UPSC Prelims 2015 GS Paper I · Q78 of 100 Geography easy

In India, in which one of the following types of forests is teak a dominant tree species?

  1. (a) Tropical moist deciduous forest ✓ UPSC's answer
  2. (b) Tropical rain forest
  3. (c) Tropical thorn scrub forest
  4. (d) Temperate forest with grasslands

Why the answer is (a)

• Teak (Tectona grandis) dominates tropical moist deciduous forests, which receive 100–200 cm of rain and shed leaves in the dry season; these cover the Western Ghats' eastern slopes, central India, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand — option (a).

• Rainforests (b) have no single dominant and no dry-season leaf fall; thorn forests (c) have acacias; temperate forests (d) have oaks and conifers.

• Hence option (a).

Why the other options are wrong

(b) Tropical rain forest
Rainforests have no dominant teak.
(c) Tropical thorn scrub forest
Thorn forests are dominated by acacias.
(d) Temperate forest with grasslands
Temperate forests have oaks and conifers.

Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2015, held on 23 August 2015. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.

Reading the answer is not the same as getting it right under a clock. Practise this question with UPSC's negative marking, and anything you miss goes into an error notebook until you get it right twice.

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