population, especially in Tiger Reserves in India. The project increased over 60% population of Tiger from 1979 consensus put the population at 3015.

Other species like barasingha (swamp deer), rhino, and elephants population also increased parallel due to this project.

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Bibliography

1. Samacheer Kalvi Geography Class X, 2019 Edition.