Natural Vegetation And Wild Life

In the Northern hemisphere the spectacular Coniferous forests are found. These forests are also seen in the higher altitudes.

1. The trees in the coniferous forests are tall, softwood evergreen trees. The woods of these trees are very useful for making pulp, which is used for manufacturing paper and newsprint.

2. Match boxes and packing boxes are also made from softwood.

3. Chir, pine, cedar are the important variety of trees in these forests that are used in making a lot of items such as furniture.

Temperate grasslands are also called the seasonal grasslands. There are mostly found in the mid-latitudinal zones and in the interior part of the continents.

Vegetation of any place includes the variety of plants grow at that place. The atmospheric conditions such as temperature, moisture, slope of land and thickness of the soil affects the growth of vegetation.

The vegetation of any place can be divided into three broader categories.

a. Forests: Which grow where temperature and rainfall are plentiful to support a tree cover.

b. Grasslands: Which grow in the region of moderate rain.

c. Shrubs: Thorny shrubs and scrubs grow in the dry region

Tropical evergreen forests are the forests that occur in the regions near the equator and close to the tropics. Hardwood trees like rosewood, ebony, mahogany are common here.

Tropical deciduous are the monsoon forests that are mostly found in the large part of India, northern Australia and in central America.

Citrus fruits such as oranges, figs, olives and grapes are commonly cultivated in the areas with hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. Mediterranean regions such as South America and Southwest Australia provide ideal conditions for their cultivation.

Tundra regions are extremely cold and thus have limited plants growing there. Only mosses, lichens and some smaller shrubs can grow in these regions.

Due to hot and dry climate, the leaves of the plants are reduced to spines. This is why, thorny bushes are mostly found in such dry climatic conditions.

Tropical evergreen forests are extremely dense forests. Hence, monkeys are the most common animals that are found there.

The coniferous forests mainly consists of the trees that are cone-like. Pine trees have a canopy which means they are the cone-like in shape. They are most common in the coniferous forests.

The temperate grasslands are known as steppe grasslands in different parts of the world such as Asia.

(i) Walrus- (c) A polar animal

Walrus is an animal that is most commonly found in the polar region. It is adapted to live in such conditions.

(ii) Cedar- (a) Soft wood tree

Cedar is a softwood tree that is most commonly found in coniferous forests.

(iii) Olives- (f) A citrus fruit

Olives are examples of citrus fruits that are found in the Mediterranean regions.

(iv) Elephants- (b) An animal of tropical deciduous forest

Elephants are found in the tropical deciduous forests.

(v) Campos-(g) Tropical grassland of Brazil

The tropical grasslands are known as the Campos in Brazil.

(vi) Downs- (d) Temperate grassland in Australia

The temperate grasslands are known as the Downs in Australia

The climate of polar regions is extremely cold. The thick fur and thick skin are the adaptation in the animals that live in such cold conditions. The thick fur helps them to keep warm. The thick skin stores fat that helps their body to be insulated and often used to produce energy in the body.

The trees in the tropical deciduous forests shed their leaves in the dry season, to conserve the loss of water during transpiration.

Vegetation of any place depends on the atmospheric conditions such as temperature, moisture, slope of land and thickness of the soil affects the growth of vegetation. So, as the region changes, these factors also change. As a result, the vegetation also changes from one region to the other.

Salima saw changes as she climbed higher and higher because the factors such as soil, temperature, slope and moisture also changed. On all these factors, the vegetation depends. As Salima moved higher, she saw the deep jungles of the foothills comprising sal and teak slowly disappeared. She could see tall trees with thin pointed leaves and cone shaped canopies on the mountain slopes called the coniferous trees. She noticed blooms of bright flowers on tall trees. These were the rhododendrons. From Manali as she was travelling up to Rohtang pass she saw that the land was covered with short grass and snow in some places.