Class 7 Geography Chapter 6 Notes – Natural Vegetation and Wild Life

In this post, Class 7 Geography Chapter 6 Notes / Natural Vegetation and Wild Life Class 7 Notes we discuss Natural Vegetation, Forests, and Grassland. We also provide Class 7 Geography Ch 6 Notes pdf for you to download. These notes are based on NCERT Book.

You can also check – Class 7 Geography Notes for all chapters

Natural Vegetation

What is Natural Vegetation?

Natural vegetation is the plants that grow naturally in a specific region without human interference.

Factors affecting Natural Vegetation-

There is a close relationship between the height of the land and the character of the vegetation. With the change in height, the climate changes and that changes natural vegetation.
The growth of vegetation depends on temperature and moisture.
It also depends on factors like slope and thickness of soil.

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

Class 7 Geography Chapter 6 Notes — Natural Vegetation and Wild Life

Classification Of Natural Vegetation

Natural vegetation is generally classified into three broad categories.

Forests: These grow where temperature and rainfall are plentiful to support a tree cover. Depending upon these factors, dense and open forests are grown.
Grasslands: These grow in the region of moderate rain.
Shrubs: Thorny shrurbs and scrubs grow in the dry region.

Forests

Forests are categorised into six types.

1. Tropical Evergreen Forests

These forests are 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. This is the reason they are called evergreen.
Common Tree – Here Hardwood trees like rosewood, ebony, and mahogany are common trees.

2. Tropical Deciduous Forests

Tropical deciduous is the monsoon forests found in a large part of India, northern Australia and Central America.
Trees shed their leaves in the dry season to conserve water.
Common Tree – sal, teak, neem and shisham.
Common Animal – Tigers, lions, elephants, langurs and monkeys are the common animals of these regions

Hardwood trees are extremely useful for making furniture, transport and construction materials.

3. Temperate Evergreen Forests

The temperate evergreen forests are located in the mid-latitudinal coastal region.
They are commonly found along the eastern margin of the continents, e.g., In the southeast USA, South China and South East Brazil.
Common Tree – They comprise both hard and softwood trees like oak, pine, eucalyptus, etc.

4. Temperate Deciduous Forests

These are present at higher latitudes.
These are found in the northeastern part of the USA, China, New Zealand, Chile and also found in the coastal regions of Western Europe.
Common Trees – oak, ash, beech, etc.
Common Animals – Deer, foxes, wolves, etc. and
Birds like pheasants and monals are also found here.

5. Mediterranean Vegetation

These are found in the west and southwest margins of the continents.
These are mostly found in the areas around the Mediterranean sea in Europe, Africa and Asia, hence the name.
This kind of vegetation is also found outside the actual Mediterranean region in California in the USA, southwest Africa, southwestern South America and Southwest Australia.
These regions are marked for hot dry summers and mild rainy winters.
Common Tree – Citrus fruits such as oranges, figs, olives and grapes are commonly cultivated.
There isn’t much wildlife here.

6. Coniferous Forests

In the higher latitudes (50° – 70°) of the Northern hemisphere, spectacular Coniferous forests are found.
These are also called Taiga.
These forests are also seen in the higher altitudes.
These are the trees which Salima found in the Himalayas in abundance.
They are tall, softwood evergreen trees.
The woods of these trees are very useful for making pulp, which is used for manufacturing paper and newsprint.
Matchboxes and packing boxes are also made from softwood.
Common Tree – Chir, pine, and cedar are the important variety of trees in these forests.
Common Animal – Silver fox, mink, and polar bear are the common animals found here.

Grasslands

Tropical grasslands

These occur on either side of the equator and extend to the tropics.
This vegetation grows in areas of moderate to low amounts of rainfall.
The grass can grow very tall, about 3 to 4 metres in height.
Savannah grasslands of Africa are of this type.
Elephants, zebras, giraffes, deer, and leopards are common in tropical grasslands.

Temperate grasslands

These are found in the mid-latitudinal zones and in the interior part of the continents.
Usually, the grass here is short and nutritious.
Wild buffaloes, bison, and antelopes are common in the temperate region.

Thorny bushes

These are found in dry desert-like regions.
Tropical deserts are located on the western margins of the continents.
The vegetation cover is scarce here because of scanty rain and scorching heat.

Polar Region

These places are extremely cold.
The growth of natural vegetation is very limited here.
Only mosses, lichens and very small shrubs are found here.
It grows during the very short summer.
This is called the 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 cold climatic conditions.
Seal, walruses, musk-oxen, Arctic owls, Polar bears and snow foxes are some of the animals found here.

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