The Sri Lanka montane rain forests is an

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

found above 1,000 m in the central highlands of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. Owing to their rich

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

, this region is considered to be a super-hotspot within

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 ...

hotspots of global importance. These forests are cooler than lowland forests and therefore they have ideal conditions for growth of cloud forests. These forests classifications tropical sub montane forest, tropical sub-montane and tropical upper montane. Half of Sri Lanka's endemic flowering plants and 51 percent of the endemic

vertebrate Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

s are restricted to these forests. More than 34 percent of Sri Lanka's endemic trees, shrubs, and herbs can only be found in this ecoregion. Twisted, stunted trees are a common sight in these forests, together with many varieties of

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Earth ...

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

es and

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

s. The trees of montane rain forests grow to a height 10–15 meters, shorter than the lowland rain forest trees. These high altitude forests are the

catchment area A catchment area in human geography, is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

for most of Sri Lanka's major rivers.

Forest cover

Sri Lanka's montane forests are located above 1,220 m. The montane rain forests cover 3,099.5 ha in total, or 0.05 percent of Sri Lanka's total area. These forests are found in the mountain tops, such as

Pidurutalagala Pidurutalagala (, pronounced , ''Straw Plateau Rock''), or previously Mount Pedro in English, is the highest mountain in Sri Lanka, at . It is situated North-North-East from the town of Nuwara Eliya and is easily visible from most areas of the ...

, Kikilimana, Meepilimana, Agrabopaththalawa, Adam's Peak and Hakgala. In lower elevations, at altitudes ranging 1,000–1,500 m, submontane forests occur; those forests account for 1.04 percent of the nation's area, totalling 65,793.3 ha.

Geological history

Sri Lanka detached from the Deccan peninsula during the end of the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

epoch, but its origin lies within

Gondwana Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...

land. According to biogeographic patterns southwestern lowland wet forests became isolated from the nearest wet forests in the mainland soon after the separation when climatic changes created drier, warmer conditions in the lowland. Although the two lands bridged in the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

subsequently, intervening dry habitat prevented the exchange of wet climate adapted species with wet forests in India. This resulted in southwestern species to evolve and specialize separately, giving rise higher to the higher level of endemism that can be seen today.

Features

Some of the mountain peaks of the central highlands reach above 2500 m, although the average height is 1800 m. Knuckles rises to 1800 m, with an average elevation of 1500 m. Because of the elevation, ambient temperature is cooler than in the lowlands. The mean temperature in this area ranges between 15 °C-20 °C. In the mornings of the winter months of December to February, ground

frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor that deposits onto a freezing surface. Frost forms when the air contains more water vapor than it can normally hold at a specific temperature. The process is simila ...

appears. The average annual rainfall ranges from 2000–2500 mm. The southwestern monsoon brings most of the rain from May to September, but the northeastern monsoon contributes a fair amount of rain as well. All of the island's major rivers arise in the central highlands, and montane rain forests act as the main catchment area.

Flora

The vegetation of this ecoregion is determined by the climate and the

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

. Montane moist forests vegetation is dominated by ''

Dipterocarpus '' D. retusus'' in Köhler ''Dipterocarpus'' is a genus of flowering plants and the type genus of family Dipterocarpaceae. ''Dipterocarpus'' is the third-largest and most diverse genus among the Dipterocarpaceae. The species are well known for ...

'' while montane savanna and cloud forests with ''

Rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

''. Canopies of ''

Shorea Fruit of a ''Shorea'' species ''Shorea'' is a genus of about 47 species of mainly rainforest trees in the family Dipterocarpaceae. The timber of trees of the genus is sold under the common names lauan, luan, lawaan, meranti, seraya, balau, bang ...

- Calophyllum- Syzygium'' community can be seen in submontane forests. The

Understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the Canopy (biology), forest ca ...

of the higher elevation is dominated by ''

Strobilanthes ''Strobilanthes'' is a genus of about 350 species of flowering plants in the family (biology), family Acanthaceae, mostly native plant, native to tropical Asia and Madagascar, but with a few species extending north into temperateness, temperate r ...

''. The Peak Wilderness of all montane rain forests possibly be the only forest area dominated by endemic '' Stemonoporus'' of family

Dipterocarpaceae Dipterocarpaceae is a family (biology), family of flowering plants with 22 genera and about 695 known species of mainly lowland tropical forest trees. Their distribution is pantropical, from northern South America to Africa, the Seychelles, India ...

. Rhododendron species thrive in the wet montane grasslands known as wet ''pathanas'' in Sinhalese.

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living ''Elephas'' species. It is the largest living land animal in Asia and the second largest living Elephantidae, elephantid in the world. It is char ...

, who roamed freely in these forests, is now locally extinct. Knuckles Range's vegetation differ from the rest of the central highlands because of the geographical detachment, is having a '' Myristica- Cullenia- Aglaia- Litsea'' community.

Biodiversity

The montane forests accommodate more endemic species than the lowland rain forests. Half of the country's

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s and 51 percent of the endemic

s are confined to these forests. The isolated Knuckles range harbours several

relict A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon. Biology A relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas. Geology and geomorphology In geology, a r ...

, endemic flora and fauna that are distinct from central massif. More than 34 percent of Sri Lanka's endemic trees, shrubs, and herbs are only found in these forests.

