India
Given its large size is home to a great variety of natural vegetation. There are distinctive features in each type of natural vegetation. The Himalayas cover most of the northern part of the country. In the western Himalayas there is a large variety of trees and ferns present for example, chirpine and other conifers deodar, blue pine, spruce, silver fir, and junipers. In the eastern part of Himalayas there is also a variety of oaks, laurels, maples, rhododendrons, alder and dwarf willows. As you move further down the area the natural vegetation is an exceedingly varied, broadleaf, evergreen rain forest, typically tall and dense. Then as you move even further down the average rainfall drops and the vegetation becomes less dense and less varied. Then in the south of India the rainfall increases as you near the equator. The area is very densely vegetated and there is a large variety of plants and trees. Then there is the Thar Desert in Rajasthan where the vegetation is very scares and mainly covered with cacti and some trees that are able to survive without much water like sal (Shorea robusta), teak (Tectona grandis), semul (Bombax ceiba), laurel, rosewood, mahua (Madhuca indica), amla (Emblica officinalis), khair (Acacia catechu), common bamboo.
Delhi
Delhi’s climate is very diverse. From April to July the city is very hot and dry with hardly any wind. Then from July to September the monsoon arrives and it rains continually for days. (Lately however the rain has been less than usual.) From October to February-March the weather is cold and there isn’t much rain. In December and January temperatures can drop to -1C.
The city has a river called the Yamuna which flows on the eastern side of the city, however years of pollution and water being diverted from it the river has become almost stagnant.
The vegetation in Delhi is mainly concentrated on the outskirts of the city. It mainly comprises of small and medium sized plants and shrubs like neem,mango,papal,jaman and sisso. In the plain areas of the city there are mainly shisham trees.
In the ridge there are a lot of different types of cacti and acacias but in the monsoon there are also many herbaceous plants present.
JNU Campus
JNU is located in the southern part of New Delhi. It is close to the International airport. The campus is spread over an area of about 1000 acres covering the northern parts of the Aravalli Hills. The Aravalli Hills are one of the oldest of the Fold Mountains and form the Aravalli Range which stretches from Rajasthan up to Delhi.
The campus buildings are made of red brick with lecture halls and hostel sprawled across the campus. There is a nine storied red-brick library.
The vegetation has large patches of scrub and forest. This area is called the JNU ridge. There are also ravines located inside the campus. The ravines which are not easily accessible making them a natural reserve for wildlife. The trees native to the region includes Khejri (Prosopis Cineraria), Babool (Acacia Arabica), Safed Kikhar (Acacia Leucaphloca) and Dhao (Anogeissus Pendula). These trees do not require much nurturing and grow in arid regions.
Aim
This study aims to do a comparative analysis of the types of natural vegetation found in the JNU Campus. It will look at the differences between the natural vegetation in the highlands and the lowlands in that area.
Hypotheses
- Highland areas will have smaller leaves compared to lowland areas. - I choose this as it an aspect which can be easily investigated.
- Highland areas will have less dense vegetation as compared to lowland areas. - I choose this as it can be investigated and studied easily and comprehensively.
- Lowland areas will have more moisture as compared to highland areas. – I choose this as it is the main factor that affects plant growth.
Map of Study Area
Photo Analysis
Highlands
This picture shows the highlands. The grass is brown and has dried out which means that there isn’t much water in the soil. There are lot of rocks and very few plants.
This picture shows that the grass has been burnt in areas and again shows the dry grass and rocks
This shows the few bushes that are present in the highlands. As you can see there aren’t many leaves on the bushes and the area is exposed directly to sunlight.
This picture shows bushes which are very dusty and dried-up. The leaves on the first plant are shrivelling up due to lack of water.
This is another bush which has hardly any leaves and the branches are all tangled up together. There is also a chips wrapper and a plastic bag which means that there has been human intervention in the area.
This is a picture of the 30m transit line which we placed in the highlands and two points on the transit line 8m and 18m. The majority of the area was just rock and the rest had dried grass and small pebbles as can be seen at the 18m mark.
Lowlands
This picture shows the lowlands. It is densely vegetated with a variety of plants and trees. The trees are much taller than those in the highlands.
The trees and plants in this picture have a lot of leaves and the ground is covered in dry leaves.
This picture shows how densely vegetated the area is and how little sunlight there is as the camera needed flash to get the picture.
