Describe the distribution, characteristics and economical significance of different types of forests found in India.

1. Tropical Rain Forests : These forests are found in the areas where rainfall is more than 200 cm. These forests are found in Western Ghats, plains of West Bengal, Orissa, Eastern Himalayas and Andaman Islands. The height of trees reaches upto 60 m.

Economic Importance : The trees are of rubber, mahogani, iron wood, rosewood and bamboos etc. These are used in manufacturing railway sleepers, house-building and ship-building.

2. Monsoon or Tropical Deciduouos Forests : These forests are found in areas where rainfall is between 100 to 200 cm. They shed their leaves so these are called deciduous forests. These forests are found in Tarai region, Chottanagpur plateau, eastern slopes of Western Ghats and eastern parts of peninsular India. These are not dense forests.

These forests are the true monsoon forests. These form the natural cover all over India. These are of two types : (i) moist, (ii) dry. Teak is the important species of moist deciduous and is found in Chottanagpur plateau. Sal is a tree of dry deciduous found over peninsular India.

Economic Importance : These forests include the trees of Sal, Teak, Sandal, Arjun, Mahua, Mango and Semul. Sal is useful for railway sleeper and coaches. Teak is used for furniture and house building. Many industries and handicrafts depend on these trees such as matchboxes, toys, packing cases, tanning leather and paper.

3. The Desert or Thorn Forests : These forests occur where annual rainfall is less than 75 cm. These are found in eastern Rajasthan, Saurashtra, Malwa plateau (M.R), southern Haryana, south-west Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka plateau. These trees are scattered and have long roots, thick bark.

These gradually merge into scrubs and thorny bushes. These form the typical desert vegetation.

Economic Importance : These forests include Babul, Kikar, Khair and Haldu. These are hard wood trees and used in agriculture and making of furniture, carts and charcoal.

4. The Tidal Forests : These forests are found in deltas of rivers in coastal areas. These are called Tidal forests or Deltaic forests. These forests are found in Ganga-Brahmaputra Delta and Deltas of Mahanadi, Godawari, Krishna and Kaveri. These are marshy areas. In Ganga-Brahmaputra delta, these forests are called Sunderbans because Sundari tree is found in this area.

Economic Importance : Sundari, Mangrove and others trees are used for boat building, making boxes and house building.

5. The Mountain Forests : The forests are found on the southern slopes of the Himalayas from Kashmir to Assam. Mixed deciduous and coniferous forests are found here. But in eastern Himalayas, evergreen forests are found as there is heavy rainfall and high temperature.

(i) Tropical moist deciduous forests of sal are found upto a height of 1200 metres in foothills.

(ii) Temperate forests of oak, chestnut and pine trees are found upto a height of 2000 metres.

(iii) Coniferous forests are found upto a height of 3300 m. These include Spruce, Deodar, Pine, Birch, Silverfir, etc.

(iv) Alpine pastures are found beyond 3600 metre where pastoral tribes like Gujjars graze their sheep on short grasses.