Environmental Science

LESSON 9. Biogeographic Classification Of India

BIOGEOGRAPHIC CLASSIFICATION OF INDIA:

Our country can be divided into ten major regions based on the geography,

climate and pattern of vegetation seen and the communities of mammals, birds, reptiles, ambhibians, insects and other invertebrates that live in them. Each of these regions contain a variety of ecosystems such as forests, grass lands, lakes, rivers, mountains and hills which have specific plant and animals species.

India ’s Biogeographic Zones are given below :

1. The cold mountainous snow covered Trans-Himalayan region of ladakh

2. The Himalayan ranges and valleys of Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Assam and other North eastern States.

3. The Terai , the low land where the Himalayan rivers flow into the plains

4. The Gangetic and Brahmaputra plains.

5. The Thar Desert of Rajastan

6. The semi- arid grassland region of the Deccan plateau, Gujarat, Maharashtra , Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamilnadu

7. The North eastern States of India

8. The Western Ghats in Maharastra, Karnataka and Kerala

9. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands

10. The long western and eastern coastal belt with sandy beaches, forests and  mangroves.

THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY :

Habitat loss is mainly due to human population growth, industrialization and changes in the land use patterns, poaching of wild life and man wildlife conflicts . Man has begin to overuse or misuse most of these natural ecosystems. Due to unsustainable resource-use, once productive forests and grasslands have been turned into deserts and wastelands have been increased all over world. Scientists have estimated that human activities are likely to eliminate approximately 10 million species by the year 2050.

  Human population growth, industrialization and changes in the land use patterns :

Around 1.8 million species of plants and animals are known to science. The actual number of species have been existing is  more than 10x1.8millions. Though new species have been continually identified, the rate of extinction is very high (10-20,000 species per year i.e., 1000 to 10,000 times faster rate). Human actions are expected to exterminate 25% of world’s species in next 20-30 years. The mega extinction spasm is related to human population growth, industrialization and changes in the land use patterns in India . The reasons are:

Forests and grasslands are changed to agricultural land. Encroachments are being repeatedly legalized.

Natural wetlands are drained to establish crop lands leading to loss of aquatic  species.

Mangroves have been cleared for fuel wood and prawn farming, which has led to decrease in the habitat essential for breeding of marine fish.

Grasslands are changed to other forms, degraded by overgrazing. Loss to cattle, goat and sheep.

Natural forests are being deforested for timber and replanted for teak, sal et c . Such monoculture does not support biodiversity as in forests which has closed canopy and rich undergrowth. Excess collection of fire wood by lopping of branches of trees canopy is opened up altering the local biodiversity.

Foraging cattle retard regeneration of forest as young seedlings are trampled.

Ever increasing population gradually decrease buffer zones and forested areas. A prime example is Gir national park, the last bastion of Asiatic lion with a meter gauge railway line, state expressway and 3 temples.

Repeated fires by local grazers to increase growth of grass ultimately reduce regeneration of grasses.

Introduction of exotic weeds eg. lantana bushes, Eupatorium shrubs and ‘congress’ grass are invading at the expense of indigenous undergrowth species. Following traditional farming techniques like slash and burn in Himalayas, and rab, lopping of tree branches for making wood ash fertilizer in Western ghats

are now leading to loss of biodiversity.

Over harvesting of fish by large trawling boats is leading to depletion of fish stocks.

Marine turtles caught in the net are massacred of the coast of Orissa . The rare whale shark, a highly endangered species, is being killed off the coast of Gujarat .

  Poaching :

Specific threats to certain animals are related to large economic benefits. The skin and bones from tigers, ivory from elephants, horns from rhinos and perfume from the musk deer are extensively used abroad. Bears are killed for their gall bladders. Corals and shells are also collected for export or sold on the beaches of Chennai, Kanyakumari and the Andaman and Nicobar islands . Tortoises, exotic birds and other small animals are packed into tiny containers and smuggled abroad for the pet trade. A variety of wild plants with real or sometimes, dubious medicinal values are being overharvested. The commonly collected plants include Rauwolfia, Nux vomica, Datura, etc. The garden plants collected for illegal trade include orchids, ferns and mosses.

  Man wild life conflicts :

Conflicting situations with wild life starts causing immense damage and danger to man. Ex : In Sambalpur, Orissa 195 humans are killed in last 5 years by elephants and in retaliation villagers killed 98 elephants and badly injured more than 30 elephants. Similar incidents with tigers, leopards etc . are in news. Shrinking forest cover, human encroachment, ill and weak animals, lack of food (one adult elephant needs 200 kg green fodder and 150 kg of clean water) for animals, protecting villagers by putting electric fence are the main reasons for such happenings. As the compensation by government. is not enough, conflicts occur between forest department and villagers.

Current course

MODULE 1. Definition,Scope & Importance

MODULE 2. Ecosystem Types,Structure and Functions

MODULE 3. Biodiversity

MODULE 4. Natural Resources

MODULE 5. Environmental Pollution

MODULE 6. Nuclear Hazards -Solidwaste-disasterMana...

