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Project 2: Biodiversity Register – Class 6 Vocational Education Chapter 2 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 6Vocational EducationChapter 2NCERT book: Kaushal Bodh - Vocational Education Class 6

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 2 of the NCERT Class 6 Vocational Education book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Project 2: Biodiversity Register (Part 1: Work with Life Forms)

About the Project

Project 2: Biodiversity Register is the second project in Part 1: Work with Life Forms. You will observe the living things around you and record them in your own 'mini' biodiversity register.

Biodiversity is the variety of life forms on earth — plants, animals, birds, fish, insects and even microorganisms found everywhere, including in soil.
A biodiversity register documents the diversity of living things in an area: the habitat (landscape and soil types), scientific and local names, what animals eat, which living things harm others, and more.

Why record biodiversity? When habitats change — land cleared for construction or farming, or shifts in climate — many species become endangered or extinct. Because everything is interconnected, the loss of any species affects the whole ecosystem, including humans. Registers also preserve useful local knowledge: crop plants and animals, medicinal plants, pests, and when to plant crops.

What You Will Learn

  • Systematically record the biodiversity you observe
  • Use different methods to collect information (people, library, Internet, mobile apps)
  • Analyse information and present your understanding

    • Terms Used in the Register

  • Scientific name – the same in every language, so scientists know they mean the same living thing.
  • Variety – differences within one kind of plant; e.g. mango varieties Alphonso, Kesar, Ratnagiri, Totapuri, Chaunsa, Dasheri, Langra, Banganpalli, Anwar Ratol, Pairi.
  • Cropping season / season of fruiting – when a crop is grown / when fruit trees bear fruit.
  • Source of seeds/plants – seeds, seedlings, bulbs, stem cuttings, etc.
  • Host – a plant or animal on which others live (dogs for fleas; plants for caterpillars).
  • Pests – insects, birds or animals harmful to plants; pesticides control them; weedicides control weeds.
  • GI tag (Geographical Indication) – shows produce comes from a specific area and is of high standard, e.g. Navara rice (Kerala), Gobind Bhog rice (West Bengal), Jalgaon bananas (Maharashtra), Alphonso mangoes (Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg, Maharashtra).

    • Materials

  • Notebook, pen, eraser, measuring scale, sharpener
  • Handheld magnifying glass for small details of plants and insects
  • A camera or smartphone (borrowed) for photos, video and audio — but you must also make sketches
  • Smartphone apps for identifying living things

    • Step-by-Step Activities

    Activity 1: What is around us?

    Every plant supports "a tiny cosmos" of insects, spiders, squirrels and birds. Fill Table 2.1: insects, birds, animals and worms you see, their names in as many languages as you can, and where you find them.

    Activity 2: Meet an expert

    Invite a forest officer, farmer, conservationist or a Vaid/Vaidya (traditional medicine practitioner). Ask: Where do different plants grow locally? Which plants were brought from elsewhere? Which plants have disappeared? What should we grow more of? Is any plant harmful to biodiversity?

    Activity 3: Identify places to survey

    Around the school, water bodies, near home, farms/parks/gardens/nurseries, near a religious place, near a market. Choose places you can reach quickly so you can go back and check.

    Activity 4: Schedule visits

    Consult experts, form groups of at most 5 students, and visit at different times of the year to notice seasonal changes (Table 2.2). Carry binoculars, magnifying lens, camera, field guides and notebooks.

    Activity 5: Fill in the register (Tables 2.3–2.7)

    For each visit record the date, location, habitat type, weather and observations. The book's worked examples:

  • Crop – Onion: Allium cepa; Kanda (Marathi), Vengayam (Tamil), Pyaaz (Hindi); variety Pachaganga; grown by direct seeding, bulbs or transplants; eaten raw or cooked.
  • Fruit – Mango: Mangifera indica; variety Alphonso; grafting or seeding; fruits in summer with a strong, pleasant aroma.
  • Fodder – Napier/Elephant grass: Pennisetum purpureum; Hatti govat (Marathi); variety Pusa giant; planted from stem cuttings or splits; sown February–March; forage for livestock and shelter for wildlife.
  • Weed – Bermuda grass: Cynodon dactylon; Haral (Marathi); found in sugarcane, cotton, grassland and orchards; tolerant to heat and drought; used in playgrounds and sports fields.
  • Pest – Aphid on potato (Solanum tuberosum): Myzus persicae (green peach aphid) and Aphis gossypii (cotton aphid); live on the undersides of leaves, tender shoots and buds; have winged and wingless forms; attack after winter as temperatures rise.

    • Share observations with your group, add new information on each visit, and sketch or photograph anything new.

    Activity 6: Identifying the 'unknown'

    Fill gaps by asking experts or the community, using the library, or using an AI tool such as Google Lens, which uses machine learning and OCR to identify plants, insects, diseases and scientific names from a photo.

