The
Himalayan subtropical pine forests are a large
subtropical coniferous forestTropical and subtropical coniferous forests are a forest biome. They are located in regions of semi-humid climate at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Most tropical and subtropical coniferous forest ecoregions are found in the Nearctic and Neotropic ecozones, from Mexico to Nicaragua and on the...
ecoregionAn ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...
covering portions of
BhutanBhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
,
IndiaIndia , 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...
,
NepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, and
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
.
This huge pine forest stretches for 3000 km across the lower elevations of the great Himalaya range for almost its entire length including parts of Pakistan's Punjab Province in the west through
Pakistan-administered KashmirAzad Kashmir borders the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the west, the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan to the north west, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of People's Republic of China to the north and the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir, to the east.A...
, the northern Indian states of
Jammu and KashmirJammu and Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the...
,
Himachal PradeshHimachal Pradesh is a state in Northern India. It is spread over , and is bordered by the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir on the north, Punjab on the west and south-west, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on the south, Uttarakhand on the south-east and by the Tibet Autonomous Region on the east...
,
UttarakhandUttarakhand , formerly Uttaranchal, is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the Land of Gods due to the many holy Hindu temples and cities found throughout the state, some of which are among Hinduism's most spiritual and auspicious places of pilgrimage and worship...
and
SikkimSikkim is a landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayan mountains...
,
NepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
and
BhutanBhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
, which is the eastern extent of the pine forest. Like so many Himalayan ecosystems the pine forests are split by the deep
Kali Gandaki GorgeThe Kali Gandaki Gorge or Andha Galchi is the gorge of the Kali Gandaki in the Himalayas in Nepal, by some measures the deepest gorge in the world....
in Nepal, to the west of which the forest is slightly drier while it is wetter and thicker to the east where the monsoon rains coming off the
Bay of BengalThe 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...
bring more moisture.
Flora
The predominant flora of the ecoregion is a thin woodland of drought-resistant
Chir PineThe Chir Pine, Pinus roxburghii, named after William Roxburgh, is a pine native to the Himalaya.The range extends from northern Pakistan , across northern India and Nepal to Bhutan.It generally occurs at lower altitudes than other pines in the Himalaya, from...
(Pinus roxburghii) trees with a ground cover of thick grass, as regular fires do not allow a shrubby undergrowth to establish itself. The ground cover consists of Arundinella setosa, cogon grass
(Imperata cylindrica) and Themeda anathera.
Pine forest mainly grows on south-facing slopes although in western Nepal there are areas facing in other directions. Some of the larger areas can be found in the lower elevations of
KangraKangra is the most populous district of the state of Himachal Pradesh, India. Dharamsala is the administrative headquarters of the district.-Geography:Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh is situated in Western Himalayas between 31°2 to...
and
Una DistrictUna is one of the districts of Himachal Pradesh, India, and shares its border with the Hoshiarpur District of Punjab. The terrain is generally a plain with low hills...
s of Himachal Pradesh and in Bhutan. It occurs in smaller patches in eastern Himachal Pradesh and lower Uttarakhand, in the more thinly populated western Nepal, and on the lower elevations (between 1,000 and 2,000m) of the Sivalik and Mahabharat ranges.
Fauna
Although there is not a rich variety of wildlife here when compared to tropical rainforest for example the region is important habitat, especially for birds. Wildlife includes
tigerThe 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...
s and
leopardThe leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
s although in smaller numbers than in the lowland areas where herds of grazing antelopes provide food for them, whereas these slopes do not sustain grazing in large numbers. More typical animals of the pine forest are langurs and other animals of the Himalayas. Birds include the
Chestnut-breasted PartridgeThe Chestnut-breasted Partridge is a species of partridge endemic to the eastern Himalayas north of the Brahmaputra, and is known from Bhutan, West Bengal , Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, north-east India, Nepal Himalaya and south-east Tibet.It is a distinctive partridge with chestnut breast-band...
and
Cheer PheasantThe Cheer Pheasant, Catreus wallichii also known as Wallich's Pheasant is an endangered species of the pheasant family, Phasianidae. It is the only member in monotypic genus Catreus...
s that hide in the lush grass.
Conservation
These habitats are vulnerable to logging for firewood or conversion to grazing or farmland and more than half the area has been cleared or degraded which then allows the mountain water to wash away the soil quickly. The most profound changes can be seen in central and eastern Nepal, where the forest has been cleared for terrace farming. The protected areas of pine forest are small but include part of the larger
Jim Corbett National ParkJim Corbett National Park—named for the hunter and conservationist Jim Corbett who played a key role in its establishment—is the oldest national park in India. The park was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park...
.
External links