MODULE 7. Biosafety And Risk Assessment

MODULE 8. WASTE MANAGEMENT

MODULE 9. GLOBAL WARMING

MODULE 10. ENVIRONMENTAL ACT AND RELATED ISSUES

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10 Biogeographical Classification of India

Saleha Jamal

1.1 Introduction : Definition, Nature and Scope

1.2 Types of Biogeography

1.3 History of Biogeography

1.4 Biogeographical Regions : Meaning and Concept

1.5 Biogeographical Classification of World

1.6 Biogeographical Classification of India

1.1 Introduction: Definition, Nature and Scope

The earth consists of variety of life for fulfilling the need of man over thousands of years. This diversity of living creatures on earth forms a support system that has been used by civilizations for their growth and development. Attempts have been made by various scholars in order to categories and classify the variety of life given by nature over a century and this has led to the division of its organization into plants and animals. This information on the nature’s diversity has helped man in utilizing the earth’s biological wealth for the benefit of humanity and is very necessary for the process of development (Roy, 2016). Thus it can be said that biogeography simply means the study of organism (fossil or living) of the earth to the areas they occupy. In other words biogeography may be defined as “one of the aspects of geography which deals with the correlation among the animals, plants and their geography”. Biogeography as a subject is interdisciplinary and its subject matter deals with the distribution of organisms and communities in time and space. The primary goal of a biogeographer is to present a vivid picture of spatial patterns of distribution of plants and animals, the temporal and spatial variations and processes and causes thereof. The basic spatial unit for biogeographical studies is the biosphere or part thereof. The biosphere is the largest ecosystem and it is segmented into numerous ecosystems according to objectives of the study and spatial scale such as mountain ecosystem, crop ecosystem, delta ecosystem, grassland ecosystem etc (Singh, 2010).

Later the subject matter of biogeography further bifurcated into two separate branches of phytogeography (the distribution of plants) and zoogeography (the distribution of animals). In biogeography much emphasis is given to the study of phytogeography because the distributional pattern of plants becomes easy to study due to their static nature and their aggregation in static community while on the other hand animals are dynamic and they move from one place to another with very high variability in their behavior. Some believes that biogeography is a part of physical geography as it often related to the examination of physical environment and how it affects species and shaped their distribution across space.

Today biogeography is broken into three main fields of Historical biogeography, Ecological biogeography and Conservation biogeography.

Historical biogeography is also known as paleo-biogeography and studies the past distribution of species. It looks at their evolutionary history and things like past climate change to explain why a certain species may have developed in a particular area. It also deals with species dispersal, distribution and extinction of species of plants and animals through geological period.

Ecological biogeography looks at the current factors responsible for the distribution of plants and animals and it emphasize upon three things. Firstly; climatic equability which deals with the factors as diurnal and annual range of temperature because it is harder to survive in the areas of extreme climate and extreme fluctuation in temperature. Secondly; primary productivity which deals with the evapotranspiration rate of plants because areas having  high  rate  of  evapotranspiration  will  have  high  plant  growth  and  vice  versa. Thirdly; habitat heterogeneity which deals with the variations in the habitat of organisms.

Conservation biogeography deals with the protection and conservation and restoration of nature and its flora and fauna. Both the methods of on-site conservation and off-site conservation of species are given due consideration (Singh, 2010; Briney, 2017).

The history of biogeography is as old as the appearance of small organism on surface of the earth including terrestrial or marine environment. The work of palaeogeographers,  palaeobotanist, palaeoecology, historical geomorphologist has played an important role in contributing to the basic subject matter of ancient biogeography. During the ancient times the distribution of flora and fauna was not like as it is today. This part of historical biogeography dealt with the great mammoth, dinosaurs and giant trees which lived on the surface of the earth nearly 200 million years ago. The medieval period starts approximately from 4000 years BC to the workers of the period of 16th century. 15th to 16th was called as early modern era in the medieval history of biogeography because in this period biogeography got its independent identity like that of chemistry, physics and geography. The period from 17th century to present date is called as the period of modern age (Chouhan, 2013). The geographical voyages of discoveries in the 18th century paved the way for the rise of biogeography as a science in its own right. Biogeography as a subject started to receive much attention in the 19th century because one of the first modern delimitations of biogeographic regions was created in 1858 by the English ornithologist Philip L. Sclater, who based his division of the terrestrial world on the distributions of birds. In 1870, the biologist Adolf Engler devised a scheme based on plant distribution. Darwin’s theory on origin of species was largely based on the emerging biogeographic understanding of the era in which Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker a plant collector and systematist and Alfred Russel Wallace a zoogeographer greatly influenced Darwin. Darwin collected and pondered the biogeographical material that ultimately leads him to the concept of evolution by natural selection (Cox and Moore, 2006; Groves, 2016). The next significant advancement in biogeography took place in 1915 when William Diller Matthew a geologist and paleontologist said that ‘at any given time period, the most advance and progressive species of the race will be those inhabiting that region and the most primitive and unprogressive species will be those remote from this center’. In 1920s and 1930s a new development took place which combined the rapidly evolving field of ecology with biogeography. In recent times a significant portion of the theoretical literature on biogeography has been devoted to argument about the efficacy of vicarianism compared to dispersalism.

1.4 Biogeographical Regions: Meaning and Concept

Biogeographical regions are those regions which show the regional pattern of distribution of world’s flora and fauna at continental scale. The biogeographical regions are identified, determined and represented on the map on the basis of some common characteristics that are  held by plants and animals. In a broad and fundamental sense a biogeographical region may be described as an area possessing a particular set of climatic conditions i.e., its own distinctive temperature and rainfall regime and its own diurnal and seasonal changes which give rise to a particular kind of vegetation which in turn give rise to a particular kind of animal life. The biogeographical regions with respect to plant and animal are studied separately such as floral regions and faunal regions because both vary in their characteristics as it has already been mentioned above.

It was Adolf Engler a German botanist who was the first person to identify the world floral regions in the year 1879. He divided the world flora into four major regions on the basis of evolutionary history and dominant characteristics of plants and depicted them on map. These regions were the northern extratropical realm, the palaeotropical realm, the South American Realm and old ocean realm. Then R. Good and (1947) and A. Takhtijan (1986) presented the scheme and divided the world flora into six major floral regions. These regions were Neotropical, palaeotropical, Holarctic, Australian, cape floral and Antarctic.

With respect to the division of faunal regions the early attempt was made by J. Prichard (1826) and W. Swinson (1844) who divided the world fauna into six major regions of North American region, European region, Asian Region, South American Region, African Region and Australian region. Then Philip Sclater (1858) and Alfred Russel (1876) again divided the world fauna into six region namely; Palaearctic region, Nearctic region, Oriental region, African region, Australian region and Neoarctic region (Singh, 2010).

