In early times, crores of years before Earth remained a barren planet of the Solar System. But afterwards, due to reasons still unknown life evolved in the saline waters of the oceans. The first form of life was in the from of plants. It is because of this reason that life began with the evolution of plants. Thus Plant Kingdom came into being. Plant Kingdom provided stage for the appearance of another kind of life, the form of animals, leading to the evolution of Animal Kingdom. Plant Kingdom obtains energy from the Sun, it provides energy to Animal Kingdom in the form of food. It is, therefore, Plant Kingdom (in other words flora) is the backbone of our natural resources base.
Forest resources
Flora means, in general terms, all types of flowering and non-flowering plants. India has 49000 species of plants. Of these plants 5000 species exclusively belong to our country. Owing to variations in relief, climate, soils, diurnal and annual range of temperature, rainfall amount, sunshine and vegetal regimes, India is proud having flora ranging from Equatorial rain forests to Arctic vegetation.
Tropical Rain Forests
Tropical rain forests include typical rain forests. They are further sub-classified into wet tropical evergreen and moist tropical semi-evergreen forests. The distribution and characteristics of these sub-classes are as under:
Wet Tropical Evergreen Forests : They are found in the regions of very high annual rainfall, exceeding over 300 cms. Shillong Plateau, Southern Sahyadris of Kerala and Karanataka are known for these forests. They resemble the Equatorial type of vegetation.
Major characteristics of these forests are as under:
- These forests are very dense and lofty.
- There are numerous species of trees in these forests.
- They are important for spice gardens.
- Major trees include Mahogany, Cinchona, Bamboos and Palms.
- Undergrowth of creepers is dense and thick. Grass is almost absent in these forests.
Moist Tropical Semi-Evergreen Forests : These forests are bordered by semi-evergreen forests. Annual rainfall varies between 200 to 300 cms. The areas of Shillong plateau in the north-east, the Sahyadris in the south-west and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the south-east have these forests. Major characteristics of these forests include:
These forests are less dense than the wet evergreen forests.
Shifting cultivation and colonial exploitation for timber have depleted the vegetation to a great extent.
They are known for fine grained and good quality timber.
Tropical deciduous forests
They are classified as (1) Moist and (2) Dry.
Moist Tropical Deciduous : The Moist Tropical Deciduous forests cover nearly the entire country. Here annual rainfall varies from 100 to 200 cms. The Sahyadris, the north-east plateau of the Peninsula, the Himalayan foothills (the Shivaliks), the Bhabars and the Terai are the major regions of these forests. They grow abundantly on the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats, Chhotanagpur Plateau (east M.P., south Bihar, west Orissa), and on the Shivaliks. Owing to dry season they shed their leaves once a year. Major characteristics of these forests are as under:
- They are the typical monsoon forests.
- These forests have numerous commercially important species.
- Teak is the dominant species.
- Major species of trees are Teak, Bamboos, Sandalwood (in Karnataka), Shisham, Hurra and Khair. Shrubs grow fairly close to them and form thickets.
- Open grass patches are found here and there.
- Most of the trees lose their leaves of 6 to 8 weeks in the hot weather but at different times. Hence the forest is not absolutely leafless any time of the year.
- Large scale cutting of timber has depleted these forests very rapidly.
Dry Tropical Deciduous: The Tropical Dry Deciduous forests grow well where annual rainfall varies between 10 and 100 cms. They occupy vast areas between the Thar Desert, the Himalayas and the Sahyadris. These forests have a more open and dwarfish composition, the trees being more stunted and widely spaced though the species are mostly the same as in the moist deciduous forests. In the dry season trees shed their leaves and the forest gives the appearance of a vast grassland with naked trees, dispersed all over the region. Major characteristics of this vegetation are:
- These forests are a mixture of trees and grasses.
- Sal is a dominant tree of this vegetation.
- Summer heat is very intense. It burns the dry grass and kills seeds of weeds.
- Vegetal cover in river valleys does not shed leaves during summer.
