The Western Himalayan subalpine conifer forests is a

temperate coniferous forests Temperate coniferous forest is a terrestrial ecoregion, terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Temperate coniferous forests are found predominantly in areas with warm summers and cool winters, and vary in their kinds of plant ...

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 ...

of the middle and upper elevations of the western Middle

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

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 ...

, and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Setting

The ecoregion forms a belt of coniferous forest covering on elevations between . It extends west from the

Gandaki River The Gandaki River, also known as the Narayani and Gandak, is one of the major rivers in Nepal and a left-bank tributary of the Ganges in India. Its total catchment area is , most of it in Nepal. In the Nepal Himalayas, the Gandaki is notable f ...

in Nepal, through the Indian states of

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

, and Jammu and Kashmir into northern Pakistan. This belt of conifers is the highest expanse of woodland to be found on the slopes of the Himalayas, treeless alpine scrub lying just above its ecotopic frontier. It is a valuable ecosystem as many Himalayan birds and animals migrate seasonally up and down the mountains spending part of the year in the conifer forests, so conservation is a high priority. This ecoregion is drier than the Eastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests, which receive more 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 ...

monsoon.

Flora

Several distinct forest types are found in this ecoregion. Fir trees ('' Abies spectabilis'') in places grow in nearly pure stands. In other areas they mix with oaks ('' Quercus semecarpifolia''). '' Rhododendron campanulatum'', ''Abies spectabilis'', and birch (''

Betula utilis ''Betula utilis'', the Himalayan birch (''bhojpatra'', ''bhūrjá''), is a deciduous tree native to the Western Himalayas, growing at elevations up to . The Latin specific epithet ''utilis'' means "useful", and refers to the many uses of the dif ...

'') form another common assemblage. Elsewhere mixed-conifer forests are made up of ''Abies spectabilis'', blue pine ('' Pinus wallichiana'') and spruce ('' Picea smithiana''). '' Cupressus torulosa'' and ''

Cedrus deodara ''Cedrus deodara'', the deodar cedar, Himalayan cedar, or deodar, is a species of cedar native to the Himalayas. Description It is a large evergreen coniferous tree reaching tall, exceptionally with a trunk up to in diameter. It has a conic ...

'' are also found here. A recently published major new monograph, ''Conifers Around the World'', treats the high-level western Himalayan fir tree as ''Abies gamblei'' (apparently, '' Abies spectabilis'' does not reach this region!) Following are some notable conifers present in the area: *

Fir Firs are evergreen coniferous trees belonging to the genus ''Abies'' () in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–65 extant species, found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Eurasia, and North Africa. The genu ...

: ''

Abies pindrow ''Abies pindrow'', the pindrow fir, West Himalayan fir, or silver fir, is a fir native to the western Himalaya and adjacent mountains, from northeast Afghanistan east through northern Pakistan and India to central Nepal. Description It is a ...

'', '' Abies spectabilis'', and '' Abies gamblei'' *

Pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

: ''

Pinus roxburghii ''Pinus roxburghii'', commonly known as chir pine or longleaf Indian pine, is a species of pine tree Native plant, native to the Himalayas. It was named after William Roxburgh. Description ''Pinus roxburghii'' is a large tree reaching with a ...

'', '' Pinus wallichiana'', and '' Pinus gerardiana'' *

Spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

: '' Picea smithiana'' *

Cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs from the ''Cupressus'' genus of the '' Cupressaceae'' family, typically found in temperate climates and subtropical regions of Asia, Europe, and North America. The word ''cypress'' ...

: '' Cupressus torulosa'' *

Juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

: ''

Juniperus communis ''Juniperus communis'', the common juniper, is a species of small tree or shrub in the cypress family Cupressaceae. An evergreen conifer, it has the largest geographical range of any woody plant, with a circumpolar distribution throughout the coo ...

'', '' Juniperus indica'', '' Juniperus squamata'', '' Juniperus recurva'', '' Juniperus excelsa'' subsp. ''polycarpos'', etc *''

Cedrus ''Cedrus'', with the common English name cedar, is a genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae (subfamily Abietoideae). They are native to the mountains of the western Himalayas and the Mediterranean region, occurring at altitud ...

'': ''

'' *''

Taxus ''Taxus'' is a genus of coniferous trees or shrubs known as yews in the family Taxaceae. Yews occur around the globe in temperate zones of the northern hemisphere, northernmost in Norway and southernmost in the South Celebes. Some populations ex ...

'': '' Taxus contorta'' and '' Taxus wallichiana'' * Ephedra: '' Ephedra gerardiana'', '' Ephedra intermedia''

Fauna

This ecoregion is home to some fifty-eight species of mammals. Important inhabitants include the

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear native to Eurasia and North America. Of the land carnivorans, it is rivaled in size only by its closest relative, the polar bear, which is much less variable in size and slightly bigger on av ...

and threatened or endangered species such as

Himalayan serow The Himalayan serow (''Capricornis sumatraensis thar''), also known as the thar ( , ), is a subspecies of the mainland serow native to the Himalayas. It was previously considered its own species, as ''Capricornis thar''. It is the official stat ...

Himalayan tahr The Himalayan tahr (''Hemitragus jemlahicus'') is a large even-toed ungulate native to the Himalayas in southern Tibet, northern India, western Bhutan and Nepal. It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, as the population is declini ...

, and the

markhor The markhor (''Capra falconeri'') is a large wild ''Capra'' (goat) species native to South Asia and Central Asia, mainly within Pakistan, the Karakoram range, parts of Afghanistan, and the Himalayas. It is listed on the IUCN Red List as Near ...

goat, the national symbol of Pakistan. The only endemic mammal is a rodent, the murree vole (''Hyperacrius wynnei''). About 285 species of birds have been recorded in this ecoregion, including 9

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 ...

species and a number of birds that are sensitive to habitat disturbance and therefore likely to be vulnerable to further forest clearance. These include the Koklass pheasant (''Pucrasia macrolopha''),

western tragopan The western tragopan or western horned tragopan (''Tragopan melanocephalus'') is a medium-sized brightly plumed pheasant found along the range of Himalayas from north-eastern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northern Pakistan in the we ...

(''Tragopan melanocephalus''), and the Himalayan monal (''Lophophorus impejanus'').

Threats and conservation

Despite being relatively thinly populated some seventy percent of the conifer forest has been cleared or degraded, partly to make way for terrace cultivation. However it still contains some of the least disturbed forests in the western Himalayas. Protected areas that contain areas of conifer forest include Great Himalayan National Park and Rupi Bhabha Sanctuary in Himachal Pradesh, Kishtwar National Park in Jammu and Kashmir, Gangotri National Park and Govind Pashu Vihar Wildlife Sanctuary in

, all in India, and Royal Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve in Nepal. A particular threat comes from disturbance of nesting birds during the collection of morel mushrooms in spring. Extraction of firewood for heating among rural populations in Pakistan has degraded forests at some locations.

References

{{Uttarakhand Ecoregions of the Himalayas Ecoregions of India Ecoregions of Nepal Ecoregions of Pakistan * * Forests of India Forests of Pakistan Himalayan forests Indomalayan ecoregions Temperate coniferous forests Forests of Nepal

Setting

Flora

Fauna

Threats and conservation

See also

References