For proper understanding and explanation the land plant species of the world are grouped into six major floristic regions on the basis of their worldwide distribution which are as follows:

1.  Australian Floral Region: Faunists and florists agree that Australian continent as a whole is a district biogeographical entity and it is ranked as a region. Thus, this region includes the plant of whole Australia which is characterized by typical plant species.

2.  Cape Floral Region: This floral kingdom has developed in the southern tip of Africa where the plants having bulbs and tubers have developed and these represents the typical plant species of the floral kingdom.

3.  Antarctic Floral Regions: this region includes a narrow strip in the north of Antarctica which runs from Patagonia and Southern Chile of South America.

   4.  Palaeotropical Floral Region: this region includes most of Africa, South West Asia, South Asia, South East Asia and southern and middle portions of China. This region is further subdivided into African sub-kingdom, Indo-Malaysian sub-kingdom and Polynesian sub-kingdom.

5.  Neotropical Floral Region: this region includes the whole of South America except southern Chile and Patagonia.

6.  Boreal Floral Region: this floral region includes the whole of Northern America except

Middle America, Greenland, entire Europe, Northern Asia and Arctic Region.

There are numerous Biogeographers who have divided the world into faunal regions but faunal region as represented by A.R. Wallace is the most convincing and acceptable among all the subsequent division which is as follows.

1.  Palaearctic Faunal Region: this region includes Europe and middle and north Asia. This region is further divided into five regions namely; tundra region, temperate coniferous forest region, temperate grassland region, deciduous forest region and desert region.

2.  Nearctic Faunal Region: this region consists of the geographical territories of North America and Greenland. It is important to find out that there is much similarity between Palaearctic and Nearctic faunal regions. Both the regions were connected through the Bering land bridge during tertiary period which enables them to free exchange and migration of animals.

3.  Oriental Faunal Region: this includes the geographical areas of mainly south and south-east Asia. The Himalayas, Tibetan plateau and Chinese mountainous region form a transitional zone between Palaearctic and Oriental faunal regions. The whole of this faunal region comes under tropical region and hence associated with the Ethiopian faunal region.

4.  Ethiopian Faunal Region: this region incorporates substantial areas of the whole of Africa south of Sahara and far off south western Arabia which is separated from the African region by Red Sea. This region is subdivided into three types namely; desert region, savanna region and tropical forest region.

5.  Australian Faunal Region: this region includes Australia, New Zealand and islands between south-east Asia and Australia such as New Guinea, Solomon and Samoa etc.

6.   Neoarctic Faunal Region: this region includes the whole of South America characterized by tropical environment. This region is further sub divided into three types namely; temperate grassland region, desert region and tropical forest region.

The Indian subcontinent is a part of vast Oriental biogeographic regions and is very rich in biodiversity. Being a physical part of Asia, India is least limited by geographical barriers, thus it has acted as a center of dispersal of species as well as has received species from the Palaearctic, Ethiopian, Indo-Chinese and Indo-Malayan sub regions. The biogeographical classification of India has been attempted by various earlier scholars (Hooker 1854, Clarke 1898, Chatterjee 1940, Puri 1960, Rodgers and Panwar 1988). In the opinion of Rogers and Panwar the Indian region can be divided into 10 biogeographical regions which are as follows and shown in Fig. 1. The biogeographic zones are divide into secondary units called as biotic province (Table 1) for example, the biogeographic zone Gangetic Plain is divided into two biotic provinces namely, Upper Gangetic Plain and Lower Gangetic Plain. The reason behind showing the biotic province under the present work is because sometimes barrier to animal dispersal such as major river valleys may lead to the evolution of distinctive species element in different biotic provinces.

1.  Trans-Himalayan Region: the Himalayan range immediately north of the Great Himalayas is called as Trans Himalayas. This region is represented by the cold desert of Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, North Sikkim and Luhil-Spiti areas of Himachal Pradesh. This region consists of Karakoram, Ladakh, Zaskar and Kailash mountain ranges. It constitutes 5.6 per cent of the total geographical area and estimated to cover 186200 km2 in India. The vegetation is primarily of dry alpine scrub formation. The genera that contribute to the sparse vegetation are Saxifraga , Draba , Ephedra , Kobresia and Carex . This region is the favorable habitat for the biggest population of wild sheep and goat and other rare fauna found here are Snow Leopard and migratory Black-necked Crane. This region represents an extremely fragile ecosystem.

2.  Himalayan Region: this region constitutes 6.4 per cent of the total geographical area including some highest peaks in the world (Fig. 2) . This region extends from east to west upto 2400 kms from Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh and supports a remarkable assemblage of vegetation formation. As far as plants are considered this region consists of more than  8000 species of flowering plants of which 50 per cent plant species are endemic. The subtropical and temperate zone in the West Himalaya is predominated by tall conifers and broad-leaved species dominate in east Himalaya. Oaks are common in West Himalaya and show a distinct altitudinal distribution. The slope of East Himalaya is characterized by the presence of more than 85 species of colored rhododendrons, bamboos and variety of orchid species. This region is characterized by endangered species of bovid such as Bharal, Ibex, Markhor, Takin and others are Hungul and Musk Dear.

