Geography To All

Geography To All is an umbrella solution of multiple competitive exams like NTA NET/JRF, UPSC, UPPSC,MPPSC, M.A.(Geography) entrance exam of A.M.U., J.N.U., D.U., B.H.U. etc.

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Wednesday 12 August 2020

August 12, 2020

COMPOSITION OF ATMOSPHERE

ATMOSPHERE
Atmosphere is a blanket of gases and contains huge number of solid and liquid collectively called aerosols surrounding the earth from all sides and forms a protective boundary between the outer space and bio-sphere.
An interesting fact about the atmosphere is that density decreases rapidly with altitude. Nearly 99% of the air lies within 30 km of the earth’s surface.
The atmosphere also shields us from the sun’s ultraviolet radiations which are very harmful for plants and animals. Weather and climate is not possible without the presence of atmosphere. It acts transparent to the sun’s short waves radiation and opaque to the long waves radiation which the earth reflects during night. Thus, it maintains the proper heat balance on the earth. Radio communication is not possible without atmosphere. It also helps in the airways transportation which is consider the fastest means of transportations.

ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION
It is also called atmospheric chemistry. The entire atmosphere consists of a mixture of gases. These gases governed by Gas Law. Some of the particles in the atmosphere is the atmospheric single atom-, argon, helium and other are the molecules consisting of atoms of two or more than like- water vapour.
The study of atmosphere included many gases. The study of gases began with the work of element in the 17th century. The first gas a study in detail is CO2. It discovered in 1752. There is only small amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Our atmosphere constitutes the main following elements, these are as-
  • Gases
  • Water vapour
  • Dust particles


GASES:- 
The principle gases of our atmosphere are as below;
Nitrogen; Nitrogen constitutes the major portion among the atmospheric gases. It is discovered by Rutherford in 1772 and initial name was Mephietic air.
There are following main characteristics of the nitrogen as under;
• This gas accounts 78.08% of the total volume of the atmosphere.
• It does not easily enter into chemical union with other elements but it is important constituent of many organic compounds.
• Its main function in the atmosphere is to regulate combustion by diluting oxygen.
• This gas has no colour, taste and its avoid quick burning.
• It extent for over 100 km from the earth surface.
• It is very important gas for human and most of the plants and animals as it general proteins which is very essential for their nature growth.
• Nitrogen is also important for the industrial and commercial view point also.

Oxygen; Oxygen happen to be the most important gas among the all gases because of its following characteristics;
• It is called life giver gas. It is very essential for respiration of human being, animals and plants. No life is possible without oxygen.
• When any substance burns O2 is consumed.
• It extends up to 120 km in the earth’s atmosphere but its main concentration is found up to 16 km.
• It is concentrate in our atmosphere is nearly 20.94%.
• This gas was first discovered by Joseph Priestley and its initial name was Dephlogistated air.

Carbon-dioxide; CO2 is the third important gas in our atmosphere.
• it is concentrate is nearly 0.03%
• it is very important gas for the process of photosynthesis by which the green plants make their own food.
• It is meteorologically important also because it is transparent to the incoming solar radiation.
• It is keep the air warmer near the ground and along with water vapour is largely responsible for greenhouse effect of the atmosphere.
• This gas discovered by Jean.
WATER VAPOUR:-
• The visible amount of water in our atmosphere is called water vapour.
• The amount of water vapour content of air may vary from 0.02% by volume in a cold dry climate to nearly 4% in the humid tropics.
• The most important think about water vapour is that 90% of it lies below 6 km and 50% of it lies below 2 km of the atmosphere.
• The main sources of water vapour in our atmosphere are the oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds, transpiration of plants etc.
• At the equator and tropics the concentration of water vapour is more but as we move toward the poles its concentration decreases.
Significance of water vapour:-
Water vapour is the source of all clouds and precipitation, like CO2, water vapour plays a significance role in the insolation action of the atmosphere in addition but also a part of the incoming solar radiation. Thus, it is an important control in regulating the energy transfer through the atmosphere.

