Tropical Rainforest of India
Encyclopedia
The main areas of tropical forest are found in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands; the Western Ghats
, which fringe the Arabian Sea
coastline of peninsular India
; and the greater Assam
region in the north-east. Small remnants of rain forest are found in Orissa
state. Semi-evergreen rain forest is more extensive than the evergreen formation partly because evergreen forests tend to degrade to semi-evergreen with human interference. There are substantial differences in both the flora and fauna between the three major rain forest regions.
The Western Ghats Monsoon
forests occur both on the western (coastal) margins of the ghats and on the eastern side where there is less rainfall. These forests contain several tree species of great commercial significance (e.g. Indian rosewood Dalbergia latifolia
, Malabar Kino Pterocarpus marsupium, teak and Terminalia crenulata), but they have now been cleared from many areas. In the rain forests there is an enormous number of tree species. At least 60 percent of the trees of the upper canopy are of species which individually contribute not more than one percent of the total number. Clumps of bamboo
occur along streams or in poorly drained hollows throughout the evergreen and semi-evergreen forests of south-west India
, probably in areas once cleared for shifting agriculture
.
The tropical vegetation of north-east India (which includes the states of Assam
, Nagaland
, Manipur
, Mizoram
, Tripura
and Meghalaya
as well as the plain regions of Arunachal Pradesh
) typically occurs at elevations up to 900 m. It embraces evergreen and semi-evergreen rain forests, moist deciduous monsoon forests, riparian forests, swamp
s and grassland
s. Evergreen rain forests are found in the Assam Valley, the foothills of the eastern Himalayas
and the lower parts of the Naga Hills, Meghalaya
, Mizoram
, and Manipur
where the rain fall exceeds 2300 mm per annum. In the Assam Valley the giant Dipterocarpus macrocarpus and Shorea assamica occur singly, occasionally attaining a girth of up to 7 m and a height of up to 50 m. The monsoon forests are mainly moist sal Shorea robusta forests, which occur widely in this region.
The Andamans and Nicobar islands have tropical evergreen rain forests and tropical semi-evergreen rainforests as well as tropical monsoon moist monsoon forests. The dominant species is Dipterocarpus grandiflorus in hilly areas, while Dipterocarpus kerrii is dominant on some islands in the southern parts of the archipelago
. The monsoon forests of the Andamans are dominated by Pterocarpus dalbergioides and Terminalia spp.
India's unique topography
, terrain
, climate
and vegetation
, brings out natural diversity that cannot be witnessed anywhere else in the world. One such variation is also present in India's wild forested regions.
Tropical forests in India's east present a total contrast with the pine
and coniferous woodland of the Western Himalayas. The natural cover of India varies with high altitudes and these evergreen forests are bounded with high alpine
meadows nearer to the snowline and temperate forests of short stout trees in the lower elevations. In the Himalayan foothills are deciduous trees, with shrubs, Bamboos, fern
and grass
.
India's northern plains, the course of the holy rivers Ganges and the Yamuna
; the Great Thar Desert
in the west; the Sundarbans
, the marshy swamplands, in the delta of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, in the east; the Deccan Plateau
, lying in the rain shadow of the hills and the Western Ghats with their dense; luxuriant forests - all provide fascinating variations in habitats. These forests sustain 350 species of mammals, 2, 100 kinds of birds - local and migratory, nearly 350 species of reptile and countless insects.
The need for conservation of the environment and the forests has exercised the minds of Indian rulers from the earliest of times. In recent times,it was the administrators and princely rulers who demarcated and reserved forests as private preserves. Today many of the forested regions form the nucleus of India's wildlife sanctuaries and parks.
The state of Arunachal Pradesh
is gifted with enormous wealth of wildlife and forested land. But once the whole of India was blessed with wealth. Increasing population, hunting and encroachments has resulted in the destruction of India's forest lands.
Western Ghats
The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
, which fringe the Arabian Sea
Arabian Sea
The Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui in northeastern Somalia and Kanyakumari in India...
coastline of peninsular India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
; and the greater Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
region in the north-east. Small remnants of rain forest are found in Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
state. Semi-evergreen rain forest is more extensive than the evergreen formation partly because evergreen forests tend to degrade to semi-evergreen with human interference. There are substantial differences in both the flora and fauna between the three major rain forest regions.
The Western Ghats Monsoon
Monsoon
Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...
forests occur both on the western (coastal) margins of the ghats and on the eastern side where there is less rainfall. These forests contain several tree species of great commercial significance (e.g. Indian rosewood Dalbergia latifolia
Dalbergia latifolia
Dalbergia latifolia is an economically important timber species native to low elevation tropical monsoon forests of eastern India...
, Malabar Kino Pterocarpus marsupium, teak and Terminalia crenulata), but they have now been cleared from many areas. In the rain forests there is an enormous number of tree species. At least 60 percent of the trees of the upper canopy are of species which individually contribute not more than one percent of the total number. Clumps of bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
occur along streams or in poorly drained hollows throughout the evergreen and semi-evergreen forests of south-west India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, probably in areas once cleared for shifting agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
.
The tropical vegetation of north-east India (which includes the states of Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
, Nagaland
Nagaland
Nagaland is a state in the far north-eastern part of India. It borders the state of Assam to the west, Arunachal Pradesh and part of Assam to the north, Burma to the east and Manipur to the south. The state capital is Kohima, and the largest city is Dimapur...
, Manipur
Manipur
Manipur is a state in northeastern India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. Manipur is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west; it also borders Burma to the east. It covers an area of...
