For Nursing Students

1. PRESENTED BY
Jagan Kumar Ojha
M.Sc. Tutor
Dept. of Community Health
SNC, Bhubaneswar

2.  Biogeographic classification of India is the division of
India according to biogeographic characteristics.
(distribution of species, organisms, and ecosystems in
geographic space )
 India is the seventh largest country in the world and Asia's
second largest nation with an area of 3,287,263 sq.km.
encompassing a varied landscape rich in natural resources.
 India is protected by the world's highest mountains, the
Himalayas, in the north.

3.  The southern part of India takes the shape of a peninsula
and divides the Indian Ocean into the Bay of Bengal to
the southeast and the Arabian Sea to the southwest.
 The southern tip of Kanyakumari is washed by the
Indian Ocean. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands in
the Bay of Bengal and the Lakshadweep group of
islands in the Arabian sea are also a part of India.
 India has a great diversity of natural ecosystems from
the cold and high Himalayan ranges to the sea coasts,
from the wet northeastern green forests to the dry
northwestern deserts, different types of forests,
wetlands, islands and the oceans.

4.  India consists of fertile river plains and high plateaus
and several major rivers, including the Ganges,
Brahmaputra and Indus.
 The climate of India is determined by the southwest
monsoon between June and October, the northeast
monsoon between October and November and dry
winds from the north between December and
February. From March to May the climate is dry and
hot.

5. Bio-geographers have classified India into ten Bio-
geographic zones with each zone having
characteristic climate, soil and biodiversity.

7. Within India the classification recognizes 10 Zones,
divided into 26 Provinces
The zones are:
1. Trans-Himalaya with 2 provinces
2. The Himalaya with 4 provinces
3. The Indian Desert with 2 provinces
4. The Semi-Arid Zone with 2 provinces
5. The Western Ghats with 2 provinces
6. The Deccan Peninsula with 5 provinces
7. The Gangetic Plain with 2 provinces
8. The Coasts with 3 provinces
9. North East India with 2 provinces
10. The Islands with 2 provinces

8. SR. NO. BIOGEOGRAPHIC ZONE BIOTIC PROVINCE
1. Trans-Himalayan Upper Regions
2. Himalayan North-West Himalayas ,West Himalayas
Central Himalayas ,East Himalayas
3. Desert Kutch ,Thar ,Ladakh
4.
5.
Semi-Arid
Western Ghats
6. Deccan Peninsula
7. Gangetic Plain
8.
9.
North-East India
Islands
10. Coasts
Central India ,Gujarat-Rajwara
Malabar Coast ,
Western Ghat Mountains
Deccan Plateau ,South Central Plateau
Eastern Plateau, Chhota Nagpur Central
Highlands
Upper Gangetic Plain, Lower Gangetic
Plain
Brahmaputra Valley, North-Eastern Hills
Andaman Islands Nicobar Islands
Lakshadweep Islands
West Coast
East Coast

9. 1. TRANS-HIMALAYAN REGION
 The Himalayan ranges immediately north of the Great
Himalayan range are called the Trans- Himalayas.
.

10.  The Trans-Himalayan region with its light
vegetation has the richest wild sheep and goat
community in the world.
 The snow leopard is found here along with black-
necked cranes.

11. Chiru Black necked crane Himalayan pit viper
Trans - Himalaya Zone

12. 2. HIMALAYAS
 The Himalayas consist of the youngest and tallest
mountain chains in the world.

13.  The forests are very dense with extensive growth of
grass and evergreen tall trees. Oak, conifer, ash,
pine, are abundant in Himalayas. There is no
vegetation above the snowline.
 Several animals live in the Himalayan ranges. Chief
species include monal, wild sheep, mountain goats,
shrew, and tapir. Panda and snow leopard are also
found here.

14. Himalaya zone
Ibex Red Panda Monal

15. 3. SEMI-ARID AREAS
 Adjoining the desert are the semi-arid areas, a
transitional zone between the desert and the
denser forests of the Western Ghats.

