India Climate, Natural Vegetation and wildlife

Cbse class 6, Social Studies

 1. Define Weather and Climate?

• Day today changes in atmosphere is called as Weather
• Average weather condition which has been measured over years is Climate

2. What is the climate of India?

• Climate of India is Tropical Monsoon Climate
• Monsoon is a season with heavy rainfall caused by the difference in temperature between landmass and adjacent ocean
• Interior part of India has Continental climate ( Very hot summer and extremely cold winter)
• Coastal regions has Equable climate ( Summers not too hot, Winters not too cold)
• Mountaineous regions has cold climate

3. What are the factors affecting the Climate of India?

The Factors affecting the climate of India is

• Latitudes
• Distance from sea
• Altitude
• Northern Mountains 
• Wind

4. Write in one line about the factors affecting the Climate of India?

• Latitudes: Latitudes affect the climate by tropic of cancer, it divides the country into tropical zone and temperate zone
• Altitudes: Temperature decreases when the altitude ( height) increases.
• Northern Mountains: Himalayas prevent the cold wind blowing from North from entering into India
• Wind: The most dominating factor of Indian climate is Monsoon winds. The two most important monsoons are Southwest monsoon and Retreating Monsoon. 

5. What are the seasons of India?

The major seasons of India

• Cold Weather season
• Hot Weather season
• Southwest Monsoon season
• Retreating Southwest Monsoon season

6. Write the difference between Cold weather season and Hot weather season?

Cold Weather Season	Hot Weather Season
It starts in December and last till February	It starts in March and ends in May
This season is dry, rain occurs only in East coast and North West region of the country	Temperature rises in most places except in hills and coastal plains
Lowest temperature is found in the mountains and Northern plains since it is far away from sea	Deccan Plateau is warmer, it is closer to the equator

7. Write the difference between the Southwest Monsoon and Retreating Southwest Monsoon?

South West Monsoon	Retreating South West Monsoon
Season starts in June and lasts till september	Season last through October and November
Winds blow from Arabian sea, Bay of Bengal towards the land	The Temperature and Moisture content in the air is very high (October heat)
Every part of India gets rainfall except Tamil Nadu	East coast receives heavy rainfall, since it is season of transition from hot rainy to cold dry season

8. List few points on the importance of Monsoon?

Since India is a agricultural country, Monsoon plays an important role in the economy of India

Delay or long breaks in Monsoon are dangerous to agricultural crops

Indian farmers have adopted the conservation programmes and rain water harvesting

NATURAL VEGETATION

1. Define Natural vegetation?

Grasses, shrubs, trees which grow on their own without help/ interference of humans is called as Natural vegetation

Natural vegetation in India is diverse due to the diversity in rainfall and terrain

2. What are types of forests present in India?

Based on the amount of rainfall and landforms there are  5 forest in India.

• Tropical Evergreen forest 
• Tropical Deciduous forest 
• Thorn forest
• Tidal forest ( Ganga Brahmaputra basin)
• Mountain vegetation (Himalayas) 

3. List out the importance of each forest?

Name of forest	Importance	Annual rainfall	Trees grown	Forest location
Tropical evergreen forest		200-300 cm	Rosewood, Ebony, Mahogany	Western slope of Western ghats, Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Tropical Deciduous Forest/MonsoonForest		100-200 cm	Sal, Teak, Peepal	Madhya Pradesh, Bihar
Thorn Forest		Under 50 cm	Babul, Kikar, Wild Palm, Acacia
Tidal Forest/ Mangrove Forest		–	Sundari

4.Write a short note on Mountain Vegetation?

Vegetation in Mountain areas varies according to height

Temperature, Rainfall changes with change in altitude

Most of the trees are conical in shape at the height of 1500m to 2500m. 

These are called as Coniferous forest. Ex: Chir, Pine, Deodar

5. Write a few points on Importance of forest?

Forest products provide us with variety of forest products.

Forest provide habitat for wildlife

Forest helps in checking floods

6. List few forest products?

Timber, wood from trees are the major product from forest

Resins, Gum, Lac, Khus are the minor product from forest.

We need to conserve the forest resources and use them moderately.

WILD LIFE

1. Write a short about the Wildlife?

• Forest is the home for variety of wildlife.
• There are 500 species of animals, 1200 species of birds, number of reptiles and species of fish.

Different regions have different species of animals.

• Lions – Gir forest
• Tigers – Sunderbans 
• Elephants – Kerala, Karnataka
• One horn Rhinocerous – Assam
• Camel – Thar desert
• Wild asses – Rann of Kanchch
• Wild goats, Snow leopards, Bears – Himalayan region

2. Why Wild life conservation is necessary?

• Many species of animals are losing their natural habitats due to
• Depletion of forest
• Poaching – Illegal practice of trespassing on another`s property to hunt/ steal their resources.

3. What are the steps taken for wildlife conservation?

• Few species are categorized as endangered species, they are protected  in wild life sanctuaries and parks.
• National parks are created to protect forest cover
• India has 18 biodiversity reserves, few of them are Nandadevi, Kanchenjunga, Sundarbans, Nilgiris 
• These reserves do not protect the flora and fauna but also the tribal peoples.
• Project Tiger and Rhino were created by government of India to protect the diminished number of Tigers, Rhinocerous.

4. What are the movements undertaken for conservation of forest?

Chipko Movement:

• It started in the Himalayan region of Uttarkhand in 1973
• It was started by Sunderlal Bahugana.
• Slogan of Chipko Movement is Ecology is the permanent economy.
• Main objective is Afforestation, development, conservation and proper utilization of the forest.

Appiko Movement:

• It was started by Panduranga hegde Appiko means “Hug” in kannada, it symbolizes the protection of tree.
• Aim of the movement is to conserve the trees of the Kalse forest in Karnataka

Beej Bacho Andolan:

• It means Save the Seeds Movement.
• It was started by Vijay Jardhari in late 1980`s
• It has led to conservation of many lost varieties of rice, rajma (Kidney beans) and other people
• Main aim of the movement is to conserve indigenous seeds and promote traditional agricultural practices
• They use to sow 12 different grains ( Cereals, Legumes)  in one field ensuring protection against drought and crop failure. This tradition of agriculture is called as Baranaja.
• This method maintained soil fertility, replenished Nitrogen
• They had year round supply of food, since they harvested the crops of different times of year.