Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests
Encyclopedia
The Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest
ecoregion of east-central India
. The ecoregion covers an area of 341100 square kilometres (131,699.4 sq mi), extending across portions of Andhra Pradesh
, Chhattisgarh
, Jharkhand
, Madhya Pradesh
, Maharashtra
, and Orissa
states.
coast in northern Andhra Pradesh and southern Orissa, across the northern portion of the Eastern Ghats
range and the northeastern Deccan Plateau
, to the eastern Satpura Range
and the upper Narmada River
valley.
The forests of the ecoregion are sustained by the moisture-bearing monsoon
winds from the Bay of Bengal
, which lies to the southeast. The ecoregion is bounded on the north and west by tropical dry deciduous forest
ecoregions, including the Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests
to the southwest and west, the Narmada valley dry deciduous forests
to the northwest, and the Chota Nagpur dry deciduous forests to the north and northeast. The drier Northern dry deciduous forests
ecoregion, lying west of the Eastern Ghats range, is completely surrounded by the Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests, in the rain shadow
of the Ghats, which partially block the moisture-laden monsoon winds off the Bay of Bengal. The humid Orissa semi-evergreen forests
ecoregion lies to the northeast in the coastal lowlands of Orissa.
, Adina, Toona
, Syzygium
, Buchanania
, Cleisanthus, and Anogeissus
. The flora of the ecoregion shares many affinities with the moist forests of the Western Ghats
and the eastern Himalayas.
(Panthera tigris), wolf (Canis lupus), gaur
(Bos gaurus), and sloth bear
(Melursus ursinus). The Asian Elephant
(Elephas maximus) has been extirpated from the ecoregion.
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests , also known as tropical moist forests, are a tropical and subtropical forest biome....
ecoregion of east-central 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...
. The ecoregion covers an area of 341100 square kilometres (131,699.4 sq mi), extending across portions of Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
, Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh is a state in Central India, formed when the 16 Chhattisgarhi-speaking South-Eastern districts of Madhya Pradesh gained separate statehood on 1 November 2000....
, Jharkhand
Jharkhand
Jharkhand is a state in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east...
, Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
, Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
, and 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...
states.
Setting
The Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests extend from the Bay of BengalBay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal , the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the...
coast in northern Andhra Pradesh and southern Orissa, across the northern portion of the Eastern Ghats
Eastern Ghats
The Eastern Ghats or Eastern Ghauts are a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. The Eastern Ghats run from West Bengal state in the north, through Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in the south passing some parts of Karnataka. They are eroded and cut through by the...
range and the northeastern 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...
, to the eastern Satpura Range
Satpura Range
The Satpura Range is a range of hills in central India. The range rises in eastern Gujarat state near the Arabian Sea coast, running east through Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh to Chhattisgarh. The range parallels the Vindhya Range to the north, and these two east-west ranges divide the...
and the upper Narmada River
Narmada River
The Narmada , also called Rewa is a river in central India and the fifth largest river in the Indian subcontinent. It is the third largest river that completely flows within India after Ganges and Godavari...
valley.
The forests of the ecoregion are sustained by the moisture-bearing 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...
winds from the Bay of Bengal
Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal , the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the...
, which lies to the southeast. The ecoregion is bounded on the north and west by tropical dry deciduous forest
Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests
The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest biome, also known as tropical dry forest, is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive several hundred centimeters of rain per year, they have long dry seasons...
ecoregions, including the Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests
Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests
The Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests is a large Tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion of southern India, containing large protected areas of natural habitat of the tiger.-Setting:...
to the southwest and west, the Narmada valley dry deciduous forests
Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests
The Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests are a tropical dry forest ecoregion of central India. The ecoregion lies mostly in Madhya Pradesh state, but extends into portions of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh states.-Setting:...
to the northwest, and the Chota Nagpur dry deciduous forests to the north and northeast. The drier Northern dry deciduous forests
Northern dry deciduous forests
The Northern dry deciduous forests is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion of east-central India. It covers an area of , extending across portions of Andhra Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Orissa, and Jharkhand states. The region extends north and south in the dry western rain shadow of the Eastern...
ecoregion, lying west of the Eastern Ghats range, is completely surrounded by the Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests, in the rain shadow
Rain shadow
A rain shadow is a dry area on the lee side of a mountainous area. The mountains block the passage of rain-producing weather systems, casting a "shadow" of dryness behind them. As shown by the diagram to the right, the warm moist air is "pulled" by the prevailing winds over a mountain...
of the Ghats, which partially block the moisture-laden monsoon winds off the Bay of Bengal. The humid Orissa semi-evergreen forests
Orissa semi-evergreen forests
The Orissa semi-evergreen forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of eastern India. The ecoregion covers an area of on the coastal plain of Orissa state, bounded on the north and west by the Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests and on the south and west by the Bay of...
ecoregion lies to the northeast in the coastal lowlands of Orissa.
Flora
The ecoregion's forests are dominated by Sal (Shorea robusta), in association with TerminaliaTerminalia (plant)
Terminalia is a genus of large trees of the flowering plant family Combretaceae, comprising around 100 species distributed in tropical regions of the world. This genus gets it name from Latin terminus, referring to the fact that the leaves appear at the very tips of the shoots.Trees of this genus...
, Adina, Toona
Toona
Toona is a genus of five species of trees in the mahogany family, Meliaceae, native from Afghanistan south to India, and east to North Korea, Papua New Guinea and eastern Australia...
, Syzygium
Syzygium
Syzygium is a genus of flowering plants that belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. The genus comprises about 1100 species, and has a native range that extends from Africa and Madagascar through southern Asia east through the Pacific...
, Buchanania
Buchanania
Buchanania is a genus of plant in family Anacardiaceae.Species include:*Buchanania amboinensis Miq. – native to Papua New Guinea...
, Cleisanthus, and Anogeissus
Anogeissus
Anogeissus is a genus of trees native to South Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, and Africa, belonging to family Combretaceae. The genus has eight species, five native to South Asia, two endemic to the southern Arabian Peninsula, and one native to Africa. Anogeissus latifolia, known as dhaora, is one of...
. The flora of the ecoregion shares many affinities with the moist forests of the Western Ghats
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...
and the eastern Himalayas.
Fauna
The ecoregion is considered globally outstanding by the World Wildlife Fund for its assemblage of large mammals, including tigerTiger
The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
(Panthera tigris), wolf (Canis lupus), gaur
Gaur
The gaur , also called Indian bison, is a large bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. The species is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986 as the population decline in parts of the species' range is likely to be well over 70% over the last three generations...
(Bos gaurus), and sloth bear
Sloth Bear
The sloth bear , also known as the labiated bear, is a nocturnal insectivorous species of bear found wild within the Indian subcontinent. The sloth bear evolved from ancestral brown bears during the Pleistocene and shares features found in insect-eating mammals through convergent evolution...
(Melursus ursinus). The Asian Elephant
Asian Elephant
The Asian or Asiatic elephant is the only living species of the genus Elephas and distributed in Southeast Asia from India in the west to Borneo in the east. Three subspecies are recognized — Elephas maximus maximus from Sri Lanka, the Indian elephant or E. m. indicus from mainland Asia, and E. m....
(Elephas maximus) has been extirpated from the ecoregion.