UPSC Prelims 2014 · Question 3 of 100
UPSC Prelims 2014 question on Himalayan Vegetation
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2014
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectGeography
- TopicIndian Geography
- DifficultyHard
- TypeStatement
If you travel through the Himalayas, you are likely to see which of the following plants naturally growing there?
1. Oak
2. Rhododendron
3. Sandalwood
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Show answer
Answer: D. 1, 2 and 3
Verdict
The answer is 1, 2 and 3. Oak, rhododendron and sandalwood can all be encountered while travelling through the Himalayas, because the Himalayan belt spans everything from tropical foothill forest to alpine scrub.
Analysis
Statement 1 is CORRECT. Oak is a characteristic species of the Himalayan temperate broadleaf belt. Statement 2 is CORRECT. Rhododendron is the classic Himalayan temperate and sub alpine shrub and tree. Statement 3 is CORRECT, and it is the statement the question is really testing. NCERT places sandalwood among the main species of tropical moist deciduous forests, and locates those forests along the foothills of the Himalayas as well as on the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats and in Orissa. A traveller passing through the Himalayas necessarily passes through the foothills.
Source
NCERT Class XI, India: Physical Environment, pages 59 and 60.
How to crack it
Read the phrase travel through the Himalayas as covering the whole altitudinal transect, not just the high temperate zone. Once you accept that the foothills are part of the journey, the question becomes an altitude ladder rather than a species quiz. UPSC repeatedly builds Himalayan vegetation questions on this ladder, so fix the order in your head: tropical foothill, temperate oak and rhododendron, sub alpine conifer, alpine meadow.