3.  Indian Desert Region: this region occupies 6.8 per cent of the land surface (Fig. 2). This region lies mostly in the Rajasthan state of India and extended into some parts of Haryana, Punjab and Gujarat. The desert region extends from the Aravalli hills in the north-east to the Rann of Kutch along the coast and the alluvial plains of the Indus River in the west and north-west. The desert is also characterized by hillocks and sandy gravel plains this is the reason why, this region have diversified habitat and ecosystem. The vegetation, human culture and animal in this region are very rich in comparison with other deserts of the world. The plant/tree species which are found here are Acacia, Tecomella, Prosopis Cameraria . Bushes of Ziziphus, Capparis deciduas and Calligonum polygonoides are also common. This region also supports some endangered species of mammals such as Wolf, Caracal, Desert Cat, Chinkara, Blackbuck, Chosingha, Nilgai and Gazelle. Birds like Houbara Bustard and Great Indian Bustard are also found here with eagles, harriers, falcons, kestrel and vultures.

   4.  Semi-Arid Region: the word arid has been taken from a Greek word ‘arere’ which means to be dry. The term arid normally means a region on the surface of the earth where rainfall is nil or inadequate which results into sparse vegetation. This region constitutes 16.6 per cent of the total geographical area of the country and it is a transition zone between the desert and the dense forest of Western Ghats. The Indian semi-arid region mainly lies in the states of Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana and western parts of Rajasthan. The rains are erratic and sometimes come with a heavy storm for short duration resulting in high runoff instead of replenishing the ground water. The semi arid vegetation chiefly consists of thorn-scrub forests of Capparis deciduas , Prosopis cineraria and Flacourftia . The availability of grass and palatable shrub layer in this zone supports the highest wildlife biomass. Sambar and Chital are restricted to the better wooded hills and moister valley areas respectively. Other endangered species supported by this region are Lion, Caracal, Jackal, Wolf.

    5.  Western Ghats: this region constitutes 4.0 per cent of the total geographical area. The Western Ghats biogeographic zone comes next to Himalaya in floristic richness and diversity. About 4000 species of flowering plants are expected here of which 1500 are endemic species. The moist deciduous forests at lower elevation contain highly valued timber species such as Indian Rosewood ( Dalbergia latifolia ), Kauha/asaina/black murdah ( Terminalia crenulata ), Indian kino tree ( Pterocarpus marsupium ) and Teak ( Tectona grandis ). With respect to animals some significant endemic species to this region include Nilgiri Langur (Presbutis jobni), Lion Tailed Macaque (Macaca silenus), Grizzled Giant Squirrel (Ratufa macroura) and Malabar Grey Hornbill (Heosemys silvatica).

6.  Deccan Plateau: this region is the India’s richest biogeographic region constituting 42.0 per cent of the total geographical area. It is a semi arid region that falls in the rain shadow area of the Western Ghats. This bio-geographic zone of peninsular India is by far the most extensive zone, covering India’s finest forests, particularly in the States of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha. Majority of the forests are deciduous in nature. The Deccan highland constitutes the principal catchment for a number of south India’s main river systems (Narmada, Tapti, Mahanadi and Godavari). A major portion of the Deccan peninsula is covered by Tropical thorn forests and tropical dry and moist deciduous forests and degraded shrub lands. Teak ( Tectona grandis ), Axlewood ( Anogeissus latifolia ), Indian Frankincense ( Boswellia serrata ), Bustard Teak ( Butea monosperma ) are the thorny species of the semi arid zone. The tropical moist deciduous forest chiefly includes Kadam ( Adina cardifolia ), Satinwood/Buruta ( Chloroxylon swietenia ), Coromandel ebony/Tendu ( Diospyros exsclupta ). Animal species found in this region are Chital (Axis axis), Sambar (Cerves unicolor), Nilgai (Boselapbus gtragocamelus), Chousingha (Tetracerus quadricarnis), Barking dear, Gaur (Antilope cervicapra), Elephants (Elephas maximus) in Bihar-Odisha and Karnataka-Tamil Nadu belts. Moreover, Wild Buffalow and Swamp deers are found at the junction of Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

7.  The Gangetic Plain: this region constitutes around 10.8 per cent of the total geographical area. This is the largest unit of the great plains of India stretching from Delhi to Kolkata covering the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. The characteristic fauna in this region includes Rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis), Elephant (Elephas maximus), Buffalo (Babulus bubalis), Swamp Deer (Cervus duvauceli), Hog Deer (Axis porcinus) and Hispid  Hare (Carprolagus bispidus). In this region the natural vegetation has been much replaced by cultivated plants. In the Terai areas i.e., the foothills of the Himalayas the natural vegetation comprises of tall grasses of Kangaroo Grass ( Themeda ), Saccharum and Phragmites ( perennial grass ). Other trees which are commonly found here are Shikakai, Neem, Mango, Mahua, Serpentine Wood and White Sandalwood. The most important thing about this region is that it is the food bowl of India and it provides foodgrains to millions of population because of its plain topography which is suitable for agriculture and the perennial rivers which provides irrigation throughout the year.

8.  North-East Region: this region constitutes of 5.2 per cent of the total geographical area. The region represents the transition zone between Indian, Indo-Malayan and indo-Chinese biogeographical regions as well as being a meeting point of the Himalayan Mountains and Peninsular India. This zone is the richest in biological diversity at the community level, at the species level and in endemics. About 50 per cent of the total number of species of India occurs in this zone which also includes a portion of Arunachal Pradesh. This area has perhaps the most ancient species of living angiosperms and apart from this the rich concentration of primitive flowering plants, several others like orchids, bamboos, ferns, musaceae and cucurbitaceae exhibit maximum diversity here.

9.  Coastal Region: this region constitutes of 2.5 per cent of the total geographical area with sandy beaches, mangroves, mud flats, coral reefs and marine angiosperms pastures make them the wealth and health zone of India. The coastline of India stretches from Gujarat to Cape Comorin in the east and includes two major vegetation type mangrove forests and beach forests. The most characteristic tree species of beach forests are Australian pine tree ( Casuarina equisetifolia ), Cashew tree ( Anacardium occidentale ) Indian doomba oiltree ( Calophyllum inophyllum ). A total of 25 islets constitute the Lakshadweep which are of coral origin and have a typical reef lagoon system, rich in biodiversity. The densely populated Lakshadweep islands virtually have no natural vegetation. The mangrove forests are found along the deltas, estuaries and backwaters and chiefly comprise the genera of true mangrove Rhizophora, Sonneratia, Heretiera, Xylocarpus .

