Shola forest amid high altitude grassland on the Brahmagiri range in Kodagu

Shola is a type of high-altitude stunted evergreen forest found in southern India. Patches of shola forest are usually separated from one another by undulating grassland. Together the shola and grassland form the shola-grassland complex or shola-grassland mosaic. Shola forests are found only in the southern portion of the Western Ghats mountains of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu states, in the South Western Ghats montane rain forests ecoregion. The word 'shola' is probably derived from the Tamil word solai, meaning 'thicket' or 'bamboo clump'. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 393 pixelsFull resolution (1454 × 715 pixel, file size: 294 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 393 pixelsFull resolution (1454 × 715 pixel, file size: 294 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Brahmagiri is a tourist destination situated in Wayanad District, Kerala. ... Location of the Kodagu district with respect to the other districts of Karnataka. ... ‹ The template below (Expand) is being considered for deletion. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The Agasthiyamalai range of the Western Ghats The Western Ghats are a mountain range in India. ... , Karnātakā   (Kannada: ಕನಾ೯ಟಕ) (IPA: ) is one of the four southern states of India. ... , Kerala ( ; Malayalam: കേരളം; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of southwestern India. ... Tamil Nadu (தமிழ் நாடு, Land of the Tamils) is a state at the southern tip of 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 and Tamil Nadu, at elevations over 1000 meters. ... An ecoregion, sometimes called a bioregion, is a relatively large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities. ... Tamil ( ; IPA ) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka, with smaller communities of speakers in many other countries. ... Diversity Around 91 genera and 1,000 species Subtribes Arthrostylidiinae Arundinariinae Bambusinae Chusqueinae Guaduinae Melocanninae Nastinae Racemobambodinae Shibataeinae See the full Taxonomy of the Bambuseae. ...

Due to its altitude and evergreen character, it is home to some of the most threatened and endemic species. Some of the species found here have close relatives only in the distant evergreen forests of northeast India or those in Southeast Asia. Some others are found nowhere else in the world. In biology and ecology endemic means exclusively native to a place or biota, in contrast to cosmopolitan or introduced. ... The hierarchy of scientific classification. ... Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ...

Exacum bicolor a shola grassland plant

The Western Ghats are one of the globally recognized biodiversity hotspots. Among