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Class 11 Natural Vegetation: cheat sheet
CBSE Social Science. India’s forest types and their trees, vegetation zones up the Himalayas, forest conservation and social forestry, and the protection of wildlife.
Key ideas
- Rainfall decides the forest type: evergreen where it is very wet, deciduous in between, and thorn forests where it is dry.
- Tropical deciduous forests are the most widespread in India; their trees shed leaves in the dry season.
- On the Himalayas vegetation changes with height as temperature falls: deciduous forests, then oak and chestnut, pines, silver fir and rhododendron, and finally mosses and lichens.
- Mangroves grow in tidal creeks, mud flats and estuaries, as in the Sunderbans.
- The forest policy aims at 33% of the area under forest; social forestry includes urban, rural and farm forestry.
- Wildlife is protected by the 1972 Wildlife Act, national parks and sanctuaries, Project Tiger (1973), Project Elephant (1992) and biosphere reserves.
- A biosphere reserve aims at conservation, research, and education and awareness.
Remember
| Rain and forest | evergreen over 200 cm; moist deciduous 100–200 cm; dry deciduous 70–100 cm; thorn under 50 cm |
| Trees | evergreen: rosewood, mahogany, ebony; moist deciduous: teak, sal, sandalwood; dry deciduous: tendu, palas; thorn: babool, ber, khejri |
| Forest target | more area needed = (33 − present %) × area ÷ 100 |
| Tigers | 1,411 in 2006 to 3,682 in 2023, a rise of 2,271 |
| Biosphere reserves | 18 in India; the first, Nilgiri, in 1986 |
| Sholas | temperate forests of the Nilgiri, Anaimalai and Palani hills |
Watch out
- Calling evergreen forests the most widespread (deciduous forests are).
- Finding the gap to the target with 33% of the area instead of (33 − present)%.
- Putting sandalwood in the evergreen forests.
Worked example
Which forests would you expect where the annual rainfall is (a) 42 cm (b) 370 cm? Name one tree of each.
Working: evergreen over 200; moist deciduous 100–200; dry deciduous 70–100; thorn under 50 cm
Answer: (a) tropical thorn (b) tropical evergreen; e.g. babool and rosewood
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