10.  Island: this region constitutes of 0.3 per cent of the total geographical area. The Andaman and Nicobar groups of island in the Bay of Bengal with 348 islands show an interesting biogeography. These islands are the centers of high endemism and contain some of India’s  finest evergreen forests and support a wide diversity of corals. These islands support roughly 2200 species of higher plants. There are about 210 endemic species of which 75 are trees. The dense vegetation of the islands can be broadly classified as littoral and inland types. The littoral forests composed of trees like Andaman bulletwood/Sea Mahua ( Manilkara ), Indian doomba oiltree ( Calophyllum inophyllum ), Sea-almond/Indian-almond ( Terminalia catappa ) fish-poison tree/sea-poison tree ( Barringtonia asiastica ) and mangroves like red-mangrove/Asiatic-mangrove ( Rhizophora mucronata ), Garjan ( R. apiculata ), grey or white mangrove ( Avicennia marina ). The inland vegetation includes the evergreen and deciduous forests with a number of economically important timber species East Indian Mahogany ( Pterocarpus dalbergioides ), frywood ( Albizzia lebbeck ) and few others.

Table 1: Biogeographic classification and biotic provinces of India

References:

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  • Singh S (2010). Biogeography. Prayag Pustak Bhawan. University Road, Allahabad.
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Bio Geographic Classification of India

India is a mega- diverse nation, housing around 10% of world's species. india also has a rich cultural heritage going back millions of years. much of indian biodiversity is intricately related to the socio-cultural practices of the land. eastern and north eastern parts of india are the mega sources of biodiversity. india receives so many items like medicines, woods, flora and fauna..

Jagran Josh

India has different climate and topography in different parts and hence is termed as a mega diversity country. India occupies 10th place among plant rich countries of the world. It is essential to acquire knowledge about the distribution and environmental interaction of flora and fauna of India.

Bio-geographers have classified India into ten Bio-geographic zones with each zone having characteristic climate, soil and biodiversity.

  • Trans Himalayan Region of Laddakh
  • The Himalayan Ranges
  • The Gangetic and Brahmaputra Plains
  • The Thar Desert of Rajasthan
  • The semi arid grassland region of the Deccan plateau Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
  • The Northeast States of India
  • The Western Ghats
  • The Andaman and Nicobar Islands
  • Western and Eastern Coastal Belt

Description of These Areas is Given Below:

Trans-Himaylayas:

The Himalayas are extended to the Tibetan plateau. This region harbors the high-altitude cold desert in ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir) and Lahaul Spiti (Himachal Pradesh). It accounts for 5.7% of the country's landmass.

Himayalas: The Himalayas are the northern boundaries of India. The entire mountain chain is running from Kashmir in the North-west to Assam in the north-east. The Himalayas comprise of a diverse range of biotic provinces and biomes. The Himalayas cover 7.2% of the country's landmass

Desert: The extremely dry area west of the Aravalli hill range comprises both the salty desert of Gujarat and the sandy desert of Rajasthan. Deserts occupy around 6.9% of the country's land mass. The kinds of deserts found in India are:

(I) The desert of western Rajasthan

(II) The desert of Gujarat

(III) High-altitude cold desert of Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. The Indian deserts have more diversified fauna.

Gangetic Plain : This plain covers the area between the south Himalayas to the tropic of cancer. These Plains were formed by the Ganges river system and are relatively homogeneous. This region experience 600 mm rainfall annually. Sunderbans forests are located in this region and it covers 11% of the country's land mass.

  The Deccan Plateau: This zone lies between the desert and the Deccan plateau. It includes the Aravalli hill range. It covers approximately 15.6% of the country's landmass. It is a large triangular plateau south of the Narmada valley. Three sides of the plateau are covered by mountains slopes towards east. Satpura Mountains cover the north while Western Ghats cover the west side and Eastern Ghats cover the eastern side of the plateau. It is the one of largest zones covering the southern and south-central plateau with mostly deciduous trees. It covers 4.3% of the country's land mass.

North-East India : These are pains and Non-Himalayan ranges of northeastern India and have a wide variety of vegetation. It covers around 5.2% of the country's land mass.

Western Ghats : The Western Ghats are a mountain range that runs along the western cost of India. They are a range extending north-south from southern tip of Gujarat in the north to Kanyakumari in the south. The mountains cover an area of about 160,000 sq. km. This ghat section covers an extremely diverse range of biotic provinces and biomes. It covers about 5.8% of the country's landmass.

  Islands : The Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal has almost 300 big and small islands. Among these, only five islands are inhabited. Only tribes are found in the island of Nicobar. These islands have a highly diverse set of biomes and occupy 0.03% of the country's biomass.

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Biogeographical Classification of India

Introduction.

India has mega diversity in terms of biogeography. India has only 2.4 % of the area of land in the world but has 8% of the biological diversity of the world’s content. India is divided mainly into 10 biogeographical zones. These are -

Trans-Himalayan Region

Himalayan Zone

Indian Desert Zone

Semi-Arid Region

Western Ghats

Deccan Plateau

Gangetic Plain

North East Region

Coastal Region

Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Biogeographical Zones of India

The 10 most vibrant biogeographical zones of India are as follows −

This region covers 5.6% of the Indian geographical area. The trans-Himalayan region includes the regions of Jammu and Kashmir, North Sikkim, Ladakh, and Spiti and Lahaul areas of Himachal Pradesh . The characteristic of this region is alpine vegetation and it is home to some of the biggest populations of wild goats and sheep. Among the animals that are found here, snow leopards and migratory black-necked cranes are the most popular. The extremely fragile ecosystem of the cold desert zone in this area is unique and notable for researchers.

