NATURALVEGETATION AND WILDLIFE
NATURALVEGETATION MEANS ORIGINAL LAND COVER CONSISTING mainly of forest vegetation.
India possesses a great variety of natural of climates,solid,physical
features and relief in the country.
INDIA CAN DIVIDE VEGETATION REGION
IN FOLLOWING
WAYS-
1. TROP[CALEVERGREEN RAINFOREST
2. THE TROPICAL DECIDUOUS FOREST
3. THE TRIDAL FOREST etc…
Natural vegetation also refers to a plant community which has
grown naturally without human aid and has been left undisturbed by humans for a
long time. This is termed as virgin vegetation. Thus, cultivated crops and
fruits, orchards form part of vegetation but not natural vegetation.
Virgin vegetation -The virgin vegetation, which are purely Indian are known as
endemic or indigenous species but those which have come from outside India are
termed as exotic plants.
Flora :- The term flora is used to denote plants
of a particular region or period.
Fauna :- the species of animals are referred to
as fauna.
Wildlife
Wildlife traditionally refers to non-domesticated animal species, but has come to include all plants, other things which grow or live wild in an area
without being introduced by humans.[1]Domesticating
wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the
environment, both positive and negative.
Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems. Deserts, forests, rain forests, plains, grasslands, and other
areas including the most developed urbansites, all have distinct forms of wildlife. While the term
in popular culture usually refers to animals that are untouched by human
factors,[2] most
scientists agree that wildlife around is affected by human activities.
Humans have historically tended to
separate civilization from wildlife in a number of ways including the legal,
social, and moral sense. Some animals, however, have adapted to suburban
environments. This includes such animals as domesticated cats, dogs, mice, and
gerbils. Religions have often declared certain animals to be sacred, and in
modern times concern for the natural environment has provoked activists to
protest the exploitation of wildlife for human benefit or entertainment.
Wildlife in India
The Wildlife in India is a mix of species of different types
of organisms.[1] Apart from a
handful of the major farm animals such as cows, buffaloes, goats, poultry and
sheep, India has an amazingly wide variety of animals native to the country. It
is home to Tigers, Lions, Leopards, Pythons,Wolves, Foxes, Bears, Crocodiles,Rhinoceroses, Camels, Wild
dogs,Monkeys, Snakes, Antelope species, Deerspecies, varieties of bison and not to mention
the mighty Asian elephant. The region's
rich and diverse wildlife is preserved in 89 national parks, 18 Bio reserves
and 400+ wildlife sanctuaries across the country.India has some of the most
biodiverse regions of the world and hosts three of the world’s 34 biodiversity
hotspots – or treasure-houses – that is the Western Ghats, the Eastern Himalayas
and Indo- Burma.[2] Since India is
home to a number of rare and threatened animal species, wildlife management in
the country is essential to preserve these species.[3]According to one
study, India along with 17 mega diverse countries is home to about 60-70 % of the world's
biodiversity.[4]
India, lying
within the Indomalaya
ecozone, is home to about 7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian, and 6.0% of flowering plant species.[5] Manyecoregions, such as the shola forests, also exhibit extremely high rates of endemism; overall, 33% of
Indian plant species are endemic.[6][7] India's forest
cover ranges from the tropical rainforest of the Andaman Islands, Western Ghats, and Northeast India to the coniferous forest of the Himalaya. Between these extremes lie the sal-dominated moist deciduousforest of eastern
India; teak-dominated dry
deciduous forest of central and southern India; and the babul-dominated thorn forest of the central Deccan and western Gangetic plain.[8] Important Indian
trees include the medicinalneem, widely used in
rural Indian herbal remedies. The pipal fig tree, shown on the seals of Mohenjo-daro, shaded the Gautama Buddha as he sought enlightenment.
Many Indian
species are descendants of taxa originating
in Gondwana, to which India
originally belonged. Peninsular India's subsequent movementtowards, and
collision with, the Laurasian landmass set off a mass exchange of
species. However, volcanism and climatic
change 20 million years ago caused the extinction of many endemic
Indian forms.[9] Soon thereafter,
mammals entered India from Asia through two zoogeographical passes on either side of the emerging Himalaya.[8] As a result, among
Indian species, only 12.6% of mammals and 4.5% of birds are endemic, contrasting
with 45.8% of reptiles and 55.8% of amphibians.[5] Notable endemics
are theNilgiri leaf monkey and the brown and carmine Beddome's toad of the Western Ghats. India contains
172, or 2.9%, of IUCN-designated threatened species.[10] These include the Asiatic lion, the Bengal tiger, and the Indian
white-rumped vulture, which suffered a
near-extinction from ingesting the carrion of diclofenac-treated cattle.
In recent decades,
human encroachment has posed a threat to India's wildlife; in response, the
system of national parks and protected areas, first established in 1935, was substantially expanded.
In 1972, India enacted theWildlife
Protection Act and Project Tiger to safeguard crucial habitat; further federal protections
were promulgated in the 1980s. Along with over 500 wildlife
sanctuaries, India now hosts 15 biosphere
reserves, four of which are part of the World Network of
Biosphere Reserves; 25 wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention.
The varied and
rich wildlife of India has had a profound impact on the region's popular
culture. The common name for wilderness in India is Jungle, which was adopted into the English language. The word
has been also made famous in The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. India's wildlife
has been the subject of numerous other tales and fables such as the Panchatantra and the Jataka tales.