Question

Which are the three broad categories of natural vegetation.

Answer 1

Hint: Natural vegetation refers to plants that have naturally grown without any aid or disturbance from humans. Thus, it is also known as virgin vegetation. Natural vegetation depends upon various factors—terrain, soil and climate (temperature and precipitation).

Complete answer: The three main kinds of natural vegetation are—forests, grasslands and shrubs.
-Forests are home to a large variety of life forms such as plants, mammals, birds, insects and reptiles etc. Nearly 30% of the total land area on earth is covered by forests. Depending on various factors, forests are categorised into various types— evergreen, deciduous, temperate, alpine, tidal and thorny. According to the State of World’s Forest Report, 2019, the total forest cover of the world constitutes 31% of the land area of the world. The largest forests in the world are the Amazon in South America, the Taiga in Canada, Scandinavian Europe and Siberia, the tropical rainforest in Congo, the Valdivian rainforest in Chile and Argentine, the Burmese tropical rainforest in Myanmar, etc.
-Grasslands are a type of biome characterised by tall grasses and large shrubs or trees. Grasslands account for over 25% of the world’s land area. They are found in every continent except Antarctica. They serve as the transition between deserts and forests and have deep and fertile soil. They are ideal for growing crops and can be widely used as pasture lands for animals. They are less susceptible to natural disasters like wildfires and droughts. There two main kinds of grasslands are—tropical and temperate. Examples of tropical grasslands include Savanna in East Africa, Campos in Brazil and Linos in Venezuela and examples of temperate grasslands include Pampas in Argentina, Prairies in North America, Veld in South Africa, Steppe in central Asia and Down in Australia.
-Shrubs are vegetation that mainly grow in arid or desert areas. These areas receive very little precipitation and are characterised by extremes of climate both cold and warm. Deserts make up 33% of the Earth’s land surface area. The plant cover in deserts is sparse but diverse with specific features that help them adapt to the climatic conditions and the lack of water. There are two kinds of deserts that are found in the world—hot deserts in tropical and subtropical latitudes and cold deserts in temperate latitudes. Some hot deserts in the world are Sahara Desert, Kalahari Desert, Thar Desert, Arabian Desert, Mojave Desert, Great Australian Desert and such while cold deserts include Gobi Desert, Namib Desert, Patagonian Desert, etc.

Note: Vegetation depends upon the type of terrain which means that different types of plants grow in various terrains like mountains, plateau and plains. This is also in turn affected by the soil in such areas. Different soils provide a different basis for vegetation. The character and extent of vegetation are mainly determined by the climate with temperature and precipitation affecting vegetation the most. Plants that grow in a certain range of temperature adapt to it and the climatic conditions of the surroundings.