The ecoregion covers an area of 25,500 square kilometers (9,800sqmi), extending from Ramanathapuram District of Tamil Nadu to Nellore District of Andhra Pradesh. Most of the terrain is flat and under 100 m elevation, except for small hillocks and low hills. Parts of the ecoregion occur between the Godavari-Krishna mangroves ecoregion along the coast to the east and the Deccan thorn scrub forests to the west.
Much of the ecoregion is densely settled, and has been substantially altered by human activity, including agriculture, grazing, and forestry, over the centuries. The ecoregion is home to the metropolis of Chennai (Madras), and a number of other cities, including Pondicherry, Thanjavur, Kanchipuram and Nellore. It is estimated that 95% of the original forest cover has been cleared, and the species composition of the remaining forests have been altered by intensive human use including the removal of all the taller trees.[1]
Unlike most of the world's tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, whose trees tend to lose their leaves during the dry season to conserve moisture, the East Deccan dry evergreen forests retain their leaves year round. Only two other ecoregions exhibit a similar pattern, the Sri Lanka dry-zone dry evergreen forests and the Southeastern Indochina dry evergreen forests.[1]
The ecoregion is home to two important wetlands, Kaliveli Lake in Viluppuram District of Tamil Nadu, and Pulicat Lake north of Chennai. Kaliveli Lake is one of the largest wetlands in peninsular India, and is deemed a wetland of national and international importance by the IUCN. It is a seasonal wetland, with a gradient from freshwater to brackish water, and is an important feeding and breeding ground on migratory bird flyway. It is currently threatened by encroachment by agricultural fields, wildlife poaching, loss of the surrounding forests, and increases in commercial prawn farming.
Climate
Annual rainfall in this ecoregion ranges between 1000 mm and 1800 mm, while the mean annual temperature is around 27.5°C (ranging from an absolute minimum of about 17°C in January to a maximum of around 40°C in May-June).[3] Rain mostly falls during the highly variable northeast monsoon between October and December.
Across 75 sites of tropical dry evergreen forests, one study enumerated 149 woody plant species, including 102 trees, 47 lianas, and 3 herbs, with the number of woody plant species per site ranging from 10 to 69 species.[4]
The density of trees in the forest stands ranges from 953 to 1357 stems (of girth greater than 20 cm at breast height) per hectare.[5] 6-8 percent of the ecoregion remains in forest, which is found in isolated pockets. Most of the ecoregion's forests have been degraded into tropical dry evergreen scrublands, characterized by thorny species such as Ziziphus glaberrima, Dichrostachys cinerea, Catunaregam spinosa, and Carissa spinarum.
Two percent of the ecoregion lies in reserves and protected areas. Another 6% is forested but unprotected.[8] Many forest areas are very small, and include temple groves and reserved forests.
Protected areas include Guindy National Park in Chennai District, and Nanmangalam, and Vandalur reserve forests in Kanchipuram District. In Villupuram District, the Marakkanam reserve forest includes the three forest areas of Marakkanam, Kurumpuram, and Agaram. The sacred grove of Marakkanam preserves a section of evergreen closed canopy forest. Kurumpuram forest (12º4’N-79º44’E) was designated a reserve forest in 1960, but has suffered degradation from timber poaching, firewood harvesting, and hunting wild animals.[9] Several other temple groves in the area around Puducherry, including Puthupet, Pillaichavadi, Mudaliarchavadi, and Kottakarai, preserve small enclaves of forest.[10]
Since the 1973, the Auroville Foundation has undertaken restoration of dry evergreen forest at Pitchandikulam in Auroville, near Pondicherry. The forest covers 28 ha (70 acres), and includes many native plants collected from nearby remnant forests and propagated in their nursery. In 2003 the foundation established a 14 ha (35 acre) forest and resource centre at Nadukuppam, near Marakkanam, with both dry evergreen forest species and various agro-forestry crops.[11]
The Malabar Coast moist forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of southwestern India.
The South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests is an ecoregion in the Western Ghats of southern India with tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests. This biome covers the Nilgiri Hills between elevation of 250 and 1,000 m in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states.
The South Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests is a tropical dry forest ecoregion in southern India. The ecoregion lies in the southernmost portion of the Deccan Plateau, and includes the southernmost portion of the Eastern Ghats.