DUST PARTICLES:-
When air below as winds with sufficient speed. It carried large quantities of particles and keep them suspends in the lower layers of the atmosphere. They are derived from the different sources like smoke, agricultural activities, volcanic activities, mining, meteors, transportation forest fire etc.
Sky looks blue due to presence of dust particles in the atmosphere which scattering the blue light.

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August 12, 2020

NATURE AND SCOPE OF HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION : 
Human Geography is the sub-branch of geography, that’s the study of study of human races; the growth, distribution and density of populations of the various parts of the world, their demographic attributes and migration patterns; and physical and cultural differences between human groups and economic activities.
Human geography also takes into account the mosaic of culture, language, religion, customs and traditions; types and patterns of rural settlements, the site, size, growth and functions of urban settle¬ments, and the functional classification of towns.

NATURE OF HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
Human geography studies the inter-relationship between the physical environment and socio cultural environment created by human beings through mutual interaction with each other. Geography is ‘the study of the earth as home of humans’.
Its nature is interdisciplinary and integrative. Geography looks at the earth’s surface from two different but interrelated perspectives, known as systematic and regional. Accordingly, it has two broad branches: systematic geography and regional geography. Human geography is a branch of systematic geography. It studies the locational and distributional aspects of cultural phenomena, resulting from ever changing human-nature interaction.
The study of man and his adjustments to natural environment is known as human geography. Man has moduled his habitats and life style according to his physical surrounding natural endowments. The impact of environment on man & his adaptations to physical environment. have been emphasized by the Greek, Roman & Arab Scholars.

DEFINITION OF HUMAN GEOGRAPHY : 
There is given below various definition given by different scholar : 

According to Ratzel “Human geography is the synthetic study of relationship between human societies and earth’s surface”. 
According to Ellen C. Semple “Human geography is the study of “the Changing relationship between the unresting man and the unstable earth.” 
According to Paul Vidal de la Blache,  “Conception resulting from a more synthetic knowledge of the physical laws governing our earth and of the relations between the living beings which inhabit it”.
According to Ellsworth Huntington, “Human geography may be defined as the study of the nature and distribution of the relationships between geographical environment and human activities and qualities.” 

SCOPE OR  BRANCHES OF HUMAN GEOGRAPHY 
Scope means subject matter of any discipline so the subject matter of human geography divided into three sub-branches, their further division are given below : 

1. Social Geography: Social Geography on social phenomena in space. Poverty, health, education, livelihood are some important fields of study in social geography. Social Geography also further divided into various branches : 
i. Anthropogeography: The term "anthropogeography" was first coined by German geographer Friedrich Ratzel. It largely deals with racial phenomena in their spatial context.

ii. Population Geography: Population  Geography is the of various dimensions of population like its population distribution, density, composition, fertility, mortality, migration, etc.
iii. Political Geography: Political Geography is the study of political phenomena in their spatial context. Main focus remains for creation and transformation of political and administrative regions.
iv. Historical Geography: Historical Geography emphasis on Spatial and temporal trends of geographical phenomena are studied in Historical geography.
v. Settlement Geography: Settlement Geography is the study of Rural/Urban settlements, their size, distribution, functions, and hierarch and of various other parameters of settlement system.
vi. Urban Geography: Urban geography is a branch of human geography concerned with various aspects of cities. Urban geographers and urbanists examine various aspects of urban life and the built environment. 
vii. Rural Geography: The study of rural geography deals with phenomena which are typical of the rural space. It deals with rural settlements their characteristics and the socio-economic processes of change that occur in the rural space of the developed and less-developed countries.

2. Cultural Geography:  Cultural Geography focuses on the origin, components and impact of human cultures, both material and non-material. Geography of Languages, Geography of Tools and Skills etc.
3. Economic Geography: Economic Geography is the study of the location and distribution of economic activities at the local, regional, national and world scale. Economic geography can be studied under the following sub-branches ; 
i. Agricultural Geography: Agricultural geography deals with the study of agricultural activities of man. It studies the spatial variations of agricultural activities over the surface of earth and influence of geographical factors on agriculture. A comparative study is also undertaken with a view to understand how different agricultural systems are shaped in different areas of the world.
ii. Resource Geography: Resource geography is concerned with the study of resources, their geographical distribution, availability in terms of development, their production and their utilization.
iii. Industrial Geography : Industrial geography deals with the study of geographical variations in industrial activities on the earth`s surface. It also studies role of geographical factors in industrial localisation. In a narrow sense an industry is confined to the production of goods i.e. manufacturing industry. However, in a wider sense it is meant to cover the provision of services as well such as tourism, banking, transport etc.
iv. Geography of Transport : Transport geography is concerned with the study of mobility of goods and people, transportation routes and different means and modes of transportation. It also analyses accessibility and connectivity and the control of geographical factors and geographical barriers. 

