Trip report: four ecosystems seen in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh

Introduction

On the college trips we saw four very different ecosystems. Each is shaped mainly by how much heat and rain it receives, which decides its producers (plants) and, through them, its consumers (animals). One ecosystem from each state is described below under the five points asked.

1. Rajasthan: the Thar desert ecosystem

• (a) Type: a hot desert and its semi-arid fringe, a terrestrial ecosystem.
• (b) State: western Rajasthan (the Thar desert).
• (c) Temperature and precipitation: extremely dry. Rain is scanty and sporadic; in places it may rain only once in several years.
• (d) Dominant vegetation: sand dunes with sparse grasses and a few shrubs that spring up after rain; in the semi-arid tract, shrubs and thorny trees such as kher and babul.
• (e) Native animals: herbivores such as chinkara and blackbuck (long protected by the Bishnoi community) and seed-eating birds such as partridges, quails and sandgrouse; carnivores such as the Indian wolf, desert cat and desert fox; also the Great Indian Bustard and many specialised reptiles and insects.

2. Gujarat: the Rann of Kutch, a saline arid ecosystem

• (a) Type: a highly specialised arid ecosystem that turns into a salt marsh in the monsoon.
• (b) State: Kutch district, Gujarat (the Great and the Little Rann).
• (c) Temperature and precipitation: desert-like and very hot in summer; low-lying and close to the sea, so it floods with salty water in the monsoon.
• (d) Dominant vegetation: salt-tolerant grasses and low shrubs on the raised patches; most of the flat is bare salt crust in the dry season.
• (e) Native animals: herbivores such as the wild ass, whose only home in India is the Little Rann; in the wet season huge numbers of water birds such as ducks, geese, cranes and storks, and the Great Rann is the one place in India where Greater and Lesser Flamingos are known to nest and breed; carnivores such as the wolf and desert fox.

3. Uttarakhand: Himalayan coniferous forest ecosystem

• (a) Type: a temperate coniferous forest.
• (b) State: the middle and upper Himalaya of Uttarakhand (for example around Kedarnath and in Uttarkashi district).
• (c) Temperature and precipitation: cool to cold; temperatures are low and winters bring snow.
• (d) Dominant vegetation: tall stately conifers such as pine and deodar, with needle-like leaves and downward-sloping branches from which snow slides off.
• (e) Native animals: herbivores such as wild sheep and goats on the high slopes; carnivores such as the snow leopard; many Himalayan forest birds differ from those of the rest of India.

4. Himachal Pradesh: Himalayan alpine pasture (meadow) ecosystem

• (a) Type: a high-altitude grassland, the Himalayan pasture belt, which extends up to the snowline; India's ecosystem diversity includes such alpine meadows.
• (b) State: the high valleys and slopes of Himachal Pradesh (for example above Manali and in Kinnaur).
• (c) Temperature and precipitation: cold and high, the pasture belt reaching up to the snowline, so snow lies here in winter; the meadows are used in the short warmer season, when animals migrate up to them.
• (d) Dominant vegetation: short grasses, sedges and bright alpine flowers; lower down the meadows form patches among coniferous or broadleaved forests.
• (e) Native animals: herbivores such as the Himalayan ibex and blue sheep, which move up to the meadows in summer and down in winter (Himalayan animals need both the forest and the grassland); carnivores such as the snow leopard and the red fox.

Conclusion

The four ecosystems show how climate controls life: water shortage shapes the Thar and the Rann, while cold and altitude shape the Himalayan forest and meadow. Each holds plants and animals adapted to its own conditions, which is why all four need protection.