Fauna

Mammals

Montane rain forests harbours eight near-endemic mammals, and five are strict endemics. Small mammals in Sri Lanka shows a great degree of diversity, such as rodents, shrews and bats. Of these mammals 70 percent are smaller than a small cat. This area is an atypical habitat to the largest carnivore of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka leopard. The leopard has categorised as threatened. Another five rodents listed endangered. * Sri Lankan long-tailed shrew * Kelaart's long-clawed shrew * Pearson's long-clawed shrew * Sri Lankan shrew * Jungle shrew The near-endemic and strict endemic mammals harbours in the area listed below. Strict endemic species marked with an asterisk. * Asian highland shrew * Kelaart's long-clawed shrew* * Sri Lankan long-tailed shrew* * Pearson's long-clawed shrew* * Purple-faced langur * Golden palm civet * Layard's palm squirrel * Dusky palm squirrel * Travancore flying squirrel * Ceylon spiny mouse * Nolthenius's long-tailed climbing mouse * Nillu rat* * Ohiya rat*

Birds

Sri Lanka montane rain forests includes in EBA Sri Lanka. Out of twenty near-endemic birds, five of the bird species are strict endemic. * Sri Lanka wood pigeon *

Sri Lanka grey hornbill The Sri Lanka grey hornbill (''Ocyceros gingalensis'') is a bird in the hornbill family and a widespread and common endemic resident breeder in Sri Lanka. Hornbills are a family of tropical near-passerine birds found in the Old World. Habitat ...

* Red-faced malkoha * Sri Lanka junglefowl - The national bird of Sri Lanka *

Sri Lanka blue magpie The Sri Lanka blue magpie or Ceylon magpie (''Urocissa ornata'') is a brightly coloured member of the family Corvidae, found exclusively in Sri Lanka. This species is adapted to hunting in the dense canopy, where it is highly active and nimble. I ...

* White-faced starling * Sri Lanka myna * Orange-billed babbler * Sri Lanka whistling thrush* * Dull-blue flycatcher* * Yellow-eared bulbul* * Sri Lanka white-eye* * Sri Lanka bush warbler* * Spot-winged thrush * Kashmir flycatcher * Brown-capped babbler * Yellow-fronted barbet * Sri Lanka hanging parrot * Layard's parakeet * Chestnut-backed owlet

Reptiles and amphibians

Reptiles in Sri Lanka show more endemism than birds and mammals. Frogs and lizards are among the species is still being newly discovered, along with fishes and crabs.

Threats and conservation

The 15 years from 1990 to 2005 Sri Lanka showed one of the highest deforestation rates of

primary forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without Disturbance (ecology), disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organizati ...

s in the world. During that period almost 18 percent of Sri Lanka's forest cover was lost, while the deforestation rate also accelerated. The fauna of Sri Lanka also threatened. A survey done in 2005 found 17 of Sri Lanka's frogs have become extinct in the past decade and another 11 species face imminent threat of extinction. From 1820 large scale forest cleared for coffee plantations and later for tea in the montane forests. The remnant patches of forest corridors logged for agriculture crops. The illicit mining of gems happen even in restricted areas. The reason for the dying back of montane forest is attributed toxicity of soil. The Knuckles range face a different threat. Cultivation of spices especially

cardamom Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genus (biology), genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indon ...

at large scale threatens clearing of the forest. Invasive exotic plant species such as Mist Flower ('' Ageratina riparia''), Purple Plague (''

Miconia calvescens ''Miconia calvescens'', the velvet tree, miconia, or bush currant, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melastomataceae. It is native to Mexico and Central and South America and it has become one of the world's most invasive species. ...

''), Blue Star (''

Aristea ecklonii ''Aristea ecklonii'' (common names: blue flies, blue stars, blue-eyed iris, blue corn-lily) is a plant species in the Iridaceae, first described in 1866. It is native to central and southern Africa from South Africa north to Cameroon and Tanzan ...

'') and Coster's Curse ('' Clidemia hirta'') that increasingly spread into otherwise well protected mountain forest areas and crowd away the native Sri Lankan flora are a major threat, if not the largest one, to Sri Lankan montane rain forest flora and fauna.Ranwala S., Marambe B.*, Wijesundara S., Silva P., Weerakoon D., Atapattu N., Gunawardena J., Manawadu L. and Gamage G
“Post-entry risk assessment of invasive alien flora of Sri Lanka - present status, gap analysis, and the most troublesome alien invaders”
''Pakistan Journal of Weed Science'' 10/2012; 18:863-871. Currently the ecoregion is being protected by five protected areas. Those protected areas together accounts only 457 km² of area. These protected areas are;

Gallery

File:Sri Lanka, Horton Plains, Rhododendron trees.jpg, Rhododendron trees in clouds File:Sri Lanka cloud forest.jpg, Ella rock in clouds File:Sri Lanka, mountain slopes.jpg, Ella valley File:Sri Lanka trees, cloud forest.jpg, Ella rock File:Sri Lanka cloud forest, tall trees in fog.jpg, Montane rainforest in Ella valley Image:Srilankamountainforest.jpg, World's End provides a cross section to witness function of

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...

References

{{Geography of Sri Lanka Ecoregions of Sri Lanka Forests of Sri Lanka Indomalayan ecoregions Montane forests Subtropical rainforests Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests