Teaching Environmental Studies Shelter Notes - Shelter

 

Shelter

 

Shelter

 

Shelter is basic need of life not only for humans but also for animals. Shelter provides security from harsh environment conditions and also from dangerous animals.

 

7.1 Shelter: Primary Need of Life

 

Shelter is one of the key element of survival along with food and water. Birds, animals, insects, humans, and all other organisms need shelter to survive. Shelter provides protection from weather and any other kind of danger. All organisms want to live independently, where they get enough food for survival and their children live safely. Shelter-is a strong base for living a clean and healthy life.

 

Shelter can be divided on the basis of need and its surroundings

 

 

7.1.1 Terrestrial Shelter

 

Terrestrial shelter are one that are found on land like forests, grasslands, deserts, shorelines and wetlands. Terrestrial shelter also include man made habitats, like, towns and cities and habitats that are under the Earth such as caves and mines. The kind of plants that grow in a terrestrial habitat and the kinds of animals that can live there, are most influenced by the amount of moisture that is in the soil or that comes down as rain or snow, how cold the area can be during winter, how many nutrients are available in the soil and whether or not the land is flooded with water.

 

Grassland

Grassland are areas where vegetation is dominated by grasses, flowers and hubs. Around one fourth area of Earth is covered by grassland. Latitude, soil and local climate determine what kind of plant grow in a particular grassland. A round due fourth of Earth's surface is covered by grassland.

 

Two types of grassland are as follow

 

1. Tropical Grassland

·         It is located mainly between \[5{}^\circ -15{}^\circ 0\] North and

South of the equator. Annual rainfall is 20-50 inches/year, temperature is around \[64{}^\circ F,\] Tropical grassland are found in Central Africa Australia, Brazil and India.

·         These remain hot throughout the year because they are near equator. These have distinctive 'dry and wet seasons. Grasses in this area have very deep roots. Mainly buffalo, rhino, giraffe, elephants, lions, jackals and wild dogs found in these areas.

 

2. Temperate Grassland

·         Average rainfall is 20-35 inches a year. The amount of rainfall determines the height of grasses in the grassland. Temperate grassland mainly present in Europe, Asia and Polar region of South America. Vegetation in this regions is very limited, mainly lichen, mosses and very small shrubs are present.

·         These vegetations develop during small summers.

Animals of this region have thick furs and skin to protect themselves from cold weather. Mainly seal, valrus, polar owl, polar bear, arctic fox are found in temperate grasslands.

Maize and wheat are grown in large amount that's why this area is also known as Bread basket of the world.

 

Type of Grassland	Name of this Grassland	Continent
Tropical grassland	Savanna	Eastern Africa
	Campos	Brazil
	Lanos	Venezuela
Temperate grassland	Prairies	North America
	Pampas	Argentina
	Velds	South Africa
	Steppe	Europe
	Downs	Australia

            

Mountainous Land

 

·         These areas are generally very cold. Summers average temperature is around \[40{}^\circ -60{}^\circ \text{ }F\]\[(4.5-15.5{}^\circ C)\]. During winters temperature are below freezing are weather characteristics of mountains.

·         Trees of this region are conical in shape, leaves of trees are of needle like shape. Due to this shape, water and snow slips down easily from the leaves.

Mostly warm-blooded animals live here.

·         Animals adapt for cold by hibernating, migrating to warmer areas or insulating their bodies with layers of fat and furs. Animals have shorter legs, tails and ears In order to reduce heat loss. Animals have big and strong hooves for running in mountains.

·         When plants die they do not decompose very quickly due to cold, this make poor soil conditions. Main animals are: mountain goats, sheep, beetles etc.

·         Sherpas have larger lungs and more haemoglobin in their blood to cope with the increased pressure and lack of oxygen at high altitude.

 

Deserted Land

 

·         There are both cold and hot deserts. Antarctica is the largest cold desert while Sahara desert is the largest hot desert. Ladakh in India is a cold desert.

·         Rainy season is for very short time. Evaporation is faster than absorption of water in deserts. Desert, vegetation and animals have evolved several behavioural and physiological mechanisms to solve heat and water problems of desert environment. Absence of leaves to reduce transpiration, shallow root system, ability to store water in their stem, waxy skin to retain moistures are some adaptation of vegetation for survival in desert conditions.

·         Insects, small rodents and reptiles are the characteristic animals of the deserts. Main vegetation are: cactus, nagfani, opuntia, aloe vera and acacia etc.

 

Forest Land

Forest cover is about 3096 of the total land on Earth and are incredible value for life on Earth.

·         Amazon rainforest are called as 'Lungs of the

Earth'.

 

Mainly forest are of following types according to change in weather conditions

·         Tropical evergreen forest

·         Tropical deciduous forest

·         Temperate evergreen forest

·         Temperate deciduous forest

·         Coniferous forest (Taiga forest)

·         Forest cover in India is 24.16% (2015)

 

7.1.2 Aquatic Shelter

 

Water covers nearly 75% of the Earth's surface in the form of oceans, lakes, rivers etc. Aquatic animals have some structural modification of their body to survive in aquatic conditions. Their body are stream lined; respiratory organs are gills, locomotory organs are fins which help to swim in water easily.

Their body is covered by scales to escape from enemies plants also have adaptations like lack of stomata on the leaves, roots are reduced and leaves are highly divided. It can be divided into fresh water regions and marine water region/salt water region.

 

Fresh Water Shelter

Fresh water is defined as having a low concentration of salt (less than 1%). Three fresh water zones are

1. Ponds and lakes        

2. Streams and rivers

3. Wetlands

 

 

Fresh water animals are: turtles, ducks, otters, crocodiles, catfish, dragonfly and crabs mainly live in rivers.

 

·         Amazon river is the home of rare and pink fresh water dolphin.

 

Marine Shelter

Here salt concentration is too high. Ocean is the largest shelter for marine organism (largest ecosystem on Earth).

 

Ocean It is a continuous body of salt water. Within the ocean, coral reefs are a second kind of marine shelter.

 

Seas/Estuaries Estuaries are coastal areas where salt water and fresh water mix.

Main marine animals are; whales, seals, sea otters, polar bears. Dogfish also lives in oceans.

 

7.1.3 Important Components of Shelter

 

Everything around and within the shelter is considered as component of the shelter. Broadly, there are two types of components of shelter

 

1. Biotic Components

Biotic components are all the living things surrounds us e.g. plants, animals, microorganisms etc. All these biotic components are inter connected with each other. This inter connection is just for food requirements.

 

Biotic components can be categorised as

(i) Producers Producers are organisms that make their own food so they are known as autotrophs. All type of terrestrial plants, hydrophytes, xerophytes, algae and microorganism with chlorophytes perform photosynthesis to produce food.

 

(ii) Consumers They lack the ability to manufacture their own food from inorganic sources. Consumers are grouped as herbivores carnivores; omnivores.

 

(iii) Decomposers Decomposers involves the recycling of nutrients as it feeds on dead or decaying organisms. Some examples of decomposers are fungi, bacteria. Decomposers help in forming humus layer.

 

2. Abiotic Components

These are non-living chemical and physical attributes of the environment that affect living organisms and functioning of ecosystem. Examples of abiotic components are rain, wind, temperature soil, nutrients of soil and sunlight.

 

7.1.4 Other Types of Shelter

Shelter can also be classified into two types

 

1. Permanent Shelter

These are the places where human or animal lives for very longer duration e.g. houses, caves, nest of birds etc. Permanent place are made up of cement and bricks and they are strong in structure.

 

2. Temporary Shelter

These are the place where animals and humans live only for short duration and for any specific purpose. e.g. bus shelters, house boats, migratory birds' nest at different place, tent houses, caravan, shelter home etc.

 

3. Shelter Home

Humans who do not have any proper residence live in the shelter homes. These shelter homes are especially meant for these homeless persons.

 

7.1.5 Animals and their Shelter

 

Different animals are found in environment which live in different types of shelters. They are given below

·         Animals Live on Land and Forests Cow, buffalo, dog, cat, donkey, horse, lion, elephant, dear, rhinoceros, peacock.

·         Animals Live on Tree Monkey, birds, sloth, apes and birds.

·         Animals Live in the Burrows Rat, snake, ant, rabbits, earthworms, scorpion.

·         Animals Live Both on Land and Water Snake, frog, crocodile etc.

 

Specific Animals and their Shelter

 

Animal	Shelter	Animal	Shelter
Lion	Den	Cow	Sheds
Dogs	Kennels	Cat	Cage
Sheep	Pens	Rat	Holes
Hen	Coop	Snake	Hole
Horse	Stable	Birds	Nest
Pigs	Sty or pigsty	Elephants	Forest
Donkey	Stable	Zebra	Forest
Goat	Pen	Spider	Cobweb
Rabbit	Burrow	Honey bee	Hives
Crocodile	Water or on land nearby water bodies	Fish	Aquarium

 

7.1.6 Birds and their Shelter

 

·         Birds live on the trees and makes the nest, some of birds makes nest in old buildings also. Various birds make different types of nests. Some of the birds and their shelter are given below

·         Indian Robin It makes its nest on the top of tree with grass, soft twigs, roots, wool, hair and cotton wool. It lays its eggs between the stone.

·         Koel It does not make its nest. It gives eggs in the nest of crow and crow hatches them with its own egg.

·         Crow Crow makes its nest high up on a tree and it makes its nest using wire, wood, grass and twigs.

·         Sparrow and Pigeon These birds make their nest in the buildings usually. On the top of cupboard, behind a mirror, on a ventillator.

·         Tailor Bird It makes its nest by weaving and stitching the leaves. It uses its sharp beak to stitch the leaves on a bush. It lays eggs in the fold of a leaf that it has made.

·         Barbet Barbet or coopersmith -makes its nest in a hole or in a tree trunk.

·         Dove The dove birds make its nest among the thorn of a cactus plant or in a mehendi hedge.

·         Sun Bird It makes a nest that hang from the branches of a small tree or bush. Nest is made with hair, grass, thin twigs etc.

·         Weaver Bird Male weaver birds make its nest for the female. It makes beautifully woven nest for female to lay egg.

·         Black Kite Both male and female make its nest. Its nest are biggest and not the top most branch of the tree.

 

Insects and their Living Habits

 

Insects	Shelter	Living Habits
Spider	Web	Alone
Termites	Tree-trunk or burrows	Group
Ants	Burrows or crawls on land	Group
Honeybee	Beehives	Group
Earthworm	Burrow in soil	Single
Scorpion	Burrow in soil	Group

 

7.1.7 Human Shelter

 

·         Shelter of human is called house. House can be of two different types

1. Kutcha house are made up of wood, mud, straw

etc. e.g. hut.

2. Pucca house are made up of bricks, cement, sand, iron, wood and steel, e.g. apartments, flats, bungalow etc.

 

Factors Responsible for Building Shelter

 

Various factor plays an important role in deciding the choice of shelter and some of these factors are following

 

1. Location and Geography of Area

Different style of houses are found in desert, hilly area plains etc.

 

2. Environmental Condition

Rainfall, temperature, season like summer, winter etc. These factor decides the choice of house in specific area.

 

3. Availability of Raw Material in Local Area

Material which are easily and economically available are preferred material for construction of house.

 

4. Economics Status

Economic status of individual also decides the type of house he can afford.

 

7.1.8 Specific Houses in Specific Area

 

To adapt to the local environment, a unique houses are build in a specific region.

 

Houses made up of Mud/Tatched House

 

·         These houses are found in hot deserts of Rajasthan and in villages.

·         In deserts of Rajasthan, these houses help in better adapting to excessive heat, mud wall of these houses are made thick so that heat does not cross it.

·         Roofs-are made up of fooder and bushes, wood of accacia (kikar) is used in roof in order to protect roof from insects.

·         These houses are painted with mud and cowdung to protect the mud from breaking and for protection against the insects.

 

House Made up of Wood and Bamboo

·         These houses are made in, those areas where there is very heavy rain.

·         These bamboo and wood houses are 10-12 feet above the ground, so that it remains unaffected from flood.

·         These houses are found in Asom and in some other parts of North-East.

 

House Made up of Stone

·         Stone houses are found in cold desert of Ladakh and other hilly desert areas. House are of two floors. The houses are made of stones which are kept one over the other.

·         The walls are coated with a thick layer of mud and lime. Thick tree trunk may be used to make roof of first floor strong and wooden floor, wooden ceiling are also found in the houses.

·         In two storey building of Ladakh, on the ground floor necessary things and animals are kept and on the first floor people live.

·         Ground floor do not have windows.

·         In intense cold people can shift to the ground floor.

·         On the roof of house, vegetables and fruits are kept for drying.

 

House Made up of Stone and Wood

·         These houses are found in hilly areas where there is good amount of rainfall and snowfall.

·         Roof of these houses are sloping on the sides so that snow and rain can fall easily on the ground.

These houses may be made up of stone, bricks and woods.

·         These houses can be found in Srinagar, Manali and other areas of Kashmir valley. Houses in Srinagar display beautiful carving of wood on the ceiling of house, door and windows have beautiful arches known as Mehraab.

·         A special window made up of wood called dab, can be found in the old houses of Srinagar.

·         In villages of Kashmir, houses are made from tone cut and kept one on top of other and coated with mud. These houses also have sloping roof.

 

House Boat

·      House boat are made up of wood and are present in water. These houses can be upto 80 feet long and 8 - 9 feet wide.

·      These house boats have beautiful wooden carving on it and these carving are known as khatamband.

These house boats are found in Kashmir and Kerala.

 

Donga

·         Donga are house in water, house is present on the boat, with different rooms in it.

·         It can be seen in Dal lake Kashmir.

 

Igloo

·         Igloo are found in very cold region. These houses are made up of ice blocks.

·         Shape of Igloo is oval shaped and entry door of

Igloo is very small. Eskimos live in the Igloo.

·         Snow is used because the air pockets trapped in it make it an insulator.

·         Animal skins and furs used as floor flaps to keep warm air in.

 

Tent House

 

·         Tent house offers a temporary shelter, tent house can be made up of plastic and clothes.

Mountaineers used such houses and they make it using two layer plastics because it prevent from cold.

·         Changpa tribe of Ladakh used yak hair woven strips to make big coned shaped tent. They call their tent Rebo

 

High Rise Building and Building Made up of Bricks

·         These buildings are found in plain area and big cities of India.

·         Multi storey buildings are built using bricks, cement, sand, steel, iron and concrete, e.g. apartments, hotels etc.

 

Fort and Palace

·         These buildings were made in earlier times by kings and emperor.

·         These buildings were very big and have large number of rooms.

·         Walls and ceiling of these buildings have design and motifs on it.

 

7.1.9 Settlement

 

This is a community in which people live. A settlement can vary in size from a small number of dwelling group to larger cities. Settlement may include hamlets, villages, towns and cities.

According to density of population, settlement can be categorised as

 

Urban Settlement

It is related with towns and cities, it can be defined on the basis of size, population density, occupation of people and type of local government. In urban settlement majority of inhabitants are engaged in non-agricultural activities.

·         According to Census 2011, urban area have following characteristics

·         All places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee etc.

·         All other places with following criteria

·         A minimum population of 5000.

·         At least 75% of the male main working population engaged in non-agricultural activities.

·         A density of population at least 400 persons per sq km.

 

Types of Urban Settlement

·         According to size of population, census of

India categories urban settlement into 6 classes

 

Class	Population
Class I	100000 and above
Class II	50000-99999
Class III	20000-49999
Class IV	10000-19999
Class V	5000-9999
Class VI	less than 5000

 

Another classification of urban settlement is

 

Town Place with less than one lakh population.

City Population between one lakh to one million.

Metropolitan City Population between one million to five million, e.g. Delhi.

 

Mega City Population more than one million, e.g. New York, London, Mumbai.

 

Rural Settlement

In rural settlement, primary occupation are agriculture and other agriculture related activities. Generally, rural areas have low population density.

Types of Rural Settlement There are mainly four types of rural settlement

 

1. Compact or Nucleated Settlement

Population is concentrated in one central site and inhabited area is distinct from farms.

 

2. Semi-Compact Settlement In this type of settlement, houses are not well knitted.

 

3. Hamlet Settlement This type of settlement are fragmented into several units. Main settlement does not have influence to other units. Some local names of hamlet settlement are para, dhana, dhani, nanglay etc.

 

4. Dispersed Settlement Also known as isolated settlement these are characterised by units of small size. It may range from single house to a single group of house.