| Brahmaputra Valley semi-evergreen forests | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Ecology | |
| Realm | Indomalayan realm |
| Biome | tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests |
| Borders | |
| Bird species | 370 [1] |
| Mammal species | 122 [1] |
| Geography | |
| Area | 56,700 km2 (21,900 sq mi) |
| Countries | |
| States | |
| Conservation | |
| Protected | 5% [1] |
The Brahmaputra Valley semi-evergreen forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of Northeastern India, southern Bhutan and adjacent Bangladesh.
The ecoregion covers 56,700 square kilometers (21,900 sq mi) and encompasses the alluvial plain of the upper Brahmaputra River as it moves westward through India's Assam state (with small parts of the ecoregion in the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland and also south Bhutan and northern Bangladesh). The valley lies between the Himalayas to the north and the Lushai hills to the south and when the river floods during the June to September monsoon it brings up to 300 cm of water onto the plain carrying rich soils to create a fertile environment which has been extensively farmed for thousands of years. Other rivers that water the plains as well as the Brahmaputra include the Manas and the Subansiri. [1]
The extensive farming has meant that the original semi-evergreen forest now exists only in patches. Typical canopy trees include the evergreen Syzygium, Cinnamomum and Magnoliaceae along with deciduous Terminalia myriocarpa, Terminalia citrina, Terminalia tomentosa, Tetrameles species. Understory trees and shrubs include the laurels Phoebe, Machilus , and Actinodaphne , Polyalthias, Aphanamixis , and cultivated Mesua ferrea and species of mahogany, cashews, nutmegs and magnolias, with bamboos such as Bambusa arundinaria and Melocanna bambusoides .
Despite the centuries of human clearance and exploitation, the forests and grasslands along the river remain a habitat for a variety of wildlife including tiger (Panthera tigris), clouded leopard (Pardofelis nebulosa), capped langur (Semnopithecus pileatus), gaur (Bos gaurus), barasingha deer (Cervus duvaucelii), sloth bear (Melursus ursinus), wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee), India's largest population of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) and the world's largest population of Indian rhinoceros, while Asian black bears live in the higher slopes of the valley sides. Most of these mammals are threatened or endangered species. The Brahmaputra is a natural barrier to the migration of much wildlife and many species, such as the pygmy hog, hispid hare, or the Malayan sun bear, pig-tailed macaque, golden langur, stump-tailed macaque, western hoolock gibbon live on one side of the river only. The area is a meeting point of species of Indian and Malayan origin. The endemic mammals of the valley are the pygmy hog and the hispid hare, both of which inhabit the grasslands of the riverbanks.
The valley is home to rich bird life with 370 species of which two are endemic, the Manipur bush quail (Perdicula manipurensis) and the marsh babbler (Pellorneum palustre) and one, the Bengal florican is very rare. Woodland birds like kalij pheasant, great hornbill, rufous necked hornbill, brown hornbill, Oriental pied hornbill, grey hornbill, peacock pheasant and tragopan are quite common.
This area has been densely populated for centuries and most of the valley has been and still are used for agriculture. Some blocks of natural habitat do remain, however, mainly in national parks the largest of which are Manas, Dibru-Saikhowa and Kaziranga National Parks in India. In Bhutan, these areas are part of Royal Manas National Park.
In 1997, the World Wildlife Fund identified twelve protected areas in the ecoregion, with a combined area of approximately 2,560 km2, that include 5% of the ecoregion's area. [2]
Rani Vulture Breeding Centre was established in 2008 inside Brahmaputra Valley semi-evergreen forests at Rani in Kamprup district with the help of Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre, Pinjore, which now houses 90 vultures as of December 2018. 40 million vultures have died in last 20 years. [3]
The Dooars or Duars are the alluvial floodplains in eastern-northeastern India that lie south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas and north of the Brahmaputra River basin. This region is about 30 km (19 mi) wide and stretches over about 350 km (220 mi) from the Teesta River in West Bengal to the Dhansiri River in Assam. The region forms the gateway to Bhutan. It is part of the Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands ecoregion.
Dibru-Saikhowa National Park is a national park located in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts, Assam, India. It was designated a Biosphere Reserve in July 1997 with an area of 765 km2 (295 sq mi), including a core area of 340 km2 (130 sq mi) and a buffer zone of 425 km2 (164 sq mi).
Tinsukia district is one of the 34 administrative districts in the state of Assam, India. The district headquarters is located at Tinsukia city. The district occupies an area of 3790 km2.
The Lower Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion of Bangladesh and India. The ecoregion covers an area of 254,100 square kilometres (98,100 sq mi), comprising most of Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar and Tripura, and extending into adjacent states of Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and a tiny part of Assam.
Manas National Park is a national park, UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site, Project Tiger reserve, biosphere reserve and an elephant reserve in Assam, India. Located in the Himalayan foothills, it is contiguous with Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan. The park is known for its rare and endangered endemic wildlife such as the Assam roofed turtle, hispid hare, golden langur and pygmy hog. Manas is famous for its population of the wild water buffalo.
The Himalayan subtropical broadleaf forests is an ecoregion that extends from the middle hills of central Nepal through Darjeeling into Bhutan and also into the Indian States of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. It represents the east-west-directed band of subtropical broadleaf forest at an altitude of between 500 to 1,000 m along the Outer Himalayan Range, and includes several forest types traversing an east to west moisture gradient.
The Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests is a temperate broadleaf forest ecoregion found in the middle elevations of the eastern Himalayas, including parts of Nepal, India, and Bhutan. These forests have an outstanding richness of wildlife.
The biodiversity of Assam, a state in North-East India, makes it a biological hotspot with many rare and endemic plant and animal species. The greatest success in recent years has been the conservation of the Indian rhinoceros at the Kaziranga National Park, but a rapid increase in human population in Assam threatens many plants and animals and their natural habitats.
This article discusses the geological origin, geomorphic characteristics, and climate of the northeastern Indian state of Assam. Extending from 89° 42′ E to 96° E longitude and 24° 8′ N to 28° 2′ N latitude, it has an area of 78,438 km2, similar to that of Ireland or Austria.
Kaziranga National Park is an Indian national park and a World Heritage Site in Golaghat and Nagaon districts of Assam, India. It is refuge for the world's largest population of great one-horned rhinoceros. Kaziranga has the highest density of tigers among protected areas in the world and was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006. The park has large breeding populations of elephant, wild Asiatic water buffalo and swamp deer. Kaziranga is recognized as an Important Bird Area by Birdlife International for conservation of avifaunal species. The park has achieved notable progress in wildlife conservation with respect to other protected areas in India.Kaziranga was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006
The Manas River is a transboundary river in the Himalayan foothills between southern Bhutan and India. It is the largest river system of Bhutan, among its four major river systems; the other three are Amo Chu or Torsa river, Wong Chu or Raidak, Puna Tshang Chu or Sankosh. It is met by three other major streams before it again debouches into India in western Assam. The total length of the river is 400 kilometres (250 mi), flows through Tibet, China for 24 km (15 mi), flows in Bhutan for 272 kilometres (169 mi) and then flows through Assam for 104 kilometres (65 mi) before it joins the mighty Brahmaputra River at Jogighopa. Another major tributary of the Manas, the Aie River joins it in Assam at Bangpari.
Assam is the main and oldest state in the North-East Region of India and as the gateway to the rest of the Seven Sister States. The land of red river and blue hills, Assam comprises three main geographical areas: the Brahmaputra Valley which stretching along the length of the Brahmaputra river, the Barak Valley extending like a tail, and the intervening Karbi Plateau and North Cachar Hills. Assam shares its border with Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram and West Bengal; and there are National Highways leading to their capital cities. It also shares international borders with Bhutan and Bangladesh and is very close to Myanmar. In ancient times Assam was known as Pragjyotisha or Pragjyotishpura, and Kamarupa.
Nature’s Beckon is an independent environmental activist group of Northeast India which initiated the environmental movement of Assam. It has been doing some tremendous jobs in the arena of environmental concerns of the region from the 1980s till date.
Anwaruddin Choudhury, M.A., Ph.D., D.Sc., is an Indian naturalist, noted for his expertise on the fauna of North-East India.
Dehing Patkai National Park is located in the Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts of Assam and covers an area of 231.65 km2 (89.44 sq mi) rainforest. It was declared a wildlife sanctuary on 13 June 2004. On 13 December 2020 Government of Assam upgraded it into a national park. On 9 June 2021 Forest Department of Assam officially notified it as a national park. It is located in the Dehing Patkai Landscape which is a dipterocarp-dominated lowland rainforest. The rainforest stretches for more than 575 km2 (222 sq mi) in the districts of Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and Charaideo. The forest further spreads over in the Tirap and Changlang districts of Arunachal Pradesh. Dehing Patkai National Park harbours the largest stretch of lowland rainforests in India. Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary was declared as Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve under Project Elephant. Dehing-Patkai as a potential wildlife sanctuary was identified in late 1980s during a primate survey as "Upper Dehing Wildlife Sanctuary". Subsequently during a study on white-winged wood duck in early 1990s, it was discovered as a globally important site for this duck and recommended to be upgraded to "Upper Dehing National Park".
Northeast India consists of the eight states Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. Tourism in this area is based around the unique Himalayan landscape and culture distinct from the rest of India.
Arunachal Pradesh is land of peanuts in the foothills of the Himalayas in northeast India. It is spread over an area of 83,743 km2 (32,333 sq mi). 98% of the geographical area is land out of which 80% is forest cover; 2% is water. River systems in the region, including those from the higher Himalayas and Patkoi and Arakan Ranges, eventually drain into the Brahmaputra River.
Assam – 16th largest, 15th most populous and 26th most literate state of the 28 states of the democratic Republic of India. Assam is at 14th position in life expectancy and 8th in female-to-male sex ratio. Assam is the 21st most media exposed states in India. The Economy of Assam is largely agriculture based with 69% of the population engaged in it. Growth rate of Assam's income has not kept pace with that of India's during the Post-British Era; differences increased rapidly since the 1970s. While the Indian economy grew at 6 percent per annum over the period of 1981 to 2000, the same of Assam's grew only by 3.3 percent.
Dehing Patkai Landscape, located in the Upper Assam, stretches for over roughly 600 square kilometres and comprises three large blocks of forests and several forest fragments. The forest is classified as a lowland Tropical Wet Evergreen Forest (Dipterocarpus-Mesua). It falls under Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot. Due to its biodiversity and significance for elephant habitat, parts of the landscape are recognised as Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve and 111 km2 is protected as the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary since 2004.
Raimona National Park is located in extreme western part of Assam, India. It is spread across Gossaigaon and Kokrajhar subdivisions of Kokrajhar district of BTR.
