The Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests are a tropical dry forest ecoregion of central

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 ...

. The ecoregion lies mostly in

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

state, but extends into portions of Chhattisgarh,

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

and

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 ...

states.

Setting

The Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests cover an area of of the lower Narmada River Valley and the surrounding uplands of the Vindhya Range to the north and the western end of the Satpura Range to the south. The Narmada Valley is an east-west flat-bottomed valley, or

graben In geology, a graben () is a depression (geology), depressed block of the Crust (geology), crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults. Etymology ''Graben'' is a loan word from German language, German, meaning 'ditch' or 't ...

, that separates the two plateaus. The Vindhya Range separates the valley from the Malwa plateau and Bundelkhand upland to the north. The Satpura Range reaches a height of 1,300m and encloses the valley on the south separating it from the Deccan plateau. The ecoregion includes the western portion of the Satpuras, and also extends to the southeast along the eastern flank of the Western Ghats' range. The uplands of this ecoregion are the northern limits of the Indian peninsula. Rainfall in the ecoregion is highly seasonal; a seven- to eight-month dry season is followed by the June-to-September southwest monsoon, which brings 1,200–1,500 mm of rainfall in an average year. Many trees lose their leaves during the long dry season to conserve moisture. The ecoregion lies between moister forests to the northeast, southeast, and southwest, which receive greater rainfall from the southeast monsoon, and the drier forests and scrublands of the Deccan to the south and Malwa and

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

to the west and northwest. The lowland Upper Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests lie to the northeast, on the alluvial plain of the

Ganges River The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

and its tributaries below the eastern Vindhyas and the Bundelkhand upland. The Chota-Nagpur dry deciduous forests lie on the Chota Nagpur plateau to the east. The Eastern highlands moist deciduous forests, which receive more annual moisture from the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...

, lie to the southeast. To the southwest, along the spine of the Western Ghats range, lie the wetter North Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, which receive more moisture from the southwest monsoon winds off the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

. To the south, the Deccan Plateau of Maharashtra lies in the

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from body of water, bodies of water (such as oceans and larg ...

of the Western Ghats, and is home to the Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests of Vidarbha and the drier Deccan thorn scrub forests of Kandesh. The Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests cover most of Malwa to the northwest and the lowlands of

to the west.

Flora

The natural vegetation of the region is a three-tiered forest adapted to the monsoon and dry season climate. The forests typically have an upper canopy at 15–25 meters, a 10–15 meter understory of smaller trees and large shrubs, and a 3–4 meter undergrowth. Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is the dominant canopy tree, in association with coromandel ebony (''Diospyros melanoxylon),'' dhaora ('' Anogeissus latifolia''), '' Lagerstroemia parviflora'', '' Terminalia tomentosa'', ''Lannea coromandelica'', ''Hardwickia binata,'' and '' Boswellia serrata''. Riparian areas along the regions rivers and streams, which receive year-round water, are home to moist evergreen forests, whose dominant tree species are '' Terminalia arjuna'', '' Syzygium cumini'', '' Syzygium heyneanum'', '' Salix tetrasperma'', '' Homonoia riparia'', and '' Vitex negundo''.

Fauna

The ecoregion is home to 76 species of

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s, none of which are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

, although several of which, including the

Bengal tiger The Bengal tiger is a population of the ''Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies and the nominate tiger subspecies. It ranks among the largest wild cats alive today. It is estimated to have been present in the Indian subcontinent since the Late ...

''(Panthera tigris tigris)'', along with gaur ''(Bos gaurus)'', packs of dhole or Asiatic wild dog ''(Cuon alpinus)'', sloth bear ''(Melursus ursinus)'', chousingha ''(Tetracerus quadricornis)'', and

blackbuck The blackbuck (''Antilope cervicapra''), also known as the Indian antelope, is a medium-sized antelope native to India and Nepal. It inhabits grassy plains and lightly forested areas with perennial water sources. It stands up to high at the sh ...

''(Antilope cervicapra)'', are threatened. The ecoregion is home to 276

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

species, none of which are endemic. Large threatened birds include the lesser florican ''(Eupodotis indica)'' and Indian bustard ''(Ardeotis nigriceps)''.

Conservation

This area is densely populated and only about 30% of the ecoregion is covered in relatively intact vegetation, but this does include some large blocks of habitat in the amarkantak, Vindhya and Satpura ranges which are important for the preservation of the tiger.Wikramanayake, Eric; Eric Dinerstein; Colby J. Loucks; et al. (2002). ''Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a Conservation Assessment.'' Island Press;

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. pp. 322-324

Protected areas

As of 1997, about 5% of the ecoregion (7,500 km²) lies within protected areas, the largest of which are Melghat Tiger Reserve and Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary while others include Bandhavgarh, Panna, and Sanjay

national parks A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

. Plans to dam the Narmada River will impact on the wildlife of the ecoregion. * Aner Dam Wildlife Sanctuary, Dhule district,

(70 km²) * Bagdara Wildlife Sanctuary,

(540 km²) * Bandhavgarh National Park , Umaria district, Madhya Pradesh (360 km²) * Achanakmar Wildlife Sanctuary, Bilaspur District, Chhattisgarh (305 km² * Kheoni Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh (80 km²) * Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh (1,380 km²) * Melghat Tiger Reserve, Amravati district, Maharashtra. Includes Melghat Wildlife Sanctuary (1,490 km²) and Gugamal National Park (1974 km²) * Panna National Park, Panna and Chhatarpur districts, Madhya Pradesh (820 km²) * Panpatha Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh (300 km²) * Ratapani Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh (490 km²) * Sanjay-Dubri Tiger Reserve (831 km²), which includes Sanjay National Park, Chhattisgarh, and Dubri Wildlife Sanctuary. * Sardarpur Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh (120 km²) * Singhori Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh (220 km²) * Son Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh (210 km²) * Yawal Wildlife Sanctuary, Jalgaon district, Maharashtra (100 km²)

References

External links

*
Official Website of NVDA - Narmada Valley Development Authority
{{Ecoregions of India Ecoregions of India Environment of Maharashtra Environment of Uttar Pradesh Flora of Madhya Pradesh * Forests of India Geography of Chhattisgarh Geography of Madhya Pradesh Geography of Malwa Indomalayan ecoregions Narmada River Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests