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Study Material and Notes of Ch 6 Natural Vegetation and Wildlife Class 7th Geography

Topics in the Chapter

• Natural Vegetation
• Forests
→ Tropical Evergreen forests
→ Tropical Deciduous forests
→ Temperate Evergreen forests
→ Temperate Deciduous forests
→ Mediterranean Vegetation
→ Coniferous forests
• Grasslands
→ Tropical Grasslands
→ Temperate Grasslands
• Thorny bushes
• Polar region

Natural Vegetation

• Natural Vegetation refers to the plant life of a region which grown naturally.

• The type and thickness of natural vegetation varies from place to place because of the variation in these factors.

• Natural Vegetation is classified into three broad categories:
→ Forests: Which grow where temperature and rainfall are plentiful to support a tree cover.
→ Grasslands: Which grow in the region of moderate rain.
→ Shrubs: Thorny shrurbs and scrubs grow in the dry region.

• The changes in the type of natural vegetation occur mainly because of the changes of climatic condition.

Forests

Tropical Evergreen Forests

• Also called tropical rainforests.

• These thick forests occur in the regions near the equator and close to the tropics.

• These regions are hot and receive heavy rainfall throughout the year.

• As there is no particular dry season, the trees do not shed their leaves altogether. Thus, they are called evergreen.

• Common trees: Hardwood trees like rosewood, ebony, mahogany.

Tropical Deciduous Forests

• These are monsoon forests found in the large part of India, northern Australia and in central
America.

• Trees shed their leaves in the dry season to conserve water.

• Common trees: Hardwood trees like sal, teak, neem and shisham.

• Common Animals: Tigers, lions, elephants, langoors and monkeys.

• Importance of Hardwood trees:
→ useful for making furniture, transport and constructional materials.

Temperate Evergreen Forests

• These forests are located in the mid-latitudinal coastal region.

• Commonly found along the eastern margin of the continents, e.g., In south east, USA, South China and in South East Brazil.

• Common trees: both hard and soft wood trees like oak, pine, eucalyptus, etc.

Temperate Deciduous Forests

• These are present at higher latitudes.

• These are found in the north eastern part of USA, China, New Zealand, Chile and also found in the coastal regions of Western Europe.

• They shed their leaves in the dry season. 

• Common trees: Oak, ash, beech, etc. 

• Common animals: Deer, foxes, wolves

• Birds like pheasants, monals are also found here.

Mediterranean Vegetation

• These are present at west and south west margins of the continents.

• It is mostly found in the areas around the Mediterranean sea in Europe, Africa and Asia which given its name.

• It is also found outside the actual Mediterranean region in California in the USA, south west Africa, south western South America and South west Australia.

• These are found in the areas of hot dry summers and mild rainy winters.

• Common vegetation: Citrus fruits such as oranges, figs, olives and grapes.

• There isn’t much wildlife here.

 Coniferous Forests

• These trees are found in higher latitudes (50° – 70°) of Northern hemisphere.

• These are also called as Taiga.

• These forests are also seen in the higher altitudes.

• Common trees: Chir, pine, cedar

• Common animals: Silver fox, mink, polar bear.

• Trees are tall, softwood evergreen trees.
→ The woods of these trees are very useful for making pulp, which is used for manufacturing paper and newsprint.
→ Match boxes and packing boxes are also made from softwood.

Grasslands

Tropical grasslands 

• These occur on either side of the equator and extend till the tropics.

• This vegetation grows in the areas of moderate to low amount of rainfall. 

• The grass can grow very tall, about 3 to 4 metres in height.

• Example: Savannah grasslands of Africa.

• Common animals: Elephants, zebras, giraffes, deer, leopards.

Temperate grasslands

• These are found in the mid- latitudinal zones and in the interior part of the continents.

• Grass here is short and nutritious.

• Common animals:Wild buffaloes, bisons, antilopes.

Thorny bushes

• These are found in the dry desert like regions which are located on the western margins of the continents.

• The vegetation cover is scarce because of scanty rain and scorching heat.

Polar region

• This place is extremely cold.

• The growth of natural vegetation is very limited here.

• Only mosses, lichens and very small shrubs are found here which grows during the very short summer.
→ This is called Tundra type of vegetation.

• This vegetation is found in the polar areas of Europe, Asia and North America.

• The animals have thick fur and thick skin to protect themselves from the cold climatic conditions.

• Common animals: Seal, walruses, musk-oxen, Arctic owl, Polar bear and snow foxes.

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