UPSC Prelims 2015 · Question 78 of 98
UPSC Prelims 2015 question on Teak Forest Type
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2015
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectGeography
- TopicIndian Geography
- DifficultyEasy
- TypeDirect
In India, in which one of the following types of forests is teak a dominant tree species?
Show answer
Answer: A. Tropical moist deciduous forest
Verdict
The answer is tropical moist deciduous forest. Teak is the dominant species of that forest type in India.
Analysis
Moist deciduous forests occur where rainfall falls between roughly one hundred and two hundred centimetres, along the foothills of the Himalayas in the north-eastern States, on the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats and in Odisha. Teak is the most dominant species of these forests, alongside sal, shisham, hurra, mahua, amla, semul, kusum and sandalwood. Tropical rain forest is too wet and is evergreen. Thorn and scrub forest is far too dry and carries acacias and euphorbias. Temperate forest with grasslands belongs to a different climatic zone altogether.
Source
NCERT Class XI, India: Physical Environment, page 59.
How to crack it
Anchor each Indian forest type to one flagship species and one rainfall band, since that pairing answers questions in either direction. Teak and sal go with moist deciduous at one hundred to two hundred centimetres, evergreen goes with more than two hundred, and thorn forest goes with less than seventy. Note that this same NCERT page generates repeated questions, including the 2014 item on Himalayan vegetation, so the page is worth revising as a block.