Human Environment Interactions The Tropical And The Sultropical Region

The people of the Amazon basin mainly grow tapioca, pineapple and sweet potato. They also grow cash crops like coffee, maize and cocoa.

The people living there clear a part of forest where the cultivation is possible. After harvesting the land is left for the tropical forest to grow again. They practice Slash and burn agriculture.

The Amazon basin is located in South America.

The Amazon basin is basin of the Amazon River and its tributaries. It covers about 40%of the South American continent

Toucans, humming bird sand bird of paradise are commonly found in the rainforests of the Amazon.

Toucans are marked by their large colorful bills used to eat food. Humming Birds are one of the smallest Species of birds in the world .Fun Fact: The Humming birds are the only birds which can fly backwards.

Allahabad, Kanpur, Varanasi, Lucknow, Patna and Kolkata are the major cities located on the River Ganga.

River Ganga provides food and livelihood to most people living in these cities. As being a holy River it has large settlements on its banks. Varanasi a city on banks of Ganga River is considered to be one of the oldest living settlements in the world.

The one-horned rhinoceros is found in the Brahmaputra plain.

Biggest settlement of One-horned rhinoceros is Kaziranga national park in Assam state of India. It is endangered species and its conservation is being done by government and other organizations.

Toucans are Tropical birds marked by their bright, colorful, and large bills. They are highly social birds and often live in groups of about 20.

Manioc, also known as cassava, is one of the main constituents of diet of people living in amazons. It is rich in carbohydrates.

Hooghly is the main distributary of Ganga river in West Bengal. Kolkata’s famous Howrah bridge is on this river.

Deodars are native trees to western Himalayas. They are large evergreen coniferous trees reaching 40-50m tall with a trunk up to 3m in diameter. It has a conic crown with level branches.

The Bengal tigers are found in Sundarbans. The delta area of Ganga and Brahmaputra river.

Long time ago the total area of rainforest cover was about 12-14% of Earth’s total land surface area. Due to large-scale development large tracts of rainforests have been cleared. Activities such as agriculture, mining, cattle pasture, and construction work require cutting of forests. Now the rainforest cover on earth is about 2-6% of Earth’s land area.

Due to constant deforestation for development purposes, the top soil which is held together by the trees gets washed away as the rains fall. As a result, the once lush green forests change into barren landscapes. More reasons include logging for hardwood, fuel wood and paper, grazing land, slash and burn farming.

Paddy is grown in Ganga-Brahmaputra plain because the rivers bring very fertile soil called alluvium, which is one of the best soil for agriculture. This soil gets deposited in the plains that is why plains are usually fertile. Paddy needs a lot of water for growth and getting water beside a river is easy. The Ganga-Brahmaputra plains provide flat, fertile land for thecultivationof crops. The amount of rainfall in this region is also quite high.

There are 3 countries in South America from which the equator passes

They are Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil. They are marked on the above shown map.

Student do it yourself.

Process

1. Take three small cans or pots. Fill them with soil till the top. Press the soil to make it level with the top of the can.

2. Now put four coins or bottle caps on the soil of each can. Take the big can that has been punched with holes and fill it with water. You can also take the sprinkling can from your garden.

3. Now, sprinkle water on the three cans. On the first can sprinkle water very slowly so that no soil splashes out. Let moderate amount of water be sprinkled on the second can.

4. On the third can, sprinkle the water heavily. You will observe that unprotected soil splashes out. Where the ‘rain’ is heavy the amount of soil that splashes out is the maximum and least in case of the first can.

5. The coins or caps represent the tree covers. It is clear that if the land is cleared completely of the vegetation, the soil cover will quickly disappear.