The Northern dry deciduous forests, presently known as the North Deccan dry deciduous forests, is a tropical dry broadleaf forest

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...

of east-central

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Geography

It covers an area of , mostly in western

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

state, with portions in neighboring Chhattisgarh. The region extends northeast–southwest in the dry western rain shadow of the

Eastern Ghats The Eastern Ghats are a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. The Eastern Ghats pass through Odisha, Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in the south passing some parts of Karnataka as well as Telangana. They are eroded and cut ...

range, which block the moisture-laden

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...

winds from the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line betwee ...

to the east. It is surrounded by the more humid

Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests The Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests, presently known as East Deccan moist deciduous forests, is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion in east-central India. The ecoregion covers an area of , extending across po ...

ecoregion. The ecoregion lies mostly in the middle basin of the

Mahanadi River The Mahanadi is a major river in East Central India. It drains an area of around and has a total length of . Mahanadi is also known for the Hirakud Dam. The river flows through the states of Chhattisgarh and Odisha and finally merged with Bay ...

and its tributary the Tel. The southern portion of the ecoregion lies in the upper basin of the

Indravati River Indravati River is a tributary of the Godavari River, in central India. The Indravati River is a stream of the river Godavari. Its starting point, found to be the Ghats of Dandakaranya, range from a hilltop village Mardiguda of Thuamula R ...

, a tributary of the

Godavari The Godavari (IAST: ''Godāvarī'' �od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganga river and drains into the third largest basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. Its source is in Trimbakeshwa ...

Flora

The original vegetation was a multi-storied forest of mostly dry-season deciduous trees, dominated by sal (''Shorea robusta''). Little of the original forest remains.

Teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters ( pan ...

(''Tectona grandis''), which favors drier conditions, is more common in the remaining forests. Frequent fires, intensive grazing, and over-harvesting trees for firewood and fodder has reduced other areas to open scrubland or savanna. Much of the ecoregion has been converted to agriculture or pasture.

Fauna

The ecoregion has 68 native mammal species. Threatened mammals include the

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on ...

(''Panthera tigris''),

dhole The dhole (''Cuon alpinus''; ) is a canid native to Central, South, East and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asian wild dog, Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red dog, red wolf, and mountain wolf. It ...

(''Cuon alpinus''),

sloth bear The sloth bear (''Melursus ursinus'') is a myrmecophagous bear species native to the Indian subcontinent. It feeds on fruits, ants and termites. It is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, mainly because of habitat loss and degradation. ...

(''Melursus ursinus''), and

chousingha The four-horned antelope (''Tetracerus quadricornis''), or ''chousingha'', is a small antelope found in India and Nepal. Its four horns distinguish it from most other bovids, which have two horns (with a few exceptions, such as the Jacob sheep) ...

(''Tetracerus quadricornis''). There are 261 bird species in the ecoregion. They include the Indian grey hornbill (''Ocyceros birostris'') and

Oriental pied hornbill The oriental pied hornbill (''Anthracoceros albirostris'') is an Indo-Malayan pied hornbill, a large canopy-dwelling bird belonging to the family Bucerotidae. Two other common names for this species are Sunda pied hornbill (''convexus'') and Mala ...

(''Anthracoceros albirostris'').

Conservation

A 1997 assessment found that more than three-quarters of the ecoregion's natural habitat had been cleared or degraded. Four protected areas encompassed about 2.5 percent of the ecoregion's area.Wikramanayake, Eric; Eric Dinerstein; Colby J. Loucks; et al. (2002). ''Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a Conservation Assessment.'' Island Press;

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

. pp. 321-322 A 2017 assessment estimated that 1,604 km², or 3%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas. Another 12% is forested but unprotected.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

/ref> *

Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary The Debrigarh wildlife sanctuary is located in the Sambalpur district in the Indian state of Odisha, covering a total area of 346.91 km2. It is situated near the city of Sambalpur's Hirakud Dam. The Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary is an important l ...

(340 km²) * Gomarda Wildlife Sanctuary,

Raigarh district Raigarh district is a district of the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Raigarh is the district headquarters. The district was formed by merging the princely states of Raigarh, Sakti, Sarangarh, Udaipur and Jashpur. Jashpur is now a s ...

, Chhattisgarh (290 km²) * Kanger Ghati National Park, Chhattisgarh (230 km²) * Sunabeda Tiger Reserve,

Nuapada district Nuapada district is located in Odisha state in India. Nuapada town is the headquarters of the district. It has 1 Subdivision: Nuapada; five blocks: Khariar, Sinapali, Boden, Komna, and Nuapada. Nuapada District has 3 Notified Area Councils: ...

, Odisha (591 km²)

External links

References