The Aravalli West Thorn Scrub Forests, formerly known as Northwestern thorn scrub forests, is a xeric shrubland ecoregion of Pakistan and Northern India, stretching along the border lowlands and hills between the two countries. Once covered in deciduous forest, this ecoregion has been degraded through agriculture and the extraction of timber so that it currently has a scanty covering of thorny scrub dominated by such trees as Acacia senegal, Acacia leucophloea and Prosopis cineraria. Where the soils are particularly saline, there are patches of semi-desert. A number of mammals are found in this habitat, including about four hundred species of bird. Some small areas are protected but the collection of firewood and the conversion of the land to subsistence farming continues.
The term Malabar rainforests refers to one or more distinct ecoregions recognized by biogeographers:
the Malabar Coast moist forests formerly occupied the coastal zone to the 250 metre elevation
the South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests grow at intermediate elevations
the South Western Ghats montane rain forests cover the areas above 1000 metres elevation
The Upper Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion of northern India.
The Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests, presently known as East Deccan moist deciduous forests, is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion in east-central India. The ecoregion covers an area of 341,100 square kilometers (131,700 sq mi), extending across portions of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Telangana states.
The Northern dry deciduous forests, presently known as the North Deccan dry deciduous forests, is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion of east-central India.
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, as well as adjacent western Myanmar.
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, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh states.
The Deccan thorn scrub forests are a xeric shrubland ecoregion of south India and northern Sri Lanka. Historically this area was covered by tropical dry deciduous forest, but this only remains in isolated fragments. The vegetation now consists of mainly of southern tropical thorn scrub type forests. These consist of open woodland with thorny trees with short trunks and low, branching crowns; spiny and xerophytic shrubs; and dry grassland. This is the habitat of the great Indian bustard and blackbuck, though these and other animals are declining in numbers; this area was at one time home to large numbers of elephants and tigers. Almost 350 species of bird have been recorded here. The remaining natural habitat is threatened by overgrazing and invasive weeds, but there are a number of small protected areas which provide a haven for the wildlife. Trees in these forests have adapted to not require much water.
Bayaluseemé or Bayalu Seemé is the area lying to the east of Malenadu, a region of Karnataka state in India. The area is largely open plain, with few hillocks. It includes the districts of Bengaluru, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagara, Bagalkot, Vijayapura, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Vijayanagara, Ballari, Kalaburagi, Dharwad, Koppal, Kolar, Gadag, Hassan, Bidar, Haveri, Belagavi, Mandya, Chikkaballapur, Chamarajanagar, Mysuru, Yadgir, Raichur and Tumakuru.
The Sri Lanka dry-zone dry evergreen forests are a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion of the island of Sri Lanka.
The Northern Congolian forest–savanna mosaic is a forest and savanna ecoregion of central Africa. It extends east and west across central Africa, covering parts of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and Uganda. It is part of the belt of transitional forest-savanna mosaic that lie between Africa's moist equatorial Guineo-Congolian forests and the tropical dry forests, savannas, and grasslands to the north and south.
The Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests in Western and Southern India, containing large protected areas of natural tiger habitat.
The Illyrian deciduous forests is a terrestrial ecoregion in southern Europe, which extends along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It belongs to the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, and is in the Palearctic realm.
The Italian sclerophyllous and deciduous forests ecoregion, part of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, is in Italy. The ecoregion covers most of the Italian Peninsula and includes both evergreen and deciduous forests.
The Tyrrhenian-Adriatic sclerophyllous and mixed forests is an ecoregion in southern Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, the Dalmatian Islands of Croatia, and Malta.
The Iberian sclerophyllous and semi-deciduous forests is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion in southwestern Europe. It occupies the interior valleys and plateaus of the Iberian Peninsula. The ecoregion lies mostly in Spain, and includes some portions of eastern Portugal.
The Northeastern Spain and Southern France Mediterranean forests is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion in southwestern Europe. It occupies the Mediterranean coastal region of northeastern Spain, Southern France, the Balearic Islands and a small part of Italy.
↑ Eric Dinerstein, David Olson, et al. (2017). An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience, Volume 67, Issue 6, June 2017, Pages 534–545; Supplemental material 2 table S1b.
↑ Eric Dinerstein, David Olson, et al. (2017). An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience, Volume 67, Issue 6, June 2017, Pages 534–545; Supplemental material 2 table S1b.
↑ Silambarasan, K., Sujatha, K., Anitha Joice, A. et al. A Preliminary Report on the Butterfly Diversity of Kurumpuram Reserve Forest, Marakkanam, Tamil Nadu. Proc Zool Soc 69, 255–258 (2016).
↑ Auroasha (2014). "Natural regeneration of vegetation". Auroville Foundation. 12 August 2014. Accessed 3 May 2020.
↑ "The Pitchandikulam Story". Pitchandikulam Forest. Accessed 3 May 2020.
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