Natural Vegetation and Habitats

Silver fir, junipers, pines and birches are the common trees of Montane Forests.

It contains about  18% of the total forest cover area

1. Tropical Rain Forests - 37%
   1. Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests - 28.6%
   2. Tropical Wet Evergreen Forests - 8.0%
   3. Tropical Semi Evergreen Forests - 4.1%

A habitat characterized by hot and dry places is called xeric. Xeric shrub lands receive an annual average rainfall of ten inches or less, and have an arid or hyper arid climate, characterized by a strong moisture deficit, where annual potential loss of moisture from evapotranspiration well exceed the moisture received as rainfall.

This is the correct option, as sal trees is the endemic flora of the Panchmarhi Biosphere Reserve, i.e., it is found only in Panchmarhi Biosphere Reserve.

It results in high primary productivity and warm climate.

In a forest, most of the flying animals such as hummingbirds, owls, etc. can be found in the upper canopy.

Plantation agriculture is predominantly practiced in tropical regions due to favorable climate conditions - warm temperatures throughout the year and abundant rainfall. These conditions are ideal for cash crops like tea, coffee, rubber, cocoa, sugarcane, and spices. Semi-arid regions lack sufficient rainfall, temperate regions have seasonal limitations, and subtropical regions have more variation than optimal tropical zones.

A biodiversity hotspot is a bio-geographic region with a significant reservoir of biodiversity that is under threat from humans. The concept of biodiversity hotspots was originated by Norman Myers in two articles in “The Environmentalist”. To qualify as a biodiversity hotspot on Myers 2000 edition of the hotspot-map, a region must meet two strict criteria: it must contain at least 0.5% or 1,500 species of vascular plants as endemics, and it has to have lost at least 70% of its primary vegetation.(Hence, both statements 1 and 2 are correct.)

Statement 1 is wrong. Sundarbans are the largest single block of tidal halophytic (not damaged by salinity) mangrove forests in the world. Statement 2 is wrong. Mangrove forests do not have variety of plants as they feature only a small number of tree species because they have a thick canopy, and undergrowth is mostly seedlings of the mangrove trees, like in Sundarbans, it is the sundari tree. Hence, both the statements are wrong and therefore, option (3) is correct.

These forests are found in the Western slope of the Western Ghats (and not the Eastern slopes of the Eastern Ghats. Hence, statement 1 is incorrect), hills of the northeastern region and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. (Hence, statements 2 and 3 are correct).

Heat can be trapped by glass. Hence, the temperature inside a glass enclosure will be much higher than that in the surroundings. This phenomenon was used to create an enclosure where tropical plants could be kept warm during the winters in colder climates. Such enclosures are called greenhouses. 

Plants which are commonly found at the top of mountains are alphines.

Xerophytes are abundantly found in deserts.