Himalayan Subtropical Broadleaf Forests
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The Himalayan subtropical broadleaf forests is an ecoregion that extends from the middle hills of central Nepal through Darjeeling into
Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...
and also into the
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
n States of
Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...
and
Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
. It represents the east–west-directed band of subtropical broadleaf forest at an altitude of between along the Outer Himalayan Range, and includes several forest types traversing an east to west moisture gradient.Rawat, G. S., Wikramanayake, E. D. (2002
''Himalayan subtropical broadleaf forests''
In: Wikramanayake, E. D. (ed.) ''Terrestrial ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a conservation assessment''. Island Press


Geography

The ecoregion covers an area of and is bisected by the Kali Gandaki River, which has gouged the world's deepest river valley through the Himalayan Range. It forms a critical link in the chain of interconnected Himalayan ecosystems, where altitudinal connectivity between the habitat types is important for ecosystem function. The soil is composed of
alluvium Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...
deposited over the ages by the rivers that drain this young mountain range. At lower elevations, the ecoregion is flanked by the Terai-Duar savannas and grasslands. Above , it yields to the Himalayan subtropical pine forests.


Climate

Rainfall varies from east to west, but annual rainfall can be as much as . The Himalayas capture moisture from the monsoons that sweep in from the Bay of Bengal, and most of this rainfall is expended in the eastern Himalayas. Therefore, the western Himalayas are drier, a trend reflected in the timberline that declines from in the east to about in the west.


Flora

The ecoregion hosts a broad range of plant communities, based on its complex topography, differing soils, and variations in rainfall from the drier west to the more humid east. Its location on the south slope of the Himalaya allows the intermingling of plants and animals from the Indomalayan and Palearctic biogeographic realms. The most dominant trees in this ecoregion and every main forest types in ecoregion is '' Pinus roxburghii'', '' Pinus hwangshanensis'', '' Juniperus tibetica'', '' Tsuga dumosa'', '' Juglans regia'', '' Taxus sumatrana'', '' Acer campbellii'', '' Juglans regia'', '' Alnus nepalensis'', '' Betula alnoides'', '' Betula utilis'', '' Larix griffithii'', and '' Picea brachytyla''. The main forest types include '' Dodonaea'' scrub, subtropical dry evergreen forests of '' Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata'', northern dry mixed deciduous forests, dry Siwalik sal (''Shorea robusta'') forests, moist mixed deciduous forests, subtropical broadleaf wet hill forests, northern tropical semi-evergreen forests, and northern tropical wet evergreen forests.


Fauna

Several mammals native to the ecoregion are threatened, including the Bengal tiger, Indian elephant, smooth-coated otter, clouded leopard, gaur, Sumatran serow, Irrawaddy squirrel, and particoloured flying squirrel. The endemic golden langur is distributed in a small range and limited to the broadleaf forest north of the Brahmaputra River. The bird fauna is very rich with more than 340 species. The chestnut-breasted partridge is endemic; the globally threatened white-winged wood duck and five hornbill species are found here.


Protected areas

Eight protected areas extend into this ecoregion covering , which is about 7% of the ecoregion's area: *in India: Sohagi Barwa Sanctuary and Valmiki National Park; *in Nepal: Bardia National Park, Chitwan National Park, Parsa National Park; *in Bhutan: Royal Manas National Park, Khaling Wildlife Sanctuary and Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary. Two high-priority tiger conservation units (TCU) extend across adjacent ecoregions:Wikramanayake, E.D., Dinerstein, E., Robinson, J.G., Karanth, K.U., Rabinowitz, A., Olson, D., Mathew, T., Hedao, P., Connor, M., Hemley, G., Bolze, D. (1999
''Where can tigers live in the future? A framework for identifying high-priority areas for the conservation of tigers in the wild''
. In: Seidensticker, J., Christie, S., Jackson, P. (eds.) ''Riding the Tiger. Tiger Conservation in human-dominated landscapes.'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. hardback , paperback
*Chitwan-Parsa-Valmiki TCU covers a huge block of alluvial grasslands and subtropical moist deciduous forests; *Bardia-Banke TCU covers .


References


External links

* {{Uttarakhand Ecoregions of Asia Ecoregions of Bhutan Ecoregions of the Himalayas Ecoregions of India Ecoregions of Nepal * * * Forests of India Himalayan forests Indomalayan ecoregions Subtropical rainforests Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Forests of Nepal