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 l ...

s of the world, spanning all land area (terrestrial) of the planet, were first defined and mapped in 2001 and subsequently revised in 2017. Later,

freshwater ecoregions 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 l ...

and marine ecoregions of the world were identified. Within

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 ...

, there are 46 terrestrial ecoregions, 14 freshwater ecoregions, and 6 marine ecoregions.

Terrestrial ecoregions

The terrestrial ecoregions of the world include 45 ecoregions that fall entirely or partly within the boundaries of

. These ecoregions fall within two biogeographic realms: Indomalayan and

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

. They also fall under ten

biome A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...

s: Deserts and Xeric Shrublands, Flooded Grasslands and Savannas, Mangroves, Montane Grasslands and Shrublands, Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests, Temperate Conifer Forests, Tropical and Subtropical Coniferous Forests, Tropical and Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests, Tropical and Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas and Shrublands, and

Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...

. The ecoregion Rock and Ice is not included under any specific biome or biogeographic realm.

Freshwater ecoregions

Freshwater ecoregions 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 l ...

of the world have been defined as "a large area encompassing one or more freshwater systems with a distinct assemblage of natural freshwater communities and species. The freshwater species, dynamics, and environmental conditions within a given ecoregion are more similar to each other than to those of surrounding ecoregions, and together form a conservation unit." The following 14 freshwater ecoregions occur within India. * Upper Indus * Indus Himalayan Foothills * Lower and Middle Indus * Ganges Himalayan Foothills * Middle Brahmaputra * Chin Hills–Arakan Coast * Ganges Delta and Plain * Narmada–Tapti * Northern Deccan Plateau * Southern Deccan Plateau * Southeastern Ghats * Western Ghats * Andaman Islands * Nicobar Islands

Marine ecoregions

Marine ecoregions of the world have been described across the worlds oceans and seas. India's seas are in the Western Indo-Pacific

marine realm A marine ecoregion is an ecoregion, or ecological region, of the oceans and seas identified and defined based on biogeographic characteristics. Introduction A more complete definition describes them as “Areas of relatively homogeneous species c ...

. This includes the following four provinces and six marine ecoregions. * West and South Indian Shelf province ** Western India ** South India and Sri Lanka * Central Indian Ocean Islands province ** Maldives *

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 between ...

province ** Eastern India ** Northern Bay of Bengal * Andaman province ** Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Global 200 ecoregions in India

The following are the ecoregions in India that are included in the Global 200 ecoregions:

Terrestrial

Chota Nagpur dry deciduous forests Chota may refer to: * Chota (Cherokee town), which once existed in present-day Monroe County, Tennessee * Chota, Ecuador * Chota, Peru, a city in Chota District, the capital of Chota Province, Peru. * Chota District, a district in Chota Province, P ...

(India) * Eastern Deccan Plateau moist forests (old name) or East Deccan moist deciduous forests (current name) (India) * Eastern Himalayan alpine meadows (

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, India,

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

) * Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests (Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal) * Himalayan subtropical pine forests (Bhutan, India, Nepal,

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

) * Naga-Manipuri-Chin hills moist forests (India) *

Northeast India-Myanmar pine forests The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

(India, Myanmar) * Rann of Kutch seasonal salt marsh (India, Pakistan) * South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests (India) *

Sundarbans mangroves Sundarbans (pronounced ) is a mangrove area in the delta formed by the confluence of the Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers in the Bay of Bengal. It spans the area from the Baleswar River in Bangladesh's division of Khulna to the Hooghly ...

(

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, India) * Terai-Duar savannas and grasslands (Bhutan, India, Nepal) *

Tibetan Plateau alpine shrublands and meadows The Tibetan Plateau alpine shrublands and meadows ecoregion covers the middle transition zone between the northern and southern regions of the Tibetan Plateau. The region supports both cold alpine steppe and meadows across a broad expanse of the ...

(

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, China, India, Pakistan,

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

) *

Western Himalayan broadleaf forests The Western Himalayan broadleaf forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregion which is found in the middle elevations of the western Himalayas, including parts of Nepal, India, and Pakistan. Setting The ecoregion forms an area of te ...

(Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Pakistan)

External links

Ecozones of India

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20181227182143/http://www.seasonsindia.info/ Seasons, climate, global warming in India

References

{{India topics

Ecoregions 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 l ...

ecoregions 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 l ...