The Himalayan zone is a rich zone in terms of flora and fauna and it covers as much as 6.4 percent of the total Indian geographical area. It is also home to a few highest peaks. This zone consists of alpine and sub-alpine forests, deciduous forests, and grassy meadows that are home to some of the endangered species, such as Bharal, ibex, markhor, Himalayan Tahr, and Takin . Other endangered species such as Hangul and Musk Deer can also be spotted in this region.

The desert zone covers around 6.6% of the total Indian geographical expanse and includes the Kutch and Thar deserts . It is home to some endangered mammals including Caracal, wolves, Desert cats, etc. The region also has some birds under conservation such as the Great Indian Bustard and Houbara Bustard. The wide expanse of grasslands supports the survival of endangered mammals in this region.

Semi-arid Region

The semi-arid region has an expanse of around 16.6% of the total Indian geographical area. It is also a transition zone between the dense forests of the Western Ghats and the deserts. Peninsular India has two large climatically semi-arid regions. These regions have many natural and marshy lands and artificial lakes. Palatable shrub layers and remarkable grassland are characteristic of this region that gives food and shelter to some endangered wildlife, which includes the cervid species of Chital and Sambar. The lion (restricted to Gujarat), jackal, wolf, and Caracal are found in this region too.

This constitutes as much as 4% of the total Indian geographical area and is a notable tropical evergreen forest of India. It is also an official biodiversity hotspot out of a total of four in India. The Western Ghats has a variety of vertebrate populations many of whom are endangered species in nature. Moreover, the region has a distinct and rich faunal element that is unique and characteristic of the region.

Significant species native to this region include Nilgiri Langur, Grizzled Giant Squirrel, and Malabar Grey Hornbill. Lion Tailed Macaque, Malabar Civet, and Nilgiri Tahr also call the Western Ghats their home. The Travancore Tortoise and Cane turtle are two endangered species found in the central Western Ghats.

Covering around 42% of the total Indian geographical area, Deccan Plateau is the largest biogeographical zone in the country. It falls in the rain shadow area of the Western Ghats. It is a semi-arid region and has some of the finest forests in India in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Maharashtra. Most of the forests in this region are deciduous type.

However, there are other types of forests in the hill areas of the Deccan Plateau. The degraded shrubland and deciduous and thorn forests provide shelter to many endangered species. Species like Sambar, Chital, Chausingha, and Barking deer are found in this region. Other species that can be spotted here include Gaur, Elephant, Wild Buffalo, and swamp deer .

This zone constitutes nearly 10.8% of the total Indian geographical area. It has a homogenous topography for hundreds of kilometers. The region is known for its diverse flora and fauna that are unique and characteristic of this region. The fauna of this zone includes Buffalo, Rhino, Elephant, Hog Deer, Swamp Deer, and Hispid Hare.

Covering around 5.2% of the total biogeographical area, the northeast is the transition zone between the Indo-Malayan, Indian, and Indo-Chinese biogeographical regions. It is also a junction of peninsular India and the Himalayan mountains. Thus, the Northeast is the gateway of a majority of India’s flora and fauna apart from being a biodiversity hotspot of the country. Many of the species of animals found in this region are characteristic of this zone or are native to the Khasi hills . One of the most popular examples of fauna found here is the one-horned rhinoceros which is an endangered species found predominantly in Assam .

It constitutes about 2.5% of the total Indian geographical area which contains mangroves, sandy beaches, coral reefs, and mud flats. The region is also popular for the marine angiosperm that makes the region unique and wealthy. The total coastline that is part of the region from Gujarat to Sundarbans is a stretch of 5,423 km. The Lakshadweep is made up of a total of 25 total coral islets and has a typical reef lagoon system which makes it rich in marine biodiversity. The Lakshadweep, however, does not show any natural vegetation.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Covering an area of nearly 0.3%, Andaman and Nicobar Islands is home to one tropical moist evergreen forest out of a total of three in India. The zone is home to a rich and diverse flora that includes some of India’s finest evergreen forests. The islands are also home to rich and diverse coral species. Endemic island biodiversity in India is only available in this region. The notable fauna of this region that is endemic includes Narcondam Hornbill and South Andaman Krait.

By studying the biogeographical zones and their rich contents which include some of the rarest flora and fauna, one can realize the rich biodiversity of India. The 10 biogeographical regions are diverse and altogether unique in nature and they provide a good glimpse of India’s mega diversity.

Q1. How many biogeographical zones are there in India?

Ans. There are 10 biogeographical zones in India.

Q2. What are the 10 biogeographical zones in India?

Ans. India is divided mainly into 10 biogeographical zones. These are

Q3. Which is the largest biogeographical zone in India?

Ans. Covering 42% of the total geographical area, Deccan Plateau is the largest biogeographical zone in India.

Bitopi Kaashyap

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Biogeographical Classification of India

essay on biogeographical classification of india

Biogeographical Classification of India :

The division of India according to biogeographic characteristics is the biogeographical classification of India. India harbours nearly 10% of the world’s floral diversity comprising over 17500 documented flowering plants, 6200 endemic species, 7500 medicinal plants and 246 globally threatened species in only 2.4% of world’s land area. Bio-geographers have classified India into ten Bio-geographic zones with each zone having characteristic climate, soil and biodiversity.

There are ten biogeographic zones in India:

1.Trans Himalayan zone.

2.Desert zone.

3.North east zone.

5.Himalayan zone

6.Western ghat zone.

7.Gangetic plain zone.

8.Deccan plateau zone.

9.Semiarid zone.

10.Coastal zone.