, Mizoram
Mizoram
Mizoram is one of the Seven Sister States in North Eastern India, sharing borders with the states of Tripura, Assam, Manipur and with the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh and Burma. Mizoram became the 23rd state of India on 20 February 1987. Its capital is Aizawl. Mizoram is located in the...
, Tripura
Tripura
Tripura is a state in North-East India, with an area of . It is the third smallest state of India, according to area. Tripura is surrounded by Bangladesh on the north, south, and west. The Indian states of Assam and Mizoram lie to the east. The capital is Agartala and the main languages spoken are...
and Meghalaya
Meghalaya
Meghalaya is a state in north-eastern India. The word "Meghalaya" literally means the Abode of Clouds in Sanskrit and other Indic languages. Meghalaya is a hilly strip in the eastern part of the country about 300 km long and 100 km wide, with a total area of about 8,700 sq mi . The...
as well as the plain regions of Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh is a state of India, located in the far northeast. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south, and shares international borders with Burma in the east, Bhutan in the west, and the People's Republic of China in the north. The majority of the territory is claimed by...
) typically occurs at elevations up to 900 m. It embraces evergreen and semi-evergreen rain forests, moist deciduous monsoon forests, riparian forests, swamp
Swamp
A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
s and grassland
Grassland
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...
s. Evergreen rain forests are found in the Assam Valley, the foothills of the eastern Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
and the lower parts of the Naga Hills, Meghalaya
Meghalaya
Meghalaya is a state in north-eastern India. The word "Meghalaya" literally means the Abode of Clouds in Sanskrit and other Indic languages. Meghalaya is a hilly strip in the eastern part of the country about 300 km long and 100 km wide, with a total area of about 8,700 sq mi . The...
, Mizoram
Mizoram
Mizoram is one of the Seven Sister States in North Eastern India, sharing borders with the states of Tripura, Assam, Manipur and with the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh and Burma. Mizoram became the 23rd state of India on 20 February 1987. Its capital is Aizawl. Mizoram is located in the...
, and Manipur
Manipur
Manipur is a state in northeastern India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. Manipur is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west; it also borders Burma to the east. It covers an area of...
where the rain fall exceeds 2300 mm per annum. In the Assam Valley the giant Dipterocarpus macrocarpus and Shorea assamica occur singly, occasionally attaining a girth of up to 7 m and a height of up to 50 m. The monsoon forests are mainly moist sal Shorea robusta forests, which occur widely in this region.
The Andamans and Nicobar islands have tropical evergreen rain forests and tropical semi-evergreen rainforests as well as tropical monsoon moist monsoon forests. The dominant species is Dipterocarpus grandiflorus in hilly areas, while Dipterocarpus kerrii is dominant on some islands in the southern parts of the archipelago
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
. The monsoon forests of the Andamans are dominated by Pterocarpus dalbergioides and Terminalia spp.
India's unique topography
Topography
Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
, terrain
Terrain
Terrain, or land relief, is the vertical and horizontal dimension of land surface. When relief is described underwater, the term bathymetry is used...
, climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
and vegetation
Vegetation
Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...
, brings out natural diversity that cannot be witnessed anywhere else in the world. One such variation is also present in India's wild forested regions.
Tropical forests in India's east present a total contrast with the pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
and coniferous woodland of the Western Himalayas. The natural cover of India varies with high altitudes and these evergreen forests are bounded with high alpine
Alpine climate
Alpine climate is the average weather for a region above the tree line. This climate is also referred to as mountain climate or highland climate....
meadows nearer to the snowline and temperate forests of short stout trees in the lower elevations. In the Himalayan foothills are deciduous trees, with shrubs, Bamboos, fern
Fern
A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...
and grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
.
India's northern plains, the course of the holy rivers Ganges and the Yamuna
Yamuna
The Yamuna is the largest tributary river of the Ganges in northern India...
; the Great Thar Desert
Thar Desert
The Thar Desert |Punjab]] province. The Cholistan Desert adjoins the Thar desert spreading into Pakistani Punjab province.-Location and description:...
in the west; the Sundarbans
Sundarbans
The Sundarbans [Sundarban Tour Booking-9051115228] is the largest single block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world.The name Sundarban can be literally translated as "beautiful jungle" or "beautiful forest" in the Bengali language...
, the marshy swamplands, in the delta of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, in the east; the Deccan Plateau
Deccan Plateau
The Deccan Plateau is a large plateau in India, making up the majority of the southern part of the country. It rises a hundred meters high in the north, rising further to more than a kilometers high in the south, forming a raised triangle nested within the familiar downward-pointing triangle of...
, lying in the rain shadow of the hills and the Western Ghats with their dense; luxuriant forests - all provide fascinating variations in habitats. These forests sustain 350 species of mammals, 2, 100 kinds of birds - local and migratory, nearly 350 species of reptile and countless insects.
The need for conservation of the environment and the forests has exercised the minds of Indian rulers from the earliest of times. In recent times,it was the administrators and princely rulers who demarcated and reserved forests as private preserves. Today many of the forested regions form the nucleus of India's wildlife sanctuaries and parks.
The state of Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh is a state of India, located in the far northeast. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south, and shares international borders with Burma in the east, Bhutan in the west, and the People's Republic of China in the north. The majority of the territory is claimed by...
is gifted with enormous wealth of wildlife and forested land. But once the whole of India was blessed with wealth. Increasing population, hunting and encroachments has resulted in the destruction of India's forest lands.