CONCLUSION: 
Human geography as second major branch of geography focuses on the study of people and their social groups, cultures, economies, and interactions with the environment by studying their relations in spatio-temporal perspective. Human geography is the study of changing relationship between the active man and dynamic earth surface features. The major branches of human geography are population geography, settlement geography, economic geography, socio-cultural geography, political geography etc.

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Tuesday 11 August 2020

August 11, 2020

CONCEPT OF ENVIRONMENT

Environment: The Literal meaning of Environment is ‘the Surroundings’ we are surrounded by Abiotic and Biotic Components, (Atmosphere & Environment). The natural environment includes the nature of the living space, (the location, topography, slope), climate, natural vegetation, soils and organisms.                                                            (Black Box Approach)


The term Environment derived from the French word “environs” which means around, encircle or encompass. Environment can also be referred as the totality of all the externalities that affect human life.
In broader perspective environment consists of human, social, political, economic and physical environment.
Components of Environment: It can be broadly classified into two major categories are as given in the chart.

                                        
(A) Natural Environment
Lithosphere: In simple words Continental crust and oceanic crust collectively known as Lithosphere which means the upper part of the earth, it is a solid rocky crust covering the entire planet which is composed of minerals. It consists of continents, Mountains, ocean floor which makes up 29% of the earth’s surface.
Hydrosphere: Water which is surrounded on the earth surface in the form of Oceans, lakes, ponds, rivers makes a sphere is known as hydrosphere. It covers about 71 % of the earth surface of which 97 % is in the oceans and 3 % potable water which is in the form of solid ice sheets, rivers, ponds etc.
Atmosphere: Atmosphere is composed of various vital layer of the gases like Nitrogen is about 78%, oxygen is about 21%, carbon dioxide is about 0.03% in the atmosphere. These atmospheric gases have their different roles in the atmosphere like carbon dioxide is responsible for increase in the temperature of the earth and main component for plants photosynthesis process. Oxygen is vital elements for all living animals.
Biosphere: It is most important sphere among all of these it includes living or non living organisms, plants and animal species included one cell organisms.
In other words the part of the earth surface and atmosphere in which plants and animals can live. This means the totality of life on or near Earth’s surface.

(B) Man-made Environment
Anthrosphere: The anthrosphere word was first used by Edward Suess a Austrian geologist. Anthrosphere means that any part of an environment which is modified or  used by humans for their activity is known as anthrosphere The entire infrastructure made by humans by using the natural components of the environment can be considered as a part of Anthrosphere. For e.g. buildings made with the use of wood, cement or water. Even an ocean-going ship used to ship goods made in the factory.

So this is the short introduction of environment in the next topic we will cover more topics which is related to environment with detailed information.

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Saturday 8 August 2020

NATURE AND SCOPE OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
August 08, 2020

NATURE AND SCOPE OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION  : 
Economic geography is the sub-branch of human geography. So that’s sub-geography that deal with means to earn livelihood (economic activities). In simple word, we can say that economic geography is related with the study of pattern of production, exchange of goods service or it may be defined as study of patterns of production, exchange of goods and services their consumption or it may be defined as the study of variation in economic activities of man in a relation to the physio-cultural environment on the earth surface.
The British Geographer George Chisholm wrote the first textbook on economic geography. The title of the book was “Handbook on Commercial Geography,” published in 1889. So he considered as “Father of Economic Geography”