Trans- Himalayan Region:

The Trans Himalayan regions of the states of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh are a moonscape land – an arid high altitude desert unlike any other part of the Indian subcontinent. The stark landscape is a panorama of high snowcapped peaks and bare multihued hills sculpted by the forces of nature. The high dusty valleys strewn with rock have altitudes ranging from 2,500m to 4,500m.

Desert Zone:

This includes Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujrat and Kachha. The climate is dry. The common animals which are found here are Donkey, Deer, Cheetal, Neelgai. Different types of snakes and lizards are also very common.The Indian part of the Thar Desert occupies 170,000 km 2  (66,000 sq mi). The climate is characterised by very hot and dry summer and cold winter. Rainfall is less than 70 cm.Babul, Kikar, and wild date palm grow in areas of moderate rainfall.

North-East Zone:

North-east India is one of the poorest regions in the country. It has several species of orchids, bamboos, ferns and other plants. Here the wild relatives of cultivated plants such as banana, mango, citrus and pepper can be grown.

The two groups of islands, i.e., the Arabian Sea islands and Bay Islands differ significantly in origin and physical characteristics. The Arabian Sea Islands (Laccadive, Minicoy, etc.) are the foundered remnants of the old land mass and subsequent coral formations. On the other hand, the Bay Islands lay only about 220 km. Away from the nearest point on the main land mass and extend about 590 km. With a maximum width of 58 km the island forests of Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea have some of the best-preserved evergreen forests of India. 

Himalayan Zone:

Himalayas was originally part of the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot. In 2004, a hotspot reappraisal classified the region as part of two hotspots: Indo-Burma and the newly distinguished Himalaya. The Eastern Himalaya includes Bhutan, southern, central and eastern Nepal, and northeastern India, and comprises 11 Key Biodiversity Areas (occupying 750,000 hectares).

Western Ghat Zone :

It supports the life of 7,402 species of flowering plants,1814 species of non-flowering plants, 139 mammal species, 508 bird species, 179 amphibian species, 6000 insects species and 290 freshwater fish species. And many are still to be discovered. Western Ghats is a mountain range that runs through the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. 

Gangetic Plain Zone:

The thickness in the alluvial sediments varies considerably with its maximum in the Ganga plains.In the North is the Gangetic plain extending up to the Himalayan foothills. This is the largest unit of the Great Plain of India. Ganga is the main river after whose name this plain is named. The aggradational Great Plains cover about 72.4mha area with the Ganga and the Brahmaputra forming the main drainage axes in the major portion.

Deccan Plateau Zone:

This is the largest unit of the Peninsular Plateau of India. The highlands of the plateau are covered with different types of forests, which provide a large variety of forest products.the Deccan plateau includes the region lying south of the Satpura range.it extends up to the southern tip of peninsular India. Anaimudi is the highest peak of this region. The Deccan plateau is surrounded by the western and the Eastern Ghats. These ghats meet each other at the Nilgiri hills. The Western Ghats includes the Sahyadri, Nilgiris, Anamalai, and cardamom hills.

Semi Aired Zone:

Adjoining the desert are the semi-arid areas, a transitional zone between the desert and the denser forests of the Western Ghats. The natural vegetation is thorn forest. This region is characterized by discontinuous vegetation cover with open areas of bare soil and soil-water deficit throughout the year. Thorny shrubs, grasses and some bamboos are present in some regions.

Coastal Zone:

The west coast is narrow except around the Gulf of Cambay and the Gulf of Kutch. In the extreme south, however, it is somewhat wider along the South Sahyadri. The backwaters are the characteristic features of this coast. The east coast plains, in contrast are broader due to depositional activities of the east-flowing rivers owing to the change in their base levels.

Posted By: Adv. Tanvi G. | Posted on: Jun 06, 2020 | Category: Environment | Tag: Biogeographical classification of India ten biogeographic zones trans Himalayan zone desert zone north east zone islands himayalyan zone western ghat zone western ghar gangetic plain zone Deccan plateau zone semiarid zone coastal zone

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  1. Biogeographical Regions of India

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    essay on biogeographical classification of india

VIDEO

  1. Biological Classification

  2. Biological Classification

  3. Indian Geography Questions

  4. BIOGEOGRAPHICAL CLASSIFICATION OF INDIA

  5. BIOGEOGRAPHICAL ZONES OF INDIA for UPSC

  6. HPE 2074 04 29 Biodiversity According to Geographical Regions-

COMMENTS

  1. Biogeographic classification of India

    Biogeographic classification of India is the division of India according to biogeographic characteristics. Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species ( biology ), organisms, and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. India has a rich heritage of natural diversity.

  2. LESSON 9. Biogeographic Classification Of India

    1. The cold mountainous snow covered Trans-Himalayan region of ladakh 2. The Himalayan ranges and valleys of Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Assam and other North eastern States. 3. The Terai, the low land where the Himalayan rivers flow into the plains 4. The Gangetic and Brahmaputra plains. 5. The Thar Desert of Rajastan 6.

  3. Biogeographical Classification of India

    It looks at their evolutionary history and things like past climate change to explain why a certain species may have developed in a particular area. It also deals with species dispersal, distribution and extinction of species of plants and animals through geological period.

  4. Bio Geographic Classification of India

    Bio Geographic Classification of India India is a Mega- diverse nation, housing around 10% of world's species. India also has a rich cultural heritage going back millions of years. Much of...

  5. Biogeographic Zones

    India's biogeographic classification is a division of the country based on biogeographic characteristics. India has a rich heritage of natural diversity. Among the top 17 megadiverse countries in the world, India ranks fourth in Asia and tenth globally.

  6. Biogeographic zones of India

    India has been classified into 10 biogeographic zones (Figure 1) and further sub-divided into 27 biogeographic provinces (Rodgers and Panwar 1988, Singh and Kushwaha, 2008): Figure 1. Biographical regions of India as defined by Rodgers and Panwar (1988). Map: Sandeep Pulla.

