Geography
Natural Vegetation and Wildlife
GS Paper I
Natural Vegetation and Wildlife — Quick Revision
One-page UPSC revision of Indian natural vegetation: forest types with rainfall and trees, montane zones, shola, mangroves and forest cover.
SyllabusGS I · Changes in critical geographical features and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes; physical geography of India
A last-week revision sheet for natural vegetation. Most questions pair a forest type with its rainfall, region or trees.
Forest Types
| Type | Rainfall (NCERT) | Regions | Trees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tropical evergreen | More than 200 cm | Western slopes of the Western Ghats, north-east hills, Andaman and Nicobar | Rosewood, mahogany, ebony, aini |
| Semi-evergreen | Slightly drier parts of the same areas | Transitional belts | White cedar, hollock, kail |
| Moist deciduous | 100–200 cm | Himalayan foothills of the north-east, eastern slopes of the Western Ghats, Odisha | Teak, sal, shisham, mahua, sandalwood |
| Dry deciduous | 70–100 cm | Peninsular plateau, Bihar and UP plains | Teak, sal, peepal, neem |
| Thorn | Less than 50 cm (Class XI) | Rajasthan, Gujarat, SW Punjab, Haryana | Babool, ber, khair, khejri, palas |
| Montane | Altitude-controlled | Himalayas; Nilgiri, Anaimalai, Palani hills | Oak, chestnut, deodar, pine, fir, birch |
| Littoral and swamp | Tidal | Deltas; island coasts | Sundari, rhizophora |
Himalayan Altitudinal Zones
| Altitude (approx.) | Vegetation |
|---|---|
| Foothills | Moist deciduous (sal) |
| 1,000–2,000 m | Wet temperate broad-leaved: oak, chestnut |
| 1,500–3,000 m | Temperate conifers: pine, deodar, fir, spruce |
| Higher | Alpine forests and meadows (bugyal, marg) |
Policy and Numbers
| Item | Fact |
|---|---|
| Champion and Seth (1968) | 16 major forest type groups |
| National Forest Policy 1988 | 33% of area under forest/tree cover; 66% in hills |
| ISFR 2023 (FSI, Dec 2024) | Forest + tree cover 25.17%; Madhya Pradesh largest forest cover |
| Wildlife (Protection) Act | 1972 |
| Project Tiger / Project Elephant | 1973 / 1992 |
| Tiger estimation 2022 | Minimum 3,167; average estimate 3,682 |
| Project Cheetah | Kuno NP, September 2022 (Namibia); February 2023 (South Africa) |
High-yield facts
- Deciduous (monsoon) forests are the most widespread in India.
- Shola–grassland mosaics: Nilgiri, Anaimalai, Palani hills.
- Sundarbans — largest mangrove forest in the world; named after the sundari tree.
- Indian biodiversity hotspots: Himalaya, Indo-Burma, Western Ghats–Sri Lanka, Sundaland (Nicobar).
- Forest cover = canopy density of at least 10% over at least one hectare, regardless of legal status.
Common Traps
Watch for these
- Teak and sal are deciduous, not evergreen.
- Evergreen forests do shed leaves — just not all at once.
- Recorded forest area (legal) is not the same as forest cover (satellite).
- Bugyal (Uttarakhand) and marg (Kashmir) are alpine meadows, not forests.
Related Topics
- Forest Types of India
- Natural Vegetation and Wildlife — practice questions
- Protected Areas and Wildlife
- All quick revision sheets
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