    Activity 7: Present your register

  • Part 1 – Summary: Which plants grow in all seasons? Do all plants flower in the same season? Are some weeds useful? Are pests worse in some seasons? What did the community tell you (medicine, fodder, sacred plants)?
  • Part 2 – Go beyond: Which place had the most living things? How many varieties did you see? Did the same pests appear in several places?

    • Safety First

  • Wear shoes on field visits; cover arms and legs against mosquito bites.
  • Be careful around wild plants, insects, birds and animals — do not disturb them.
  • Do not damage any plant and do not leave garbage behind.
  • Internet safety: ask your teacher; never share personal information.

    • Key Terms

  • Biodiversity (जैव विविधता)
  • Habitat (आवास)
  • Species (प्रजाति)
  • Ecosystem (पारिस्थितिकी तंत्र)
  • Extinct (विलुप्त)
  • Endangered (संकटग्रस्त)
  • Scientific name (वैज्ञानिक नाम)
  • Variety (किस्म)
  • Host (पोषक / मेज़बान)
  • Pest (कीट / पीड़क)
  • Weedicide (खरपतवारनाशी)
  • Fodder (चारा)
  • Conservation (संरक्षण)
  • Geographical Indication tag (भौगोलिक संकेतक टैग)

    • Biodiversity Heritage Sites of India (Did you know?)

  • Nallur Tamarind Grove, Karnataka – tamarind trees over 400 years old
  • Gogabeel, Bihar – over 90 bird species, some from Central Asia
  • Ameenpur Lake, Hyderabad – over 200 bird species in a busy city
  • Majuli, Assam – biggest river island on the planet, with monasteries called Satras
  • Myristica swamps, Kerala – ancient nutmeg (jayafala) trees
  • Kali Tiger Reserve, Karnataka – Bengal tigers and elephants
  • Tonglu (West Bengal), Chilkigarh Kanak Durga Sacred Grove (West Bengal), Ziro Valley (Arunachal Pradesh — rice and fish grown together), Mawphlang Sacred Grove (Meghalaya)

    • Keep watching even in cities: kites and mongooses are urban wildlife. You can register a neighbourhood tree on the Season Watch website.

    Think and Answer (hints)

  • Importance of the register? It records what lives where, tracks change over time, saves local knowledge and supports conservation.
  • How has biodiversity changed in 10–20 years? Ask elders which birds and animals they saw when young.
  • Jobs: forest officer, scientist, conservationist.

    • Common Mistakes

  • Writing only local names — always try to find the scientific name too.
  • Visiting a place only once; seasonal changes are missed.
  • Relying only on photos — the book asks you to sketch as well.
  • Leaving a table blank without first asking your teacher.
  • Disturbing animals or plucking plants to "collect" them.

    • 💡 Key Learning Points

    • ✓Biodiversity is the variety of all life forms; a biodiversity register documents habitats, local and scientific names, uses, pests and more.
    • ✓Recording biodiversity matters because habitat change can make species endangered or extinct, and all living things are interconnected.
    • ✓Information can be gathered from experts and elders, the library, the Internet and apps like Google Lens.
    • ✓The register has separate records for crops, fruit plants, fodder plants, weeds and pests, with date, location, habitat and weather.
    • ✓India protects special areas as Biodiversity Heritage Sites, such as Majuli, Nallur Tamarind Grove and Mawphlang Sacred Grove.

    👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

    • →Start with a 10-minute schoolyard walk where each student lists every living thing they can spot, then build Table 2.1 as a class.
    • →Invite a Vaidya, farmer or forest officer and let students run the interview with their prepared questions.
    • →Form groups of no more than 5 and give each group a different survey site so the class covers school, water body, park and market.
    • →Use the book's onion, mango, Napier grass, Bermuda grass and aphid examples as models before students fill their own tables.
    • →Schedule repeat visits in different seasons and compare the same site's records to show seasonal change.
    • →Show how Google Lens identifies a leaf, then have students verify the result with an expert or book.
    • →Ask students to interview grandparents about birds and animals they saw as children, and discuss changes.
    • →End with a gallery-walk presentation of charts, sketches and maps made from the registers.

    📋 Assessment Questions

    1. Can the student define biodiversity and explain why a biodiversity register is useful?
    2. Has the student correctly filled register entries with local name, scientific name, habitat and season?
    3. Can the student distinguish between host, pest, pesticide and weedicide with examples?
    4. Does the student follow field safety rules and avoid disturbing plants and animals?
    5. Can the student present conclusions comparing biodiversity across the places visited?

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    Keep learning

    All chapters in Kaushal Bodh - Vocational Education Class 6

    1. 1. Project 1: School Kitchen Garden
    2. 2. Project 2: Biodiversity Register
    3. 3. Project 3: Maker Skills
    4. 4. Project 4: Animation and Games
    5. 5. Project 5: School Museum
    6. 6. Project 6: Cooking without Fire