  7. PDF UNIT 4: Biodiversity

    4.2 BIOGEOGRAPHIC CLASSIFICATION OF INDIA 84 4.3 VALUE OF BIODIVERSITY: CONSUMPTIVE, PRODUCTIVE USE, SOCIAL, ETHICAL, AESTHETIC AND OPTION VALUES 84 4.3.1Consumptive value 85 ... India's Biogeographic Zones 1. The cold mountainous snow covered Trans Himalayan region of Ladakh. 2. The Himalayan ranges and valleys of Kash-

  8. Biogeographic Regions / Zones of India

    India has been divided into ten recognizable biogeographic zones as follows: Trans-Himalayan Region It constitutes 5.6 per cent of the total geographical area, includes the high altitude, cold and arid mountain areas of Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, North Sikkim, Lahaul and Spiti areas of Himachal Pradesh.

  9. PDF Biogeographical Classification of India

    • Biogeographical classification of India Biogeographical Zones of India Megadiverse countries India is one of 18 megadiversity countries of the world The megadiverse countries are a group of countries that harbor the majority of the Earth's species and are therefore considered extremely biodiverse.

  10. The Biogeographical Fascination of the Indian Subcontinent : Journal of

    In this Virtual Issue we assembled a small set of papers exploring these issues. We start with a classic paper by John Briggs (2003) on the biogeographical and tectonic history of India. Since then a series of papers have explored the effects of the biological passengers, which the Indian plate assembled from Gondwana, African and Asia during ...

  11. Biogeographic zones of India: Political boundaries and ...

    A slightly modified version of the biogeographic classification proposed by Rodgers and Panwar (1988) is followed ( Table 5). India s rich vegetation wealth is undoubtedly due to the immense ...

  12. Biogeographic zones in India (Rodgers and Panwar 1988)

    Terrestrial ecosystems include forests, grasslands, deserts, and tundra ecosystems. Similarly, the aquatic ecosystem has marine and freshwater ecology. There are ten biogeographic resins in India ...

  13. Biogeographical Classification of India

    Biogeographical Classification of India - Free download as Word Doc (.doc / .docx), PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free. this is the outline of a seminar on biogeographical classification of India for engineering s4 class.

  14. Biogeographical Classification of India

    The 10 most vibrant biogeographical zones of India are as follows − Trans-Himalayan Region This region covers 5.6% of the Indian geographical area. The trans-Himalayan region includes the regions of Jammu and Kashmir, North Sikkim, Ladakh, and Spiti and Lahaul areas of Himachal Pradesh.

  15. essay on biogeographical classification of india

    Biogeographic classification of India is the division of India according to biogeographic characteristics. Biogeography is the study of the distribution of... Bio-geographers have classified India into ten Bio-geographic zones with each zone having characteristic climate, soil and biodiversity.

  16. Biogeographical classification of india

    Dec 13, 2016 • 80 likes • 73,177 views Education Biogeographical classification of india Environmental studies 1 of 31 Download Now Recommended Biogeographical classification of India Jagan Kumar Ojha Biodiversity at global, national & local level and Types of Species Jagan Kumar Ojha Hotspots of biodiversity Somya Bagai

  17. India as a Mega Diversity Region

    India is one of the world's megadiverse countries, with 45,000 plant species and twice as many animal species. India has only 2.4 per cent of the world's land area, but it has 8.1 per cent of the world's species diversity, making it one of the world's 12 mega diversity countries. ... A rich biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic area ...

  18. Biogeographic classification of India

    Biogeographic classification of India is the division of India according to biogeographic characteristics. Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species ( biology ), organisms, and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. India has a rich heritage of natural diversity.

  19. essay on biogeographical classification of india

    Biogeography is the study of the distribution of... Bio-geographers have classified India into ten Bio-geographic zones with each zone having characteristic climate, soil and biodiversity.... [PDF Notes] Complete information on Biogeographical Classification of India · 1. Trans-Himalayan Region. The Himalayan ranges immediately north of the ...

  20. Biogeographical Classification of India

    The division of India according to biogeographic characteristics is the biogeographical classification of India. India harbours nearly 10% of the world's floral diversity comprising over 17500 documented flowering plants, 6200 endemic species, 7500 medicinal plants and 246 globally threatened species in only 2.4% of world's land area.

  21. Biogeographical Regions of India

    Learninsta presents the core concepts of Biology with high-quality research papers and topical review articles.. Biogeographical Regions of India. As per the international 'biome' type of classification based upon climate, fauna and flora and the soil conditions, India can be divided into ten different biogeographic zones, (Fig. 11.3 and table 11.1) namely:

  22. Biogeographical classification of India:Biodiversity

    3. BIOGEOGRAPHICAL CLASSIFICATION OF INDIA Biogeographical classification of India was accomplished by Rodgers and Panwar (1988) describing 10 zones in India based on factors such as altitude, moisture, topography, rainfall etc. These zones are used as a basis for planning wild life protected areas in India. These zones deals with the ...

  23. Top 10 Bio-Geographical Zones in India

    ADVERTISEMENTS: The following points highlight the top ten bio-geographical zones in India. The bio-geographical zones are: 1. Trans-Himalayas 2. Himalayas 3. Desert 4. Semi-Arid 5. Western Ghats 6. Deccan Peninsula 7. Gangetic Plain 8. North-East India 9. Islands 10. Coasts. Bio-Geographical Zone # 1. Trans-Himalayas: An extension of the Tibetan Plateau, harbouring high-altitude cold desert […]

  24. A systematic review on the potential impact of future climate change on

    Species Distribution Modelling (SDM) is used to identify a species' potential current and future distribution. While numerous global studies have reported species distribution changes in various future climate change scenarios, regional relevance has often been overlooked. In this study, we conducted a systematic literature review to assess the future climate change impacts on India's ...