This picture shows more of the plants and trees that are green and lush. There are many different types of plants and their leaves are much larger than the ones in the highlands.
This picture shows the 30m transit line in the lowlands and the two points on the line (0m and 12m). The ground is covered in dry leaves as can be seen at the 0m mark and there are lots of plants around 1 meter tall.
The quadrant in the highland contained only dry grass and a few green weeds. There were also small rocks and pebbles in between the grass and the soil was dry and very easily taken out. The grass is very dry due to the fact that it is exposed to direct sunlight and the soil moisture is low because of the high amount of evaporation. This also means that the soil is less fertile as the humus content is lower.
The lowlands quadrant contained four types of plants that were around 1m tall. The ground was covered in dead leaves and the soil underneath was moist. The soil is moist due to the fact that the amount of sunlight which reaches the ground is much less than the amount that reaches the lowlands because of the trees and dry leaves that are covering the ground. This means the plants have a lot of water and the humus content is also much higher and therefore the soil is more fertile allowing the plants to grow taller and larger.
Soil Test and Analysis
Ph Test
Humus Content Test
Other details
The soil in the highlands had a Ph of 7 which is suitable for plant growth however the moisture and humus content were low meaning that plants wouldn’t get enough nutrients from the soil. The soil was also coarse and wouldn’t hold the roots of the plants firmly. This is because of the fact that the moisture in the soil which comes from precipitation evaporates quickly as there is nothing covering the ground. This means that the soil particles aren’t bound together and therefore it is coarse and light in colour.
The soil in the lowlands also had a Ph of 7. The moisture and humus content were high as can be seen from the density test. The soil was smooth in texture and the colour was dark. This is because of the fact that not much sunlight reaches the ground because of the tree cover and the dry leaves that cover most of the ground as shown in the photo analysis. Due to the fact that there isn’t a lot of evaporation means that the soil has a lot of nutrients and the soil is smooth and dark in colour due to the water present.
- To test the Ph of the soils we mixed the soil in distilled water and then put around 2-3 drops of the mixture on to yellow litmus paper.
- To test the amount of humus content present in the soil we mixed the soil with water in a measuring cylinder. After the soil settled at the bottom we measured the height of the content that was left floating on the water.
- The density test was done to show how much water and humus was present as after heating the water evaporated and the humus would burn.
Samples:
Plant species
Pictures of plants
In the highlands there was only one type of plant in our quadrant which was the dry grass which can be seen in the picture. The fact that there is only one type of plant in the highlands is because of the lack of water and nutrients in the soil.
In the lowlands there were four types of plants in the quadrant. This was because the soil in the lowlands was very moist and fertile allowing many different types of plants to grow.
Roots
Roots in the highlands were much lighter and longer than those in the lowlands and they were fibrous whereas in the lowlands they were taproots. The roots in the highlands spread out as they try to get water from as many places as possible because of the water shortage in the soil. They also spread out as much as possible so as to have a firm grip in the soil as it is very coarse. In the lowlands the soil is moist and fertile allowing the roots to grow well and therefore the plants have tap roots.
Samples:
Leaf Size
The leaf size in the highlands is considerably smaller than the leaf size in the lowlands. A variety of aspects are the reason for this. As the main purpose of leaves is to gather energy from sunlight and perform photosynthesis they are much smaller in the highlands. In the highlands plants are subject to direct sunlight as there are no obstructions in the way (except for clouds) meaning that leaves do not have to grow that big to intercept sunlight. Another reason is that the soil moisture in the highlands is low as most of the water evaporates because of the sun which means that plants don’t have long leaves as to maximize the amount of water that reaches the soil. In the lowlands the sunlight is much less because the denseness of the area makes it hard for plants to get enough light therefore they have bigger leaves to increase the amount of sunlight they are able to absorb. The moisture in the lowlands is much higher as earlier mentioned and because of this; plants have bigger leaves to maximize the amount of transpiration so that the soil doesn’t become water-logged.
Height of plants
Plants in the lowlands are much taller than those in the highlands due to the fact that in the lowlands the amount of sunlight is less than in the highlands and therefore plants grow taller to be able to get the sunlight they need to perform photosynthesis. This is possible because of the high amount of nutrients and moisture available in the lowlands which was shown in the soil test.
