Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests

Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests
View across the Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests. This picture is from the Pangsau Pass in the northwest of the ecoregion, on the border between India and Myanmar.
Ecology
Biome	subtropical moist broadleaf forest
Borders	Eastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests Meghalaya subtropical forests Brahmaputra Valley semi-evergreen forests Irrawaddy moist deciduous forests Northern Triangle subtropical forests Northern Indochina subtropical forests Northeast India-Burma pine forests Chin Hills-Arakan Yoma montane forests
Geography
Area	135,600 km² (52,400 sq mi)
Countries	India, Myanmar and Bangladesh
Coordinates	24°14′N 94°0′E / 24.233°N 94.000°E / 24.233; 94.000Coordinates: 24°14′N 94°0′E / 24.233°N 94.000°E / 24.233; 94.000

The Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests is a subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion which occupies the lower hillsides of the mountainous border region joining India, Bangladesh, and Burma (Myanmar). The ecoregion covers an area of 135,600 square kilometers (52,400 sq mi). Located where the biotas of the Indian Subcontinent and Indochina meet, and in the transition between subtropical and tropical regions of Asia, the Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests are home to great biodiversity. The WWF rates the ecoregion as "Globally Outstanding" in biological distinctiveness.^[1]

Setting

The ecoregion is characterized by semi-evergreen rain forest, covering the lower elevations of the Chin Hills-Arakan Yoma in Burma's Arakan State and India's Manipur state and the adjacent Chittagong Hills of Bangladesh, then extending northwards along the Naga Hills and Mizo Hills to cover most of India's Nagaland and Mizoram states, and eastwards across Burma's Sagaing Division and Kachin State to the Burma-China border.

The Burmesian coastal rain forests occupy the coastal lowlands of Burma to the south and southwest. To the west, the ecoregion borders the Meghalaya subtropical forests in southeastern Assam, and the Brahmaputra Valley semi-evergreen forests in the Assamese lowlands. The Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests extend up to the 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) elevation of the Chin Hills-Arakan Yoma range, and the Chin Hills-Arakan Yoma montane forests occupy the portion of the range above 1,000 meters (3,300 feet). As the Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin forests extend east across Burma, they are bounded by the Irrawaddy moist deciduous forests of the Irrawaddy River basin to the south, and by the higher-elevation Northern Triangle subtropical forests to the north and the Northern Indochina subtropical forests to the east. The Northeast India-Burma pine forests occupy the higher elevations of the Naga Hills along the Nagaland-Burma border, and are surrounded by the Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests on the west, south and east.

Climate

The climate of the region is tropical and humid, although somewhat cooler than the adjacent lowlands. Rainfall comes mostly from the monsoon winds from the Bay of Bengal, and parts of the ecoregion can receive up to 2,000 millimetres (79 in) of rain per year.

Flora

The predominant plant community is semi-evergreen rain forest, which covers the vast majority of the ecoregion's intact area, a total of 36% of the ecoregion. Other plant communities include tropical wet evergreen forest (5% of the ecoregion's total area), tropical moist deciduous forest (2%), montane wet temperate forest (2%), and subtropical montane forest (1%). 19% of the ecoregion's area has been cleared, primarily for agriculture and grazing, and 34% of the ecoregion consists of degraded areas.^[2]

The semi-evergreen rain forest is dominated by trees of the dipterocarp family, including Dipterocarpus alatus, D. turbinatus, D. griffithii, Parashorea stellata, Hopea odorata, Shorea burmanica, and Anisoptera scaphula. Trees of other families include Swintonia floribunda, Eugenia grandis, Xylia xylocarpa, Gmelina arborea, Bombax insignis, Bombax ceiba, Albizia procera, and Castanopsis spp.^[3]

Fauna

The ecoregion is home to 149 known species of mammals. This includes two near-endemic species, a bat Pipistrellus joffrei, and a murid rodent Hadromys humei. The ecoregion is home to several endangered and threatened mammal species, including the tiger (Panthera tigris), clouded leopard (Pardofelis nebulosa), Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), Eld's deer (Cervus eldii), gaur (Bos gaurus), Himalayan goral (Nemorhaedus goral), red panda (Ailurus fulgens), smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata), Indian civet (Viverra zibetha), back-striped weasel (Mustela strigidorsa), Assamese macaque (Macaca assamensis), bear macaque (Macaca arctoides), southern pig-tailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina), capped leaf monkey (Semnopithecus pileatus), and hoolock gibbon (Hylobates hoolock).^[1]

The ecoregion harbors 580 bird species,^[1] of which 6 are near-endemics: Manipur bush quail (Perdicula manipurensis), striped laughingthrush (Garrulax virgatus), brown-capped laughingthrush (Garrulax austeni), marsh babbler (Pellorneum palustre), tawny-breasted wren-babbler (Spelaeornis longicaudatus), and wedge-billed wren-babbler (Sphenocichla humei).^[4]

References

1 2 3 Wikramanayake, Eric; Eric Dinerstein; Colby J. Loucks; et al. (2002). Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a Conservation Assessment. Island Press; Washington, DC. pp. 377-379
↑ Wikramanayake, Eric; Eric Dinerstein; Colby J. Loucks; et al. (2002). Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a Conservation Assessment. Island Press; Washington, DC. p 234
↑ Wikramanayake, Eric; Eric Dinerstein; Colby J. Loucks; et al. (2002). Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a Conservation Assessment. Island Press; Washington, DC. p 377
↑ Wikramanayake, Eric; Eric Dinerstein; Colby J. Loucks; et al. (2002). Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a Conservation Assessment. Island Press; Washington, DC. pp. 257-258

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests.

"Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.

Ecoregions of India

Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests	Andaman Islands rain forests Brahmaputra Valley semi-evergreen forests Chin Hills-Arakan Yoma montane forests Eastern highlands moist deciduous forests Himalayan subtropical broadleaf forests Lower Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests Malabar Coast moist forests Maldives-Lakshadweep-Chagos Archipelago tropical moist forests Meghalaya subtropical forests Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests Nicobar Islands rain forests North Western Ghats moist deciduous forests North Western Ghats montane rain forests Orissa semi-evergreen forests South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests South Western Ghats montane rain forests Sundarbans freshwater swamp forests Upper Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests

Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests	Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests Chota-Nagpur dry deciduous forests East Deccan dry evergreen forests Kathiarbar-Gir dry deciduous forests Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests Northern dry deciduous forests South Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests

Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests	Himalayan subtropical pine forests Northeast India-Myanmar pine forests

Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests	Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests Western Himalayan broadleaf forests

Temperate coniferous forests	Eastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests Western Himalayan subalpine conifer forests

Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands	Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands

Montane grasslands and shrublands	Eastern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows Karakoram-West Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe Northwestern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows Western Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows

Flooded grasslands and savannas	Rann of Kutch seasonal salt marsh

Deserts and xeric shrublands	Deccan thorn scrub forests Indus Valley desert Northwestern thorn scrub forests Thar desert

Mangrove	Godavari-Krishna mangroves Indus River Delta-Arabian Sea mangroves Myanmar coast mangroves Sundarbans mangroves

Ecoregions of India

Indomalaya Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
Andaman Islands rain forests	India
Borneo lowland rain forests	Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia
Borneo montane rain forests	Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia
Borneo peat swamp forests	Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia
Brahmaputra Valley semi-evergreen forests	India
Cardamom Mountains rain forests	Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam
Chao Phraya freshwater swamp forests	Thailand
Chao Phraya lowland moist deciduous forests	Thailand
Chin Hills-Arakan Yoma montane forests	Myanmar, India
Christmas and Cocos Islands tropical forests	Australia
Eastern highlands moist deciduous forests	India
Eastern Java-Bali montane rain forests	Indonesia
Eastern Java-Bali rain forests	Indonesia
Greater Negros-Panay rain forests	Philippines
Hainan Island monsoon rain forests	China
Himalayan subtropical broadleaf forests	Bhutan, India, Nepal
Irrawaddy freshwater swamp forests	Myanmar
Irrawaddy moist deciduous forests	Myanmar
Jiang Nan subtropical evergreen forests	China
Kayah-Karen montane rain forests	Myanmar, Thailand
Lower Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests	Bangladesh, India
Luang Prabang montane rain forests	Laos
Luzon montane rain forests	Philippines
Luzon rain forests	Philippines
Malabar Coast moist forests	India
Maldives-Lakshadweep-Chagos Archipelago tropical moist forests	British Indian Ocean Territory, India, Maldives
Meghalaya subtropical forests	India
Mentawai Islands rain forests	Indonesia
Mindanao montane rain forests	Philippines
Mindanao-Eastern Visayas rain forests	Philippines
Mindoro rain forests	Philippines
Mizoram-Manipur-Kachin rain forests	Bangladesh, India, Myanmar
Myanmar coastal rain forests	Myanmar
Nansei Islands subtropical evergreen forests	Japan
Nicobar Islands rain forests	India
North Western Ghats moist deciduous forests	India
North Western Ghats montane rain forests	India
Northern Annamites rain forests	Laos, Vietnam
Northern Indochina subtropical forests	China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam
Northern Khorat Plateau moist deciduous forests	Laos, Thailand
Northern Thailand-Laos moist deciduous forests	Laos, Thailand
Northern Triangle subtropical forests	Myanmar
Northern Vietnam lowland rain forests	Vietnam
Orissa semi-evergreen forests	India
Palawan rain forests	Philippines
Peninsular Malaysian montane rain forests	Malaysia, Thailand
Peninsular Malaysian peat swamp forests	Malaysia, Thailand
Peninsular Malaysian rain forests	Indonesia, Malaysia
Red River freshwater swamp forests	Vietnam
South China Sea Islands	disputed between China, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam
South China-Vietnam subtropical evergreen forests	China, Vietnam
South Taiwan monsoon rain forests	Taiwan
South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests	India
South Western Ghats montane rain forests	India
Southern Annamites montane rain forests	Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam
Southwest Borneo freshwater swamp forests	Indonesia
Sri Lanka lowland rain forests	Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka montane rain forests	Sri Lanka
Sulu Archipelago rain forests	Philippines
Sumatran freshwater swamp forests	Indonesia
Sumatran lowland rain forests	Indonesia
Sumatran montane rain forests	Indonesia
Sumatran peat swamp forests	Indonesia
Sundaland heath forests	Indonesia
Sundarbans freshwater swamp forests	Bangladesh, India
Taiwan subtropical evergreen forests	Taiwan
Tenasserim-South Thailand semi-evergreen rain forests	Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand
Tonle Sap freshwater swamp forests	Cambodia, Vietnam
Tonle Sap-Mekong peat swamp forests	Cambodia, Vietnam
Upper Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests	India
Western Java montane rain forests	Indonesia
Western Java rain forests	Indonesia

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/5/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.