The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is an International Biosphere Reserve in the Western Ghats, Nilgiri Hills range of South India. Doddabetta ( Tamil: தொட்டபெட்டா Kannada:ದೊಡ್ಡ ಬೆಟ್ಟ is the highest mountain in the Nilgiri Hills, at 2623 meters A biosphere reserve is an international Conservation designation given by UNESCO under its Programme on The Western Ghats ( Kannada ಸಹ್ಯಾದ್ರಿ Marathi / Konkani - सह्याद्री Sahyadri Malayalam സഹ്യപര്‍വ്വതം The Nilgiri (Tamil: நீலகிரி or literally Blue Mountains) often referred to as the Nilgiri Hills, are a range of mountains with at least 24 peaks above South India is the area encompassing India 's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union The Western Ghats, Nilgiri Sub-Cluster (6,000⁺ km²), conjoining the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, is under consideration by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee for selection as a World Heritage Site. The Western Ghats ( Kannada ಸಹ್ಯಾದ್ರಿ Marathi / Konkani - सह्याद्री Sahyadri Malayalam സഹ്യപര്‍വ്വതം United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on November 16 A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site (such as a Forest, Mountain, Lake, Desert, Monument, Building, complex ^[1]

Contents 1 Location 2 Protected Areas 3 Fauna 4 Flora 5 References

Location

The reserve encompasses 5,520 km² in the states of Karnataka (1527. Karnataka (ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ pronounced) is a state in the southern part of India 4 km²), Kerala (1455. Kerala ( Malayalam: {{Kerala in Malayalam}}; 4 km²), and Tamil Nadu (2537. Tamil Nadu ( Tamil:, Country of the Tamils, t̪ɐmɨɻ n̪aːɽɯ is one of the 28 states of India. 6 km²). The Biosphere lies Between 10^o 45' to 12^o 15' N Latitude and 76^o to 77^o 15' E Longitude. Central location: 11°30′N, 76°37.5'′E ^[2]

Protected Areas

The Mudumalai WL Sanctuary and National Park (321. Shola is a type of high-altitude stunted Evergreen forest found in southern India. The Mudumalai National Park lies on the northwestern side of the Nilgiri Hills (Blue Mountains in Nilgiri District, about 80 km north-west of Coimbatore 1 km²), Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary( 344km²), Bandipur National Park(874km²), Nagarhole National Park (643 km²), Nugu WLS, Mukurthi National Park (78 km²) and Silent Valley National Park (89. Bandipur National Park is one of India 's best known sanctuaries and is an important Project Tiger reserve Nagarhole National Park ( Kannada ನಾಗರಹೊಳೆ ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ ಉದ್ಯಾನವನ also known as 'Rajiv Gandhi National Park' is located 94 km Mukurthi National Park is a 7846 km² protected area located in the south-eastern corner of the Nilgiris Plateau west of Ootacamund Hill Silent Valley National Park (Core zone) is located in the Nilgiri Hills, Palakkad district Kerala, in South India. 52km²) are protected areas within this reserve. The Bio-sphere Reserve also includes zones of The Nilgiris open to forestry and tourism including: Nilgiris District (North (448. Forestry is the Art and Science of managing forests tree Plantations and related Natural resources. Tourism is Travel for Recreational or Leisure purposes The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel The Nilgiris District is in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Nilgiri (Tamil: நீலகிரி or Blue Mountains when translated 3 km²) and Nilgiris District South (198. 8 km²)), Erode District (Sathyamangalam forest (745. Erode District (ஈரோடு மாவட்டம் is a northern district of the state of Tamil Nadu, India, with Erode as WikipediaWikiProject Indian cities for details --> Sathyamangalam or Satyamangalam ( Tamil:சத்தியமங்கலம் is a city and 9km²) and Erode(49. WikipediaWikiProject Indian cities for details -->       Erode ( Tamil: ஈரோடு) is one of the ten municipal corporations 3 km²)) and Coimbatore District (696. Coimbatore District is one of the most affluent and industrially advanced districts of the state of Tamil Nadu in India. 2 km²) in Tamil Nadu.

The reserve extends from the tropical moist forests of the windward western slopes of the Ghats to the tropical dry forests on the leeward east slopes. Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF also known as tropical moist forests, are a Tropical and Subtropical Forest Windward is the direction from which the wind is blowing at the time in question The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest Biome, also known as tropical dry forest, is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes Windward is the direction from which the wind is blowing at the time in question Rainfall ranges from 500 mm to 7000 mm per year. The reserve encompasses three ecoregions, the South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests, South Western Ghats montane rain forests, and South Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests. An ecoregion ( ecological region) sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area smaller than a "realm" or " The South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest Ecoregion of southern India. The South Western Ghats montane rain forests are an Ecoregion of southern India, covering the southern portion of the Western Ghats range in Kerala The South Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests is an Ecoregion of southern India. The habitat types include montane rain forest, semi-evergreen moist forest, thorn forest and scrub, montane grassland, and high-elevation Shola forests. Montane grasslands and shrublands is a Biome defined by the World Wildlife Fund. Shola is a type of high-altitude stunted Evergreen forest found in southern India.

Fauna

Fauna includes over 100 species of mammals, 350 species of birds, 80 species of reptiles; about 39 species of fish, 31 amphibians, 60 species of reptiles,^[3] 316 species of butterflies ^[4] and innumerable invertebrates. Rare animals include the tiger, Asian Elephant, and Nilgiri Tahr. The tiger ( Panthera tigris) is a member of the Felidae family the largest and the most powerful of the four " Big cats quot in the Genus The Asian or Asiatic Elephant ( Elephas maximus) sometimes known by the name of one of its subspecies &ndash the Indian Elephant, is one of The Nilgiri Tahr ( Nilgiritragus hylocrius) is an Ungulate that is Endemic to the Nilgiri Hills and the southern portion of the Western Ghats

Flora

The reserve has very rich plant diversity. Of 3300 species, 1232 are endemic. Endemism is the Ecological state of being unique to a place Endemic species are not naturally found elsewhere The genus Baeolepis is exclusively endemic to the NBR. Other plants entirely restricted to the NBR Reserve include species of Adenoon, Calacanthus, Baeolepis, Frerea, Jarodina, Wagotea and Poeciloneuron. Poeciloneuron is a Plant Genus in the family Clusiaceae. Of the 175 species of orchids found here, 8 are endemic. These include endangered species of Vanda, Liparis, Bulbophyllum, Spiranthes and Thrixspermum. An endangered species is a population of an organism which is at risk of becoming Extinct because it is either few in numbers or threatened by changing environmental or predation Vanda is a Genus in the orchid family ( Orchidaceae) which although not large (about fifty Species) is one of the most important Bulbophyllum is the largest genus in the orchid family Orchidaceae. Spiranthes, commonly called Ladies'-tresses is a genus of orchids (family ( Orchidaceae) belonging to the subfamily Orchidoideae. Thrixspermum is a Genus of Orchids comprising around 100 Species distributed from India to Southeast Asia and New Guinea

References

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