Karnataka Forest Guard key terms

A major river of Karnataka rising at Talakaveri in Kodagu district and flowing east to the Bay of Bengal. Its water sharing with Tamil Nadu has been a long-standing interstate dispute.

A hilly district in the Western Ghats of Karnataka known for coffee plantations and for being the source of the Kaveri River at Talakaveri.

A dam across the Kaveri near Mysuru, also called KRS, built in the early twentieth century under engineer M. Visvesvaraya. It supplies irrigation and drinking water to the region.

A mountain range running along the western edge of peninsular India, including much of coastal and Malnad Karnataka. It is a global biodiversity hotspot with high endemism.

The hilly, rain-heavy western tract of Karnataka covering districts such as Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu, distinct from the drier Maidan plains to the east.

The relatively flat and drier eastern plateau region of Karnataka, in contrast to the forested and hilly Malnad belt in the west of the state.

A protected area in Chamarajanagar district that forms part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and is important for tiger and elephant conservation in Karnataka.

A national park in Kodagu and Mysuru districts, also called Rajiv Gandhi National Park, known for tigers, elephants and the Kabini river landscape.

A river and reservoir in southern Karnataka that separates Nagarhole from Bandipur and supports wildlife, irrigation and tourism in the region.

A protected area in Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga districts, part of Project Tiger, named after the Bhadra river and known for its deciduous forests.

A centrally sponsored conservation scheme launched in 1973 to protect tigers and their habitats through designated tiger reserves and monitoring of tiger populations.

A central government scheme started in 1992 for conserving elephants, their habitats and corridors, and for reducing human-elephant conflict in states such as Karnataka.

A stretch of habitat linking elephant populations across fragmented landscapes, allowing seasonal movement. Karnataka has several corridors between the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats.

A patch of forest protected by local communities for religious reasons. In Karnataka such groves, called devarakadu, preserve old-growth trees and local biodiversity.

Tree planting and management on farm land, village commons and roadsides to meet local fuelwood, fodder and timber needs while improving the environment.

A land-use practice that combines trees with crops or livestock on the same land, common in Karnataka with species such as sandalwood and silver oak.

The deliberate planting of trees on land that was not recently forested, done to restore cover, check soil erosion and increase carbon storage.

A region with exceptionally high numbers of endemic species that has lost much of its original vegetation. The Western Ghats is one of India's recognised hotspots.

A plant or animal found naturally only in a particular region and nowhere else. The Western Ghats of Karnataka hosts many such frogs, birds and trees.

Karnataka's state tree, Santalum album, valued for its fragrant heartwood. Its cultivation and trade are regulated by the state forest department.

A brightly coloured bird, Karnataka's state bird, often seen on wires and open ground and known for its blue wing display in flight.

The three-tier system of local self-government in rural India covering village, block and district levels, established by the 73rd Constitutional Amendment.

A 1992 amendment that gave constitutional status to Panchayat Raj institutions and added Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule to the Constitution.

A legislature with only one house. Karnataka has a bicameral legislature, so this term is contrasted with its Vidhana Sabha and Vidhana Parishad.

The lower and directly elected house of the Karnataka state legislature, whose members are chosen by voters from territorial constituencies.

The upper house of the Karnataka legislature, partly elected by local bodies and graduates and partly nominated, functioning as a revising chamber.

A celebrated engineer and Dewan of Mysore, remembered for irrigation and dam projects including KRS and for founding institutions promoting technical education.

An early nineteenth-century ruler of Kittur in present-day Karnataka who resisted British control, remembered as a symbol of anti-colonial resistance.

The movement that brought Kannada-speaking areas of different princely states and provinces together into the state of Mysore, renamed Karnataka in 1973.

The Dravidian language spoken mainly in Karnataka, written in its own script and recognised as a classical language of India.

In Kannada grammar, the joining of two words or morphemes where the final sound of the first changes or merges with the beginning of the next.

A Kannada compound word formed by combining two or more stems into a single unit, often with a case relationship implied between the parts.

A grammatical case ending in Kannada that shows the relation of a noun to other words, such as subject, object, place or instrument.

The sum of a set of values divided by the number of values. It is a measure of central tendency often tested through speed and work problems.

A fraction expressed out of one hundred. Percentage problems frequently involve increase, decrease, profit and loss, and simple interest calculations.

Interest calculated only on the original principal for the whole period, using the formula principal times rate times time divided by one hundred.

A comparison of two quantities by division and an equation stating two ratios are equal, used to share amounts and solve mixture problems.

A form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn from two given statements, commonly tested with statements about all, some and no categories.

A reasoning question that asks for a pair of items related in the same way as a given pair, testing recognition of relationships between concepts.

The process by which green plants use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to make glucose and release oxygen, with chlorophyll as the key pigment.

The green pigment in plant cells that absorbs light energy for photosynthesis and gives leaves their characteristic colour.

The principle that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, meaning forces always occur in pairs acting on different bodies.

The statement that current through a conductor is directly proportional to the potential difference across it at constant temperature, giving V equals IR.

A water-soluble vitamin found in citrus fruits and amla, needed for collagen formation; its deficiency causes scurvy.

A seasonal reversal of wind direction bringing heavy rain. Karnataka receives most of its rainfall from the southwest monsoon from June to September.

A dark clay-rich soil formed from basalt, also called regur, that retains moisture well and suits cotton; found in parts of northern Karnataka.

A high waterfall on the Sharavati river in Shivamogga district, formed where the river drops off the edge of the Western Ghats.