16.  The natural vegetation is thorn forest. This region is
characterized by discontinuous vegetation cover with
open areas of bare soil and soil-water deficit
throughout the year.
 A few species of xerophytic herbs and some
ephemeral herbs are found in this semi-arid tract.
 Asiatic lions, Birds, leopards, eagles, snakes, fox,
buffaloes are found in this region.

17. 4. WESTERN GHATS
 The mountains along the west coast of peninsular
India are the Western Ghats, which constitute one
of the unique biological regions of the world.
 The Western Ghats extend from the southern tip of
the peninsula (8°N) northwards about 1600 km to
the mouth of the river Tapti (21°N).

18. Western- Ghats
Lion Tailed Macaque Malabar-civet Horn bill

20. Western- Ghats
Lion Tailed Macaque Malabar-civet Horn bill

21. 5. NORTH-WEST DESERT REGIONS
 This region consists of parts of Rajasthan,Delhi
Kutch and other parts of Gujarat.
 The climate is characterized by very hot and dry in
summer and cold in winter. Rainfall is less than 70
cms.

22.  The plants are mostly xerophytes. Babul, Kikar, wild
palm grows in areas of moderate rainfall.
 Indian Bustard, a highly endangered bird is found
here. Camels, wild asses, foxes, and snakes are
found in hot and arid deserts.

23. 6. DECCAN PLATEAU
 Beyond the Ghats is Deccan Plateau, a semi-arid
region lying in the rain shadow of the Western
Ghats. This is the largest unit of the Peninsular
Plateau of India.

24. plateau are covered with The highlands
different types
of the
of forests, which provide a large
variety of forest products.
 Fauna like tiger, bear, wild boar, gaur, sambar and
chital are found throughout the zone along with small
relict populations of wild buffaloes, elephants and
barasingha.

25. 7. GANGETIC PLAIN
 In the North is the Gangetic plain extending up to
the Himalayan foothills. This is the largest unit of
the Great Plain of India.
 The Great Plains cover about 72.4mha area with
the Ganga and the Brahmaputra forming the main
drainage axes in the major portion.

26.  The physiographic scenery varies greatly from arid and
semi-arid landscapes of the Rajasthan Plains to the
humid and per-humid landscapes of the Delta and
Assam valley in the east.
 The plain supports some of the highest population
densities depending upon purely agro-based economy
in some of these areas. The trees belonging to these
forests are teak, sal, shisham, mahua, khair etc.

27. 8. NORTH-EAST INDIA
 North-east India is one of the richest flora regions
in the country.
 It has several species of orchids, bamboos, ferns
and other plants.
 Here the wild relatives of cultivated plants such as
banana, mango, citrus and pepper can be found.

29. 9. ISLANDS
 The two groups of islands, i.e., the Arabian Sea
islands and Bay Islands differ significantly in origin
and physical characteristics.
 The Arabian Sea Islands (Laccadive, Minicoy, etc.)
are the foundered remnants of the old land mass
and subsequent coral formations. On the other
hand, the Bay Islands lay only about 220 kms.

30.  Away from the nearest point on the main land mass
and extend about 590 kms. With a maximum width
of 58 kms the island forests of Lakshadweep in the
Bay of Bengal have some of the best-preserved
evergreen forests of India.
 Some of the islands are fringed with coral reefs.
Many of them are covered with thick forests and
some are highly dissected.

31. 10. COASTAL REGION
o India has a coastline extending over 5,500 kms. The west
coast is narrow except around the Gulf of Canbary and the
Gulf of Kutch.
o In the extreme south, however, it is somewhat wider along the
south Sahyadri. The backwaters are the characteristic
features of this coast.

32. o Extensive deltas of the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna
and Kaveri are the characteristic features of east coast.
Mangrove vegetation is characteristic of estuarine tracts
along the coast for instance, at Ratnagiri in
Maharashtra.
o Larger parts of the coastal plains are covered by fertile
soils on which different crops are grown. Rice is the
main crop of these areas. Coconut trees grow all along
the coast.

33. THANK YOU