DEFINITIONS OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY : 
In simple words economic geography is the study of man and his economic activities. Economic geography has been defined in various ways by different scholars or geographers they are given below : 
According to Hartshorne and Alexander, in his book “Economic Geography” in 1988, it’s "Economic geography is the study of spatial variation on the Earth's surface of activities related to producing, exchanging and consuming goods and services. Whenever possible the goal is to develop generalisations and theories to account for these spatial variations." 
According to R. E Murphy in his book  “An  Introduction to Geography” that’s “Economic geography has to do with similarities and differences from place to place in the ways people make a living.”
According to E.W Zimmermann  that’s, "Economic geography deals with economic life of man with relation to environment". 
According to Gatz “Economic Geography make a scientific investigation of nature of world areas in their direct influence on the production of goods”. 
According to R.N Brown “Economic geography is that aspect of the subject which deals with the influence of the environment – inorganic and organic – on the activities of man.”                                                                                                     
It thus becomes clear from above definitions that economic geography mainly deals with the man’s productive activities and their relationship with environmental conditions. These activities are of three types: primary, secondary and tertiary. 


NATURE OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY  : 
There is no unanimity in geographers, economists, anthropologist, scholars regarding the nature of economic geography because  the nature of economic geography varies, it’s totally depend on in which field you are thinking.
The economic geography personified has a nature, just as any human being has a peculiar nature or the psychological tendency. As says H.J. Mackinder, the geography is a science, arts and philosophy by nature. So, it follows that "the economic geography" being a sub-discipline in the subject of the geography is a science, arts and philosophy, too.
Economic geography is a science because it follows the scientific methods of the observation, the collection of the data, the hypothesis, the theory and the model building ever open to the scientific scrutiny in terms of the relationship among the variables under the study and the validity of such a relationship.
Economic geography is an art, since it involves quite a subjective approach, too in terms of the skillful organization of the field studies, the collection of the data, the map drawing and the interpretation of the results.
Economic geography is a philosophy, too, in terms of ever trying to philosophize the questions of the human beings and the environment relationship in the economic terms. It tries to frame the postulations as to what, why, how and where an economic activity takes place in a particular corner of the globe or the spatial point in the universe.
Economic geography is also a social science because it deals with the study of the use of a country’s natural resources and their production and distribution.
Economic geography is sometimes approached as a branch of anthropogeography that focuses on regional system of human economic activity.
So it clear maintained above the nature of economic geography is very difficult to say that it’s a science, social science, arts, philosophy and anthropology also.


SCOPE OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY : 
The scope or subject matter of economic geography is too broad because it is the study of the distributional pattern of various of economic activities over the surface of the earth. It also study the location and spatial organization of those economic activities.
Generally in simple words we study in economic geography economic activities, physio-cultural factors influencing the location and distribution of economic activities,  resources types and their distribution, regional development and remedial measures.
So basically the scope means the subject matter of any discipline. So the subject matter of the important branches of Economic geography as mention bellow:
1.  Theoretical economic geography :  This is the broadest of all the branches economic geography and geographers within this subdivision mainly focus on building new theories for how the world's economy is arranged.
2.  Historical economic geography : This examines the history and development of spatial economic structure using historical data. It studies how centers of population and economic activity shift, what patterns of regional specialization and localization evolve over time and what factors explain these changes. Economic geographers look at the historic development of an area to understand their economies.
3.  Regional economic geography : This aspect of economic geography looks at the economies of specific regions around the world.  Economic geographers look at local development as well as the relationships that specific regions have with other areas.
4. Critical economic geography : Critical economic geography is an approach taken from the point of view of contemporary critical geography and its philosophy. Geographers in this field study economic inequalities and the dominance of one region over another and how that dominance impacts development of economies.
5.  Behavioral economic geography : This aspect of studies the cognitive processes underlying spatial reasoning, locational decision-making, and behaviour of firms and individuals.