Thorn and scrub forests
Regions with less than 10 cms of annual rainfall in north and north-western parts of the country and the leeside of the Sahyadris are dominated by these forests. They are open stunted forests which degenerate into desert type in the Thar Desert. It consists of coarse grasses with widely scattered trees and bushes. Major characteristics of this vegetation are:
- These forests are characterised as vast, poor and coarse grasslands with widely spaced trees and bushes.
- Vast undulating poor grassland is found on the Central Plateau. The semi-arid Rajasthan in marked with grassy patches and salt marshes.
- Major species include acacia, euphorbias, cactus etc. Clumps of wild palm, spiny and thorny varieties are also found here.
Depletion of our flora
Only 18% of the total area of India is under forests are much more restricted in extent. According to accepted norm for ecological health of a country it should have a forest cover of about 33% of its total area. The clearing of extensive forest areas, practice of shifting cultivation, heavy soil erosion overgrazing of pastoral belts, tree-cutting for timber and fuel and human occupancies have depleted our natural vegetal resources. Conservation of our forest resources has become difficult against the mounting pressure of human population and livestock, as they need more land for inhabitation, agriculture and pastures and at the same time more forest products for a variety of uses which the forests in their present state are simply unable to supply. Despite all this, attempts are being made to regeneration of vegetal cover in the country.
Wild life resources
Our flora and fauna are very rich and varied. There are about 81000 species of animals found in India. We have 2500 species of fish in our water and 1200 species of birds and worms are also abundantly found in natural environment of the country.
Mammals
- Among the mammals we are credited with the stately elephant. He is a typical animal of wet Equatorial forests. Hence he is found in dense rainy forests of Assam, Kerala and Karnataka.
- The other animals in the category of mammals are camels and wild asses. Camels are found in the extremely hot That Desert. Wild asses dominate arid areas of the Rann of Kachchh.
- One-horned Rhinoceros also falls in the category of mammals. He is found in the swampy and marshy lands of Assam and north west Bengal.
- Other animals, in the category of mammal, include Indian bison, Indian buffalo, nilgai, chausingha (four-horned antelope), black buck (Indian antelope), gazel and deer. Deer are of several types such as Kashmir stag, swamp deer, spotted deer, musk deer and mouse deer.
Animals of prey
- Lion is the first and foremost beast of prey. He is found in India and African countries. Gir forests in Saurashtra provide natural habitat to the animal. Efforts are being made to create favourable conditions in other parts of the country for the animal.
- Tiger is another beast of prey. It is the most powerful species of our forests. Bengal tiger lives in Sunderbans of the tidal forests.
- Leopards are another category of animals of prey, belonging to the cat family. Leopards are of several types. They are leopards, clouded leopards and snow leopards. Snow leopards occupy upper reaches of the Himalayas as their natural habitat.
Besides snow leopards, the Himalayan ranges abound in various species of wild animals.
birds
Nature has bestowed India with various beautiful and colourful birds. They include pheasants, geese, duck, mynahs, parakeets, pigeons, cranes, hornbills and sunbirds. These birds belong to the forests and the wet lands of the country.
Several species of animals and birds have been declared endangered in the country as their number has been constantly dwindling. The endangered species include tigers, lions, rhinoceros, Indian bustard, black buck, chinkara.
Conservation and protection of wild life
In order to protect and conservation of wild animals several measures have been taken:
- Numerous campaigns like ‘Project Tiger’, ‘Project Rhinoceros’ have been launched. At present 21 Tiger Reserves have been set up in the country.
- Hunting of wild animals and birds has been banned.
- Poachers and hunters are penalised. The number of forest guards is being increased.
- Peacock and lion have been declared national bird and national animal respectively.
- Zoological parks are being set up in every nook and corner of the country.
- Biosphere Reserves have been set up. The first Biosphere Reserve was set up on an area of 5500 sq. km. at the trijunction of Kerala, Karanataka and Tamilnadu in 1986. Then came the Nanda Devi in Uttaranchal. Other important biosphere reserves are Nokrek in Meghalaya, Sundarbans in West Bengal, Great Nicobar, Gulf of Mannar, Manas, Similipal and Dibru-Saikhova.
