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NATURALVEGETATION AND WILDLIFE

NATURALVEGETATION MEANS ORIGINAL LAND COVER CONSISTING mainly of forest vegetation. India possesses a great variety of natural of climates,solid,physical features and relief in the country.

INDIA CAN DIVIDE VEGETATION REGION IN FOLLOWING

WAYS-

1. TROP[CALEVERGREEN RAINFOREST

2. THE TROPICAL DECIDUOUS FOREST

3. THE TRIDAL FOREST etc…

Natural vegetation also refers to a plant community which has grown naturally without human aid and has been left undisturbed by humans for a long time. This is termed as virgin vegetation. Thus, cultivated crops and fruits, orchards form part of vegetation but not natural vegetation.

Virgin vegetation -The virgin vegetation, which are purely Indian are known as endemic or indigenous species but those which have come from outside India are termed as exotic plants.

Flora :- The term flora is used to denote plants of a particular region or period.

Fauna :- the species of animals are referred to as fauna.

Wildlife

Wildlife traditionally refers to non-domesticated animal species, but has come to include all plants, other things which grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans.^[1]Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative.

Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems. Deserts, forests, rain forests, plains, grasslands, and other areas including the most developed urbansites, all have distinct forms of wildlife. While the term in popular culture usually refers to animals that are untouched by human factors,^[2] most scientists agree that wildlife around is affected by human activities.

Humans have historically tended to separate civilization from wildlife in a number of ways including the legal, social, and moral sense. Some animals, however, have adapted to suburban environments. This includes such animals as domesticated cats, dogs, mice, and gerbils. Religions have often declared certain animals to be sacred, and in modern times concern for the natural environment has provoked activists to protest the exploitation of wildlife for human benefit or entertainment.

Wildlife in India

The Wildlife in India is a mix of species of different types of organisms.^[1] Apart from a handful of the major farm animals such as cows, buffaloes, goats, poultry and sheep, India has an amazingly wide variety of animals native to the country. It is home to Tigers, Lions, Leopards, Pythons,Wolves, Foxes, Bears, Crocodiles,Rhinoceroses, Camels, Wild dogs,Monkeys, Snakes, Antelope species, Deerspecies, varieties of bison and not to mention the mighty Asian elephant. The region's rich and diverse wildlife is preserved in 89 national parks, 18 Bio reserves and 400+ wildlife sanctuaries across the country.India has some of the most biodiverse regions of the world and hosts three of the world’s 34 biodiversity hotspots – or treasure-houses – that is the Western Ghats, the Eastern Himalayas and Indo- Burma.^[2] Since India is home to a number of rare and threatened animal species, wildlife management in the country is essential to preserve these species.^[3]According to one study, India along with 17 mega diverse countries is home to about 60-70 % of the world's biodiversity.^[4]

India, lying within the Indomalaya ecozone, is home to about 7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of avian, 6.2% of reptilian, and 6.0% of flowering plant species.^[5] Manyecoregions, such as the shola forests, also exhibit extremely high rates of endemism; overall, 33% of Indian plant species are endemic.^[6]^[7] India's forest cover ranges from the tropical rainforest of the Andaman Islands, Western Ghats, and Northeast India to the coniferous forest of the Himalaya. Between these extremes lie the sal-dominated moist deciduousforest of eastern India; teak-dominated dry deciduous forest of central and southern India; and the babul-dominated thorn forest of the central Deccan and western Gangetic plain.^[8] Important Indian trees include the medicinalneem, widely used in rural Indian herbal remedies. The pipal fig tree, shown on the seals of Mohenjo-daro, shaded the Gautama Buddha as he sought enlightenment.

Many Indian species are descendants of taxa originating in Gondwana, to which India originally belonged. Peninsular India's subsequent movementtowards, and collision with, the Laurasian landmass set off a mass exchange of species. However, volcanism and climatic change 20 million years ago caused the extinction of many endemic Indian forms.^[9] Soon thereafter, mammals entered India from Asia through two zoogeographical passes on either side of the emerging Himalaya.^[8] As a result, among Indian species, only 12.6% of mammals and 4.5% of birds are endemic, contrasting with 45.8% of reptiles and 55.8% of amphibians.^[5] Notable endemics are theNilgiri leaf monkey and the brown and carmine Beddome's toad of the Western Ghats. India contains 172, or 2.9%, of IUCN-designated threatened species.^[10] These include the Asiatic lion, the Bengal tiger, and the Indian white-rumped vulture, which suffered a near-extinction from ingesting the carrion of diclofenac-treated cattle.

In recent decades, human encroachment has posed a threat to India's wildlife; in response, the system of national parks and protected areas, first established in 1935, was substantially expanded. In 1972, India enacted theWildlife Protection Act and Project Tiger to safeguard crucial habitat; further federal protections were promulgated in the 1980s. Along with over 500 wildlife sanctuaries, India now hosts 15 biosphere reserves, four of which are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves; 25 wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention.

The varied and rich wildlife of India has had a profound impact on the region's popular culture. The common name for wilderness in India is Jungle, which was adopted into the English language. The word has been also made famous in The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. India's wildlife has been the subject of numerous other tales and fables such as the Panchatantra and the Jataka tales.