Natural Vegetation and Wild Life Class 7 Extra Questions Social Science Geography Chapter 6
NCERT Extra Questions for Class 7 Social Science Geography Chapter 6 Natural Vegetation and Wild Life
Prelude
- Salima was excited about the summer camp.
- She had gone to Manali in Himachal Pradesh alongwith her class friends.
- With the increase in height climate changes.
- Climate changes natural vegetation.
- The growth of vegetation depends on temperature and moisture.
- It also depends on factors like slope and thickness of soil.
- Forests: Grow in regions of high temperature and rain.
- Grasslands: Grow in regions of moderate rainfall.
- Thorny shrubs and scrubs: Grow in dry regions.
- Salima shared her experience of Himalayan trip with her father.
- Her father had visited various places in the world.
- He told Salima about his observation of variety of vegetation in different parts of the different continents.
- He mentioned about coniferous forests in the sub-polar regions.
- Thorny bushes in the deserts.
- Thick tropical hardwood forest in the humid regions and many more.
- Salima realised that Himalayas have almost all variety of vegetation which one can see while moving from equator to the polar region.
Forests
Tropical Evergreen Forests:
They occur in the region near the equator and close to the tropics.
- These regions are hot.
- They receive heavy rainfall during the year.
- With no dry season, the trees do not shed their leaves altogether.They are called evergreen.
- The thick canopies of the closely spaced trees do not allow the sunlight to penetrate the forest even in day time.
- Hardwood trees like Rosewood, Ebony, Mahagany are common trees.
Tropical Deciduous Forests
- Tropical deciduous forests are monsoonal forests.
- They are found in a large part of India, northern Australia and in Central America.
- These regions experience seasonal changes.
- Trees shed their leaves in the dry season to conserve water.
- The hardwood trees are found in these forests.
- They are Sal, Teak, Neem, and Shisham.
- Hardwood trees are extremely useful for making furnitures, transport and constructional materials.
- Tiger, Lion, Elephants are the common animals of these regions.
Temperate Evergreen Forests
Temperate Deciduous Forests
- Going towards higher latitudes, there are more temperate deciduous forests.
- They are found in the north-eastern part of USA, China, New Zealand, Chile.
- They are also found in the coastal regions of Western Europe.
- They shed their leaves in the dry season.
- The common trees of these forests are oak, ash, beech etc.
- Deer, foxes, wolves, are the animals which commonly live in these forests.
- Common birds are pheasants and monals.
Mediterranean Vegetation
- Most of the east and the north-east margins of the continents are covered with temperate evergreen and deciduous trees.
The west and the south west margins of the continents are different.
- They have Mediterranean vegetation.
- It is mostly found in the areas around the Mediterranean sea in Europe, Africa and Asia.
- This vegetation is also found outside the actual Mediterranean region in California in the U.S.A., South-West Africa.
- These regions are marked for hot dry summers and rainy mild winters.
- Citrus fruits like oranges, figs, olives and grapes are commonly cultivated here because people have removed the natural vegetation in order to cultivate what they want to. There is not much wildlife here.
Coniferous Forests
- In the higher latitudes (50°-70°) of Northern Hemisphere coniferous forests are found.
- They are also called as Taiga.
- They are also found in the higher latitudes.
- They are also found in Himalayas in abundance.
- They are tall, softwood, evergreen trees.
- These woods are used in making paper and newsprint.
- Match boxes and packing boxes are also made from softwood.
- Chir, Pine, Cedar are the important variety of trees in these forests.
- Silver fox, Mink, Polar bear are the common animals found in these forests.
Grasslands
Tropical Grasslands
- Tropical grasslands grow on either side of the equator and extend up to the tropics.
- Grass grows in the areas of moderate to low amount of rainfall.
- They grow very tall, about 3 to 4 metres in height.
- Example: Savannah grasslands of Africa.
- Elephants, Zebras, Giraffes, Deer, Leopards are common wild-life animals in tropical grasslands.
Temperate Grasslands
- Temperate grasslands are found in the mid latitudinal zones and in the interior part of the continents.
- Usually, grass here is short and nutritious.
- Wild buffaloes, bisons, antelopes are common in the temperate grasslands.
Thorny Bushes
- The vegetation cover is scarce due to less rainfall and extreme temperatures.
- The trees have thorns to reduce transpiration and thick stems, wax coated leaves and long roots.
- The main vegetation is cacti, thorny bushes etc.
- Camel, fox, wolf, goat, sheep are common animals.
- Polar regions qre extremely cold.
- Growth of natural vegetation is very limited here.
- Only mosses, lichens and very small shrubs grow here during short summer.
- This vegetation grows in Polar areas of Europe, Asia and North America.
- The animals of this region have thick fur and thick skin to protect themselves from cold climate conditions.
- Seal, walruses, reindeer, mink (musk oxen), Arctic owl, polar bear, snow foxes are some of the common animals found in this region.
- Yes, we agree with Salima.
- “The students should perform this activity in their class.”
Measures to conserve forests:
- Afforestation
- Complete ban on cutting forests.
- Social and community forestry.
- Farm Forestry.
- Plantation of trees in a big way.
- Planting of 10 plants if one cuts, one tree.
- Van-Mahotsava.
- Heavy punishment to poachers and smugglers.
Objective Type Questions
Multiple Choice Questions
Prelude
Forests
Tropical Evergreen Forests:
Tropical Deciduous Forests
Temperate Evergreen Forests
Temperate Deciduous Forests
Mediterranean Vegetation
Coniferous Forests
Grasslands
Tropical Grasslands
Temperate Grasslands
Thorny bushes