Question.
Distinguish between Tropical Evergreen and Deciduous forests.
( Chapter - 5 Natural Vegetation and Wildlife, Cass 9 NCERT Contemporary India -I )
Answer.
The forests of India can be classified into five types – tropical evergreen forests, tropical deciduous forests, tropical thorn forests, montane forests, and mangrove forests.
Following are the differences between tropical evergreen forests and deciduous forests-
Tropical evergreen forests are found in areas where annual rainfall exceeds 200 cm and have a tropical climate (average annual temperature is above 24 °C) while tropical deciduous forests are found in areas where annual rainfall receives between 200 cm and 70 cm and a tropical climate is found.
Tropical evergreen forests are found in the Western Ghats, Lakshadweep, Andaman, and Nicobar Islands, northeastern states except Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, coastal region of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, while tropical deciduous forests are found mostly in the Himalayan foothills, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and the eastern slope of the Western Ghats are found.
Important trees of the tropical evergreen forest are ebony, mahogany, rosewood, rubber, and cinchona while important trees of the tropical deciduous forest are bamboo, sal, rosewood, sandalwood, Khair, safflower, arjuna, and mulberry.
The animals common in tropical evergreen forests are elephants, deer, monkeys, and lemurs while the animals common in the tropical evergreen forest are monkeys, lions, tigers, and pigs.
Trees in tropical evergreen forests do not have a fixed time to shed their leaves, due to which they appear green all the time while tropical deciduous forests shed their leaves for about six to eight weeks during the dry summer.
The area of tropical evergreen forests in India is smaller than that of tropical deciduous forests.
Tropical evergreen forests are denser than tropical deciduous forests.
Tropical evergreen has a very rich biodiversity as compared to tropical deciduous forests.
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