NCERT Solutions for Class 7 Social Science Geography Chapter 6

Natural vegetation is generally classified in to three broad categories as follows:
(a) Forests: Which grow where temperature and rainfall are plentiful to support a tree cover. Depending upon these factors, dense and open forests are grown.
(b) Grasslands: Which grow in the region of moderate rain.
(c) Shrubs: Thorny shrubs and scrubs grow in the dry Region.

Tropical Evergreen Forests:
These forests are also called tropical rain-forests. These thick forests occur in the regions near the equator and close to the tropics. These regions are hot and receive heavy rainfall throughout the year. As there is no particular dry season, the trees do not shed their leaves altogether. This is the reason they are called evergreen. The thick canopies of the closely spaced trees do not allow the sunlight to penetrate inside the forest even in the day time. Hardwood trees like rosewood, ebony, mahogany are common here.

Tropical Deciduous Forests:
Tropical deciduous are the monsoon forests found in the 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 found in these forests are sal, teak, neem and shisham. Hardwood trees are extremely useful for making furniture, transport and constructional materials. Tigers, lions, elephants, langoors and monkeys are the common animals of these regions.

The temperate evergreen forests are located in the mid latitudinal coastal region. They are commonly found along the eastern margin of the continents, e.g., In south east USA, South China and in South East Brazil. They comprise both hard and soft wood trees like oak, pine, eucalyptus, etc.

Coniferous forests are found in the higher latitudes (50° – 70°) of Northern hemisphere. These are also called as Taiga. These forests are also seen in the higher altitudes. These are the trees which Salima found in the Himalayas in abundance. They are tall, softwood evergreen trees. The woods of these trees are very useful for making pulp, which is used for manufacturing 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 here.