Climate Natural Vegetation and Wildlife CBSE NCERT

natural vegetation and Wildlife natural vegetation refers to plant Community which grows naturally without human Aid and has been undisturbed by humans for long time this is also called virgin vegetation two key terms used to refer to natural vegetation and Wildlife are flora and fauna the term Flora is used to denote plants of particular region or period the species of animals found in particular region or period are referred to as fauna it would interest you to know that India is one of the 12 Mega biodiversity countries of the world it has about 47,000 plant species which takes it to the 10th place in the world and the fourth place in Asia as far as biodiversity is concerned there are about 15,000 flowering plants in India approximately 990,000 species of animals and an unbelievably Rich variety of fish and marine life diversity in Flora and Fauna is primarily due to three factors they are relief climate and ecosystem relief the term relief refers to the land and soil characteristics of an area the nature of land influences the type of vegetation for example fertile land is generally devoted to agriculture while undulating land and rough terrains are areas where grasslands and Woodlands develop and give shelter to variety of wildlife soil different types of soils provide the basis for different types of vegetation for example Sandy soils of deserts support cactuses and thorny bushes wet marshy deltaic soil support mangroves and deltaic vegetation while soil on the hill slopes support coniferous trees climate we just saw how the relief of an area influences the overall vegetation let's now see how the climate of region impacts its flora and fauna the term climate involves three factors temperature photo period or sunlight period and precipitation or rainfall each of these factors directly influences the natural vegetation and Wildlife around it how does temperature impact vegetation in cold areas such as the slopes of the Himalayas and the upper regions of the hills of the deken PIN insula fall in temperature affects the types of vegetation and its growth so you would find trees such as fur and Spruce which have needle-like leaves which protect them from the cold rough weather around them similarly variation in the duration of sunlight can lead to change in the Flora and Fauna around that place but why does such variation happen there are many reasons such as differences in latitude altitudes Seasons durations of the day and so on let's Now quickly see how precipitation or rainfall influences natural vegetation and wildlife in India rainfall is typically brought in either by the advancing Southwest monsoons from June to September or the retreating Northeast monsoons from October to December wherever there is ample rain trees are Evergreen and have broad leaves with sharp dipped tips to allow the water to drain off on the other hand in deserts leaves are spiny to reduce water loss by evaporation and Stems are fleshy to store more water ecosystem we just took brief look at how relief and climate play significant role in determining the Flora and Fauna of an area let's now see how ecosystems affect natural vegetation and wildlife in an area what is an ecosystem an ecosystem comprises all the plants and animals in an area each of these is dependent on the others for survival and together form what's known as an ecosystem thus it's critical for the survival of an ecosystem that every plant and animal have characteristics that enable the ecosystem to thrive change something or add something new into the ecosystem and the ecosystem changes for example if an ecosystem has peacocks in it you must have snakes this in turn means that the area must have frogs because snakes eat frogs needless to say where there are frogs there must be Wetland remove frogs from the ecosystem and peacocks will move on from the ecosystem or die out thanks for watching the video please visit our website the open book.in