Template:Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests

Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests

Published: February 15, 2017, 2:02 pm

Topics:

Conservation Biology (main) Biodiversity (main) Ecology (main)

Narmada River, southeast of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Source: Sujit Patwardhan

WWF Terrestrial Ecoregions Collection

Introduction

The Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests are neither exceptionally species-rich, nor high in numbers of endemic species; however, this ecoregion still retains more than a third of its natural habitat in several large blocks, each of which exceeding 5000 square kilometres (km²) in area. In this bioregion, such large dry forest habitats present rare and important opportunities to conserve Asia's largest carnivore, the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris).

Location and General Description

Source: World Wildlife Fund and Encyclopedia of Earth

The Namada Valley dry deciduous forests ecoregion represents the deciduous forests along the Narmada River Valley and the flanking Vindhya Mountain Range, as well as the western part of the Satpura Mountain Range in the central Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. These hill ranges, rising to more than 1300 metres (m), mark the northern boundary of the Indian Peninsula. The Deccan Plateau itself, and thus the ecoregion, traces its geological roots back to the ancient circumpolar continent Gondwanaland. Hora hypothesized that the Satpura Range was a dispersal bridge that allowed species exchanges between the eastern Himalayas and the Western Ghats. The presence of fossil species such as genera Anisopteris, Cynometra, Dipterocarpus, Dryobalanops, Gluta, Hopea, and Mesua suggests that evergreen moist forests covered this area during the Miocene.

The seven to eight month dry season is relieved by the southwest monsoon, which brings 1200 to 1500 millimetres of annual rainfall. The vegetation is influenced by this seasonality. These forests are comprised of three stories: an upper canopy at fifteen to twenty five meters ; a ten to fifteen metre understory, and a three to four metre understory. The Teak tree (Tectona grandis) dominates the vegetation and is associated with Diospyros melanoxylon, Anogeissus latifolia, Lagerstroemia parviflora, Terminalia tomentosa, Lannea coromandelica, Hardwickia binata, and Boswellia serata. Riparian habitats with species such as Terminalia arjuna, Syzygium cumini, Syzygium heyneanum, Salix tetrasperma, Homonoia riparia, and Vitex negundo create moist forest biological corridors.

Biodiversity Features

Wolf snake, Madhya Pradesh, India. @Persica/Abi Tamim

Although it is not exceptional in terms of endemism or diversity, the ecoregion still retains important habitat for many of the Indian Subcontinent's large animals, such as the Bengal tiger, gaur (Bos gaurus), Wild dog (Cuon alpinus), Sloth bear (Melursus ursinus), Chousingha (Tetracerus quadricornis), and Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra). Throughout most of their ranges, these larger vertebrate species are being increasingly confined to small forest fragments that do not offer much hope for long-term survival of declining populations. Therefore, it is important to safeguard large habitat areas where they are extant.

Most of the large blocks of remaining habitat have been included in Tiger Conservation Units (TCUs). These habitat landscapes present the some of the best opportunities for long-term conservation of viable Bengal tiger populations. However, very little is known of the habitat integrity and the status of the prey populations in these forests. Surveys have been recommended to determine their importance and potential contribution toward a regional tiger conservation strategy.

The mammal fauna in the ecoregion includes seventy-six species. Although none of them are endemic, there are several threatened species, including the Bengal tiger, Gaur, Wild dog, Sloth bear, Chousingha, Blackbuck, and the Vulnerable Rusty-spotted cat (Prionailurus rubiginosus).

Representative reptiles occurring in the Namada Valley dry deciduous forests include: White-dotted supple skink (Lygosoma albopunctata); Striped grass mabuya snake (Mabuya dissimilis); Longnose whipsnake (Ahaetulla nasuta); Indian smooth snake (Coronella brachyura); Indian sand racer (Psammophis condanarus), and the Lower Risk/Least Concern Indian flapshell turtle (Lissemys punctata).

Amphibians found in the ecoregion include: Tiger Peters Frog (Hoplobatrachus tigerinus); and the ecoregion endemic and Critically Endangered anuran Sacred grove bushfrog (Philautus sanctisilvaticus).

None of the 276 bird species in this ecoregion are endemic. But the bird fauna includes the globally threatened Lesser florican (Eupodotis indica) and the Endangered Indian bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps).

Early Recorded History of the Region

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The Satavahana family created the first recorded historical dynasty in the southern part of this ecoregion, with earliest recorded writings of their prominence dating to the latter first century BC, with some evidence of that dynasty appearing as early as mid third century BC. At first, the Satavahana kingdom emerged in the west of the Deccan, with cave drawings remnant at Karli, Nanaghat, Nashik, Karli and Kanheri, marking such early rulers as Krishna and Simuka. Notable trade with the Roman Empire was recorded around the first century AD.

The earliest historically recorded warfare of the region began in the second century AD, with invasion of the Satavahana empire by the WesternSatraps. Coinage of the Western Satraps and Satavahana commemorates the first two centuries AD. Satavahana dominance was resurgent via the most successful warrior leader Gautamiputra Shatakarni (reigned c. 106–130 AD). His conquests covered a sizeable territory from Rajasthan at the northwest to Andhra at the southeast, and from Gujarat to Kalinga in the east.

Current Ecological Status

Nearly two-thirds of the natural forests of this ecoregion have been deforested, but the remaining habitat includes several large blocks that cover extensive areas, especially along the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges. The seventeen protected areas cover more than 7500 km², or almost five percent of the ecoregion's area (Table 1). Two of the protected areas, Melghat and Noradehi, exceed 1300 kilometres².

Types and Severity of Threats

Narmada River, southeast of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Source: Sujit Patwardhan. The large patches of forests are still greatly threatened by ongoing forest clearing and conversion. But the threats from a series of dams on the Narmada River are even more serious than the small-scale degradation threats. These dams will flood critical habitat, and they will also displace a large number of tribal and local communities into adjacent intact forests. The conservation status of this ecoregion was changed from vulnerable to endangered because of threats from the dense human population to the intact forest blocks. However, impending threats from the hydropower schemes may warrant elevation to critical status. As the tribal populations shift from a subsistence lifestyle to a more material one and as the populations continue to increase rapidly, conflicts are beginning to occur with conservation interests and authorities. These problems must be addressed in a timely manner.

Justification of Ecoregion Delineation

In a previous analysis of conservation units, Rodgers and Panwar divided the Deccan Peninsula into five biotic provinces. This ecoregion largely corresponds to the Rodgers and Panwar biotic province 6E, the Central Highlands, but we redrew the boundary to exclude the small area of moist deciduous forest represented in the biotic province as shown in MacKinnon's map of the original vegetation. This modification of Rodgers and Panwar is to conform to our rules for delineating ecoregions, that is, to represent distinct habitat types of regional extent. The dry deciduous forests therefore were represented by the Narmada Valley Dry Deciduous Forests.

Additional Information on this Ecoregion

* For a shorter summary of this entry, see the WWF WildWorld profile of this ecoregion.

* To see the species that live in this ecoregion, including images and threat levels, see the WWF Wildfinder description of this ecoregion.

References and Further Reading

• H. G. Champion and S. K. Seth. 1968. A revised survey of the forest types of India. Government of India Press.
• A. Jha and D. Rajgor. 1992. Studies in the Coinage of the Western Ksatraps, Nashik: Indian Institute of Research in Numismatic Studies.
• MacKinnon, J. 1997. Protected areas systems review of the Indo-Malayan realm.
• The Asian Bureau for Conservation (ABC) and The World Conservation Monitoring Center (WCMC)/ World Bank Publication. ISBN: 2880326095Strabo. Geographica. Chapter Seven. circa 7 BC
• Wikramanayake, Eric; Eric Dinerstein; Colby J. Loucks; et al. (2002). Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a Conservation Assessment. Island Press; Washington, DC.
• Isaac Kehimkar. 2000. Common Indian Wildflowers. Oxford University Press
• Sailendra Nath Sen. 1999. Ancient Indian History and Civilization. New Age International Publishing. 2nd edition

Table 1. World Conservation Monitoring Centre (1997) Protected Areas That Overlap with the Namada Valley dry deciduous forests ecoregion. Protected Areas are in km2. IUCN Category listed as I, II, III or IV. Panna 820 II ;Noradehi 1380 IV; Singhori 220 IV; Ratapani 490 IV; Kheoni 80 IV; Son Gharial 210 IV; Bagdara 540 IV; Sanjay 690 II; Sanjay (Dubri) 350; Bandhavgarh 360 II; Panpatha 300 IV; Sardarpur 120 IV; Aner Dam 70 IV; Melghat 1490 IV; Yawal 100 IV; Gugamal 350 II; Bhimashankar 30 ;Total protected area 7600 square kilometres

Disclaimer: Some information in this article is taken or contains information that was originally published by the World Wildlife Fund. Topic editors and authors for the Encyclopedia of Earth have edited that content and added new information. The use of information from the World Wildlife Fund should not be construed as support for or endorsement by that organization for any new information added by EoE personnel, or for any editing of the original content.

Citation

World Wildlife Fund and C. Michael Hogan (2017) Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests. Retrieved from http://editors.eol.org/eoearth/wiki/Narmada_Valley_dry_deciduous_forests