Wildlife:Ecology and Conservation
The posts are basically meant to help the students who find it difficult to find appropriate materials relating to wildlife studies in N.E.India owing to the paucity of books on the subject
Sunday, 24 May 2020
Sunday, 26 April 2020
Friday, 17 April 2020
Tuesday, 14 April 2020
Saturday, 30 July 2016
Forest Cover of North East India
The
North eastern region of the country comprising eight states namely Arunachal
Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura are
endowed with rich forest resources. The region which constitutes only 7.98
percent of the geographical area of the country, accounts for nearly one fourth
of its forest cover. According to data made available by the India State of
Forest Report 2015 the total forest cover of the region is 171,964 sq.km, which
is 65.59% of its geographical area in comparison to the national forest cover
of 21.34%.
Other
highlights of the report with respect to the forest cover of N.E. India are as
follows.
a.
Of the 36 States/Union Territories of India, 15 States/UT’s have above 33% of
their geographical area under forest cover. This includes all the eight States
of N.E. India
b.
Seven States and UT’s in India have more than 75% forest cover. These include
five states from N.E.India including Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram,
Manipur and Nagaland. Tripura too comes close with 74.49% forest cover. Sikkim has
47.31% forest cover while Assam lies at the bottom with 35.22% forest cover.
c.
The total forest cover of the country is 701,673 sq.km. N.E.India with forest
cover of 171,964 sq.km thus accounts for 24.5% of the forest cover of the
country.
d.
Very dense, Moderately dense and Open forest in N.E. India constitute 14.81%,
43.85% and 41.31% of the total forest cover of the region.
State
wise forest cover of the region as per India State of Forest Report 2015, is
shown as follows
States
|
Geogra-phical
Area
|
2015 Assessment
|
Percent
Of G.A.
|
|||
VDF
|
MDF
|
OF
|
Total
|
|||
Arunachal
Pradesh
|
83,743
|
20,804
|
31,301
|
15,143
|
67,248
|
80.30
|
Assam
|
78,438
|
1,441
|
11,268
|
14,914
|
27,623
|
35.22
|
Manipur
|
22,327
|
727
|
5,925
|
10,342
|
16,994
|
76.11
|
Meghalaya
|
22,429
|
449
|
9,584
|
7,184
|
17,217
|
76.76
|
Mizoram
|
21,081
|
138
|
5,858
|
12,752
|
18,748
|
88.93
|
Nagaland
|
16,579
|
1,296
|
4,695
|
6,975
|
12,966
|
78.21
|
Sikkim
|
7,096
|
500
|
2,160
|
697
|
3,357
|
47.31
|
Tripura
|
10,486
|
113
|
4,609
|
3,089
|
7,811
|
74.49
|
Grand
Total
|
262,179
|
25,468
|
75,400
|
71,096
|
171,964
|
65.59
|
Note:
VDF
(Very dense Forest): All
Lands with tree cover (Including mangrove cover) of canopy density of 70% and
above
MDF
(Moderately Dense forest): All
lands with tree cover (Including mangrove cover) of canopy density between 40%
and 70%
OF
(Open forest): All
lands with tree cover (Including mangrove cover) of canopy density between 10%
and 40%
Friday, 29 July 2016
Forest Types of North East India
Over the century, Northeastern India has gained worldwide attention for its diverse and extensive forest cover. Forests of this region are unique, both in terms of their structure and species composition.
Climate, physiography and soils of the region
have provided favorable conditions for luxuriant growth of natural vegetation.
As the physiography varies from low lying swamps and marshes, to high mountain
ridges lying above 6000 m, the soils vary from sand, silt and loam to laterite.
The climate of the region seems to have the most telling effect on the
vegetation type. The region has one of the heaviest rain falls in the world. Although
the average annual rainfall of the region is about 250 cm it varies from place
to place. The heavy rainfall which comes from May to September, keeps the
relative humidity of the area very high throughout the year. Temperature
variation is low, remaining normally between 12 0 C and 35 0
C except in the high hills. These favorable climatic conditions, augmented by
fertility of the soils provide for the astounding diversity of flora and fauna
characteristic of the region.
Champion
and Seth (1968) distinguished 51 types of forests in North East India under 13
broad categories as shown below
I. Tropical Wet Evergreen Forests
1. Assam valley
tropical wet evergreen forest
2. Upper Assam
valley tropical evergreen forest
3. Cachar tropical
evergreen forest
4. Cane brakes
5. Wet bamboo
brakes
6. Pioneer
Euphorbiaceous scrub
II. Tropical Semi-Evergreen Forests
7. Assam valley
semi-evergreen forest
8. Sub-Himalayan
high alluvial semi-evergreen forest
9. Syzgium parkland
10. Eastern alluvial secondary semi-evergreen forest
11. Sub-Himalayan secondary wet mixed forest
12. Cachar semi-evergreen forest
13. Moist bamboo brakes
14. Secondary moist bamboo brakes
III. Tropical Moist Deciduous Forests
15. Very moist sal forest
16. Moist plains sal forest
17. Moist sal savannah
18. East Himalayan moist mixed deciduous forest
19. Northern secondary moist mixed deciduous forest
20. Secondary Euphorbiaceous scrub
21. Low alluvial savannah woodland
22. Eastern hollock forest
IV. Littoral and swamp Forests
23. Sub-montane hill valley swamp forest
24. Creeper swamp forest
25. Tropical seasonal swamp forest
26. Eastern wet alluvial grassland
27. Riparian fringing forest
V. Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests
28. Khair-sissu forest
VI. Subtropical Broad-leaved Hill Forests
29. Khasi sub-tropical hill forest
30. Assam sub-tropical hill savannah woodland
VII. Subtropical Pine Forests
31. Assam sub-tropical pine forest
32. Assam sub-tropical pine savannah
VIII. Montane Wet Temperate Forests
33. East Himalayan wet temperate forest
34. Naga hills wet temperate forest
IX. Himalayan Moist Temperate Forests
35. East Himalayan moist temperate forest
36. Cypress forest
37. Montane bamboo brakes
38. Alder forest
39. Low level blue pine forest
X. Himalayan Dry Temperate Forests
40. East Himalayan dry temperate coniferous forest
41. Larch forest
42. East Himalayan dry juniper/birch forest
43. East Himalayan dry juniper/birch forest
XI. Sub-Alpine Forests
44. East Himalayan sub-alpine birch/fir forest
45. Sub-alpine blue pine forest
46. Sub-alpine pasture
XII. Moist Alpine Scrub
47. Birch/Rhododendron scrub
48. Deciduous alpine scrub
49. Dwarf Rhododendron scrub
XIII. Dry Alpine Scrub
50. Dry alpine scrub
51. Dwarf juniper scrub
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