Additionally, some specific topics are also included in economic geography which are also related to the economy, they include : 

  • Geography of Agriculture
  • Geography of Industry
  • Transport and Communication Geography
  • Geography of Leisure and Tourism
  • Geography of Services, Trade and Retail
  • Geography of Resources
  • Labour Geography
  • Environmental and Development Geography
  • Rural and Urban Geography (economic aspects)
  • Globalisation


Besides the above parameters we can also study the scope of economic geography by these spatial parameters, they are given below : 

Economic geography has enormous spatial scope which includes the following aspects;
1. Vertical Aspect : 
The vertical aspects encompasses spatial locations from ocean bed to the mountain top and the economic phenomena associated with them.
2. Horizontal Aspect : These are the two types of aspect, they are;

  • Continental Scope : It studies economic terms and interactions of all continents/islands. 
  • Hemispheric Scope  : The entire Earth may be studied in terms of Eastern, Western, Northern, Southern Hemispheres.
  • Global Scope : It has the global scope because of the variations in the level and the interdependencies that exist in the international economic development. The whole Earth has become a global system with the shrinking economic distance. So much that even a person in the most remote geographical/economic areas of the world now participates in an economic system that is less the local and the regional and more the national and the international in the scope.


3. Economic Aspect : These are the major three types for study purpose;

  • Production :  All the kinds of economic activities primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary are studied product.
  • Exchange : It includes the value addition to each product, goods and services created by the specialised services. It includes services provided at different levels of handling, including packaging, promotion, financing and merchandising of the product.
  • Consumption : The consumption includes both the pattern of consumption and the spatial aspects of consumer behaviour.

So that is above detailed discussion of scope of economic geography, after the describing the nature and scope of economic geography, now we come to the approaches to study economic geography.


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Friday 7 August 2020

August 07, 2020

DEFINITION OF CLIMATOLOGY|| NATURE AND SCOPE OF CLIMATOLOGY ||

WEATHER AND CLIMATE
Before know about climatology it’s necessary to know about weather and climate and differentiate between them, because they play vital role in climatology.
Weather and climate are dynamic features of our physical environment. They affect a wide range of human activities to a greater or lesser degree.
In climatology, Weather refers to the state of atmosphere at any given time denoting the short term variations of atmosphere in term of temperature, pressure, wind, moisture, precipitation and visibility. weather is highly variable. It is constantly changing, sometimes from hour to hour and at other times from day to day.
Climate, on the other hand, is the sum total of the variety of weather conditions of an area or a place. Thus, climate may be defines simply as average weather. The term climate denotes a description of aggregate weather condition.
The World Meteorological Organization has suggested a standard period of 31 years for calculating the climatic average of different weather elements.
According to G.F. Taylor “climate is the integration of weather, and weather is the differentiation of climate. The distinction between weather and climate is, therefore, mainly one of time”

CLIMATOLOGY:-  DEFINITION, NATURE AND SCOPE
Climatology is a branch of science that describe and explain the nature of climate how its differ from place to place. The term climatology originated from the two Greek words , ‘Klima’ + ‘Logos’; Klima means the slope of the Earth whereas Logos refers to a discourse or study.
According to Austin Miller; Climatology is a branch of science which discusses the average condition of the weather.
According to Thornthwaite; broads the scope of climatology , when he suggest that the study of the atmosphere as well as that of the earth’s surface from the core of this discipline. This is so because each and every characteristics of climate is determined by the exchange of heat, moisture, and momentum between the earth’s surface and the atmosphere.

NATURE OF  CLIMATOLOGY 
Climatology tries to study both the nature of climates – local, regional or global – and the natural or human-induced factors that cause climates to change. Climatology considers the past and can help predict future climate change. Sometimes it play role as a Climatology and sometimes as a metrology because we study under this about both weather and Climate.  Moreover there are some of the point, that’s we study in Climatology :
- Identification, demarcation, and distribution of different types of climates. 
- Mode of origin of different types of climates. 
- Causes and processes responsible for climatic variation both horizontally and vertically. 
- Different elements of Weather and climate. 
- Interaction of Weather and climate with human society. 
- Impact of climate on human health and activities including physiological and psychological aspect. 

SCOPE OF CLIMATOLOGY
Generally the scope means subject matter of a discipline. So the subject matters of climatology comprises three basic sub-division of the related to science of climatology-
             
1.PHYSICAL CLIMATOLOGY: This branch of climatology specially to explain the factors responsible for bringing about the temporal ad spatial variation in heat exchange, moisture exchange and air movement. These several observation are climatic elements as Insolation , duration of sunshine, temperature, air pressure, precipitation, winds, cloudiness and fog etc.
Physical climatology is closely related to meteorology which includes not only the physics chemistry and dynamics of atmosphere but also many of its direct effect upon the earth’s surface, the ocean.

2. REGIONAL CLIMATOLOGY: Regional climatology describe the various types of climates. A deals with spatial distribution, regional climatology is the concept of a scale in a regional as well  as spatial pattern.
On the basis of the size and the extent of the climatic region, the world is divided into three major regions;

  • Macro-Climatic Region
  • Meso-Climatic Region
  • Micro-Climatic Region

Macro-climatic region is the largest climatic region in which we study the basic factor of climate such as distribution of continents and oceans. Similarly the meso and micro climate are largely controls by local factors. The meso and micro climates of small areas also required differentiation and explanation as a result of micro-climatology, as a branch of also consider sometimes physical climatology where local climate are closely related to surface condition.

3. APPLIED CLIMATOLOGY: In applied climatology we studies the applications of the climatological knowledge to specific practical problems. It analyses the relationship of climatology to other science.In applied climatology the ,main purpose to find out ways and means to make use of our knowledge of climatic elements for the betterment of human life on the earth.
The available climatological data have a great many applications. Because of the rapidly growing literature of climatology and the experience of persons working in the field of climatology. There has emerged many specialized branch in the field of applied climatology. There are bioclimatology, agro-climatology related to agriculture, medical climatology related to medical, urban climatology are the most important example of the various branches of climatology.

In Short, the term climatology is correctly applied to the study of the following five growing fields-
1. Climatological record
2. Theory of climatology or climate
3. Energy and moisture balance of the earth.
4. Study of climate as the environment of living organism.
5. Study of climate as the direct environment of man.

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Tuesday 4 August 2020

August 04, 2020

NATURE AND SCOPE OF GEOGRAPHY || BRANCHES OF GEOGRAPHY || TYPES OF GEOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION
Geography was first systematically studied by the ancient Greeks, who also developed a philosophy of geography. The term ‘geography’ was first used by the Greek scholar Eratosthenes in the 3rd century B.C. He wrote the book Geography. There is no unanimity among the geographer to call father of geography but more acceptable is, Greek scholar Haecetus has been regarded as “father of geography”.  According to most scholars, Eratosthenes is known as the father of Geography because he is considered to have been the first person to use the word 'Geography'. Alexander Von Humboldt and Carl Ritter are known as “founders of modern geography”.
Geography is made up of two Latin words “Geo” and “Graphy”. Geo means “Earth” and Graphy means “to describe”. Thus the general meaning of geography is the branch of science which explains about the Earth. In other words “Geography is largely the study of the interaction of all physical and human phenomena and landscapes created by such interactions.” It is about how, why, and where human and natural activities occur and how these activities are interconnected.

NATURE OF GEOGRAPHY 
The nature of geography is not static but highly dynamic. The nature of geography is both physical environment and human environment. However, the meaning and scope of Geography has dramatically changed with the passage of time, thus, is concerned with the study of Nature and Human interactions as an integrated whole. ‘Human’ is an integral part of ‘nature’ and  ‘nature’ has the imprints of ‘human’. Nature has influenced different aspects of human life. Its imprints can be noticed on food, clothing, shelter and occupation. Human beings have come to terms with nature through adaptation and modification.

 According to Kant, the famous German scholar defined “geography as a study of the earth.”

 The latest and comprehensive definition of Geography was given by Richard Hearthstone in his book in title "Perspective on the Nature of Geography" published in 1959. According to him "Geography is the concerned to provide accurate, orderly and rational description and interpretation of the variable characters of earth surface". 
According to Edward Augustus Ackerman in 1965 "It is the study of spatial distribution and space relation on the earth surface".
BRANCHES OR SCOPE OF GEOGRAPHY
Basically the subject matter or scope of geography is too rigid. But for study purpose it  has two main branches: Physical Geography, Human Geography.
                                                                      


A. Physical Geography
Physical geography is the study of physical environment of the world, which is specifically composed of land, air, water, plants and animals. This gives rise to a number of subfields of physical geography.
i.    Geomorphology: It is concerned with the study of the landforms on the earth’s surface. It includes origin and development of landforms through erosional, transportation and depositional  processes of water, wind and glaciers.
ii.   Climatology: Climatology is the study of atmospheric conditions and related climatic and weather phenomena. It includes the study of atmospheric composition, climatic regions, seasons, etc.
iii.   Oceanography: Oceanography is the study of various types of Oceanic format component and processes related to ocean floor depths, currents, coral reefs and continental drifts, etc.
iv.    Soil Geography: Soil Geography is the study of soil in their environment. It is one of two main branches of soil science, the other being edaphology. Pedology deals with pedogenesis, soil morphology, and soil classification, while edaphology studies the way soils influence plants, fungi, and other living things. 

v.    Bio-Geography: It is concerned with the biological phenomena in space, especially in terms of the distribution of various kinds of floral and faunal species. Biogeography may be subdivided into plant or floral geography, animal or faunal geography and human ecology.
vi.    Astronomical Geography: It studies the celestial phenomena which concerns the Earth’s surface particularly Sun, Moon and Planets of the solar System.

B. Human Geography
Human geography studies the inter-relationship between the physical environment and socio cultural environment created by human beings through mutual interaction with each other. Geography is ‘the study of the earth as home of humans’.

 Human geography has a number of sub-branches.
i. Anthropogeography: The term "anthropogeography" was first coined by German geographer Friedrich Ratzel. It largely deals with racial phenomena in their spatial context.
ii. Cultural Geography:  Cultural Geography focuses on the origin, components and impact of human cultures, both material and non-material.
iii.  Social Geography: Social Geography on social phenomena in space. Poverty, health, education, livelihood are some important fields of study in social geography.
iv.  Population Geography: Population  Geography is the of various dimensions of population like its population distribution, density, composition, fertility, mortality, migration, etc.
v.  Economic Geography: Economic Geography is the study of the location and distribution of economic activities at the local, regional, national and world scale. Economic geography can be studied under the following heads: Resource geography, Agricultural geography, Industrial geography and transport geography.
vi. Political Geography: Political Geography is the study of political phenomena in their spatial context. Main focus remains for creation and transformation of political and administrative regions.
vii. Historical Geography: Historical Geography emphasis on Spatial and temporal trends of geographical phenomena are studied in Historical geography.
viii.  Settlement Geography: Settlement Geography is the study of Rural/Urban settlements, their size, distribution, functions, and hierarch and of various other parameters of settlement system.
ix.   Urban Geography: Urban geography is a branch of human geography concerned with various aspects of cities. Urban geographers and urbanists examine various aspects of urban life and the built environment. 
x.    Rural Geography: The study of rural geography deals with phenomena which are typical of the rural space. It deals with rural settlements their characteristics and the socio-economic processes of change that occur in the rural space of the developed and less-developed countries.


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Monday 3 August 2020

August 03, 2020

NATURE AND SCOPE OF BIOGEOGRAPHY|| MEANING, DEFINITION||

INTRODUCTION :

Biogeography is a branch of geography that studies the past and present distribution of the world's many animal and plant species and is usually considered to be a part of physical geography as it often relates to the examination of the physical environment and how it affected species and shaped their distribution across the world.

Alfred Russel Wallace studied the distribution of flora and fauna in the Amazon Basin and the Malay Archipelago in the mid-19th century. His research was essential to the further development of biogeography, and he considered as "father of Biogeography".




MEANING AND NATURE OF BIOGEOGRAPHY :

The term “Biogeography” is coming from the union of two words Bio+geography.  ‘Bio’ means ‘biology a science deals with living phenomena' and the 'Geography’ means a science related to both living as well as non-living phenomena'. Geography forms the habitat and living phenomena survive in that.  In other words the study of biosphere is called biogeography, which includes the consideration of physical environment, soil, animals and plants.

According to Browne, “Biogeography as the branch of physical geography; geography of organic life, the study of spatial distribution of animate nature, including both plants and animals and the processes that produce variations in the patterns of distribution”.

According to J. Tivy, “Biogeography as the term indicates, is both a biological and a geographical science. Its field of study is the biologically inhabited part of the lithosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere- or, as it has become known-the biosphere”.
Margaret Anderson defined “biogeography as the essence of biological relation between man ( considered as animal) and whole of the animate and inanimate environment”.
Biogeography as a science is the synthesis of concepts and information from the geology climatology, pedology, geomorphology as well as botany, zoology, physical geography, evolutionary biology, and ecology etc.

SCOPE OF BIOGEOGRAPHY :
However, the primary subject matter of biogeography comprises the analysis and interpretation of different aspects of living organisms including plants and animals of the biospheric ecosystem. Thus, on the basis on plant and animal, biogeography is divided into three basic branches and these three also divided in sub-discipline. They are given below :
1. Plant Biogeography or Phytogeography
2. Zoogeography or Animal Geography
3. Pedology or Soil Geography

1. Plant Biogeography or Phytogeography  :
The study of plants communities as social groups in terms of their evolution, spatial and temporal changes, dispersal and distribution patterns, processes and causes of their spatial variations and ecological changes through time, their interactions with the environment of their habitats and responses coming there from etc., is called phytogeography (plant geography).

2. Zoogeography or Animal Geography :
The study of animal communities of both land and marine habitats and environment in terms of speciation and evolution, dispersal, extinction and distribution patterns of animals, interactions of animals with environment, responses of animal communities to. human activities etc. is called animal or zoogeography.  Zoogeography also studies the abilities of animals to adapt to varying environmental conditions of their habitats which vary both spatially-and temporally.

3. Pedology or Soil Geography :
Soil geography or pedology also the subject matter of biogeography . It is the study of soils in their natural environment. It is one of two main branches of soil science, the other being edaphology. Pedology deals with pedogenesis, soil morphology, and soil classification, while edaphology studies the way soils influence plants, fungi, and other living things.

Today, the subject matter of  biogeography is also broken on the basis of approaches to the study of plants and animals communities into three main fields of study :
1. Historical Biogeography,
2. Ecological Biogeography, and
3. Conservation Biogeography.

1.  Historical Biography :
Historical biogeography is called paleobiogeography and studies the past distributions of species. It looks at their evolutionary history and things like past climate change to determine why a certain species may have developed in a particular area. The branch of historical biogeography is called paleobiogeography because it often includes paleogeographic ideas—most notably plate tectonics.

2.  Ecological Biogeography :
Ecological biogeography looks at the current factors responsible for the distribution of plants and animals, and the most common fields of research within ecological biogeography are climatic equability, primary productivity, and habitat heterogeneity.

3.  Conservation Biogeography :
Scientists in the field of conservation biogeography study ways in which humans can help restore the natural order of plant and animal life in a region. In recent years, scientists and nature enthusiasts alike have further expanded the field of biogeography to include conservation biogeography—the protection or restoration of nature and its flora and fauna, whose devastation is often caused by human interference in the natural cycle.

Biogeography is also divided on the basis of habitats into 3 categories as follows :

1.  Mainland or Terrestrial Biogeography:
Mainland or terrestrial biogeography is concerned with the study of flora and fauna of the continents and parts thereof adopting both historical (evolutionary) and ecological approaches.
2.  Marine Biogeography : 
Marine biogeography is the study of marine organisms of plankton, nekton and benthos communities in different marine biozones.
3. Island Biogeography :  
Island biogeography is quite different from terrestrial and marine biogeography because each island has different history of its origin and different patterns of evolution of its flora end fauna.


In short the scope or subject matter  of biogeography is given below in fig :

                      Fig : : Scope of Biogeography.

CONCLUSION :

After the discussing about the introduction of biogeography, meaning, and scope of biogeography, now, i come to the conclusion; so biogeography, the study of the geographic distribution of plants, animals, and other forms of life. It is concerned not only with habitation patterns but also with the factors responsible for variations in distribution.

Biogeography is very important in understanding how animals and plants have changed the landscape over time. This field utilizes knowledge from the study of rocks or geology, the study of ecosystems or ecology, and the study of the physical planet or physical geography to answer questions about how organisms react to changes in their environment.

And the subject matter or scope of biogeography primarily divided into three major division these are phytogeography (the past and present distribution of plants) and zoogeography (the past and present distribution of animals), soil biogeography. And also divided into historical geography, ecologically biogeography and conservation biogeography. It’s also sub divided into land, marine and island geography.

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