East Deccan dry evergreen forests

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East Deccan dry evergreen forests
Blackbuck antelope.jpg
Blackbuck at Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary
Ecoregion IM0204.png
Ecoregion territory (in purple)
Ecology
RealmIndomalayan
Biometropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests
BordersDeccan thorn scrub forests and Godavari-Krishna mangroves
Geography
Area25,084 km2 (9,685 sq mi)
CountryIndia
StatesAndhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry (union territory)
Conservation
Conservation statuscritical/endangered
Protected572 km² (2%)[1]

The East Deccan dry evergreen forests is an ecoregion of southeastern India. The ecoregion includes the coastal region behind the Coromandel Coast on the Bay of Bengal, between the Eastern Ghats and the sea. It covers eastern Tamil Nadu, part of Puducherry and south eastern Andhra Pradesh.

Setting[]

The East Deccan dry evergreen forests lie in the rain shadow of the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats, which block the rain-bearing summer southwest monsoon.

The ecoregion covers an area of 25,500 square kilometers (9,800 sq mi), extending from Ramanathapuram District of Tamil Nadu to Nellore District of Andhra Pradesh. Much of the ecoregion is densely settled, and has been substantially altered by human activity, including agriculture, grazing, and forestry, over the centuries. The ecoregion is home to the metropolis of Chennai (Madras), and a number of other cities, including Pondicherry, Thanjavur, Kanchipuram and Nellore. It is estimated that 95% of the original forest cover has been cleared, and the species composition of the remaining forests have been altered by intensive human use including the removal of all the taller trees.

Rainfall averages 800 mm/year, and mostly falls during the highly variable northeast monsoon between October and December. Unlike most of the world's tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, whose trees tend to lose their leaves during the dry season to conserve moisture, the East Deccan dry evergreen forests retain their leaves year round. Only two other ecoregions exhibit a similar pattern, the Sri Lanka dry-zone dry evergreen forests and the Southeastern Indochina dry evergreen forests.

The ecoregion is home to two important wetlands, Kaliveli Lake in Viluppuram District of Tamil Nadu, and Pulicat Lake north of Chennai. Kaliveli Lake is one of the largest wetlands in peninsular India, and is deemed a wetland of national and international importance by the IUCN. It is a seasonal wetland, with a gradient from freshwater to brackish water, and is an important feeding and breeding ground on migratory bird flyway. It is currently threatened by encroachment by agricultural fields, wildlife poaching, loss of the surrounding forests, and increases in commercial prawn farming.

Flora[]

The original vegetation of the ecoregion consisted of forests with an understory of evergreen trees and an emergent canopy of taller deciduous trees, including Sal (Shorea robusta), Albizia amara, and Chloroxylon swietenia. Intensive human use of the forests over the centuries has mostly eliminated the deciduous canopy species, and the ecoregion's remaining forests are now characterized by areas of leathery-leaved evergreen forest, with a relatively low (10-meter) closed canopy. Predominant species are Manilkara hexandra, Mimusops elengi, Ceylon ebony (Diospyros ebenum), strychnine tree (Strychnos nux-vomica), Eugenia spp., Drypetes sepiaria, and Flacourtia indica. A few small enclaves of deciduous Sal forest exist, but are under intensive human pressure.[2]

Puthupet forest (12°05’702”N – 79° 87’ 148” E) is predominantly Memecylon umbellatum, with Pterospermum canescens, Diospyros ebenum, Drypetes sepiaria, Aglaia elaeagnoidea, Pongamia pinnata, Azadirachta indica, Walsura trifoliolata, Calophyllum inophyllum, and Albizia amara.[3]

6-8 percent of the ecoregion remains in forest, which is found in isolated pockets. Most of the ecoregion's forests have been degraded into tropical dry evergreen scrublands, characterized by thorny species such as , Dichrostachys cinerea, Catunaregam spinosa, and Carissa spinarum.

Fauna[]

Mammals found in this ecoregion include the dhole (Cuon alpinus), sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) and Indian spotted chevrotain (Moschiola indica).

Protected areas[]

Two percent of the ecoregion lies in reserves and protected areas. Another 6% is forested but unprotected.[4] Many forest areas are very small, and include temple groves and reserved forests.

Protected areas include Guindy National Park in Chennai District, and Nanmangalam, and Vandalur reserve forests in Kanchipuram District. In Villupuram District, the Marakkanam reserve forest includes the three forest areas of Marakkanam, Kurumpuram, and Agaram. The sacred grove of Marakkanam preserves a section of evergreen closed canopy forest. Kurumpuram forest (12º4’N-79º44’E) was designated a reserve forest in 1960, but has suffered degradation from timber poaching, firewood harvesting, and hunting wild animals.[5] Several other temple groves in the area around Puducherry, including Puthupet, Pillaichavadi, Mudaliarchavadi, and Kottakarai, preserve small enclaves of forest.[6]

The Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary protects a 17.26 km2 enclave of dry evergreen forest, as well as tidal wetlands and mangroves. Other coastal preserves in the region include Vettangudi Bird Sanctuary (30 km2) in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu, Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary (160 km2) on Pulicat Lake in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, and Pichavaram reserve in Cuddalore district.

Since the 1973, the Auroville Foundation has undertaken restoration of dry evergreen forest at Pitchandikulam in Auroville, near Pondicherry. The forest covers 28 ha (70 acres), and includes many native plants collected from nearby remnant forests and propagated in their nursery. In 2003 the foundation established a 14 ha (35 acre) forest and resource centre at Nadukuppam, near Marakkanam, with both dry evergreen forest species and various agro-forestry crops.[7]

External links[]

  • "East Deccan dry-deciduous forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
  • Changing climate threatens sacred groves, Earth Journalism Network.

References[]

  1. ^ Eric Dinerstein, David Olson, et al. (2017). An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience, Volume 67, Issue 6, June 2017, Pages 534–545; Supplemental material 2 table S1b. [1]
  2. ^ "East Deccan dry-deciduous forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
  3. ^ Sundarapandian, Somaiah & L, Gowsalaya & P, Kayathri & M, Thamizharasi & Dar, Javid & Srinivas, Kantipudi & Gandhi.D, Sanjay. (2013). Estimation of Biomass and Carbon Stock of Woody Plants in Different Land-Uses. 3. 3-5.
  4. ^ Eric Dinerstein, David Olson, et al. (2017). An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience, Volume 67, Issue 6, June 2017, Pages 534–545; Supplemental material 2 table S1b. [2]
  5. ^ Silambarasan, K., Sujatha, K., Anitha Joice, A. et al. A Preliminary Report on the Butterfly Diversity of Kurumpuram Reserve Forest, Marakkanam, Tamil Nadu. Proc Zool Soc 69, 255–258 (2016). [3]
  6. ^ Auroasha (2014). "Natural regeneration of vegetation". Auroville Foundation. 12 August 2014. Accessed 3 May 2020. [4]
  7. ^ "The Pitchandikulam Story". Pitchandikulam Forest. Accessed 3 May 2020. [5]
  • Ramanujam, M.P. and Kadamban, D. Plant biodiversity of two tropical dry evergreen forests in the Pondicherry region of South India and the role of belief systems in their conservation. Biodiversity and Conservation, 10 (7): 1203-1217, July 2001
  • Ramanujam M.P. and Praveen Kumar, Cyril K. Woody species diversity of four sacred groves in the Pondicherry region of South India. Biodiversity and Conservation, February 2003, vol. 12 no. 2, pp. 289–299(11)
  • Blasco, F. and Legris, P. Dry Evergreen Forest of Calimere and Marakanam. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, Vol. 70 (2), August 1973, p. 278.
  • Ramanujam M.P. and Praveen Kumar, Cyril K. Woody species diversity of four sacred groves in the Pondicherry region of South India. Biodiversity and Conservation, February 2003, vol. 12 no. 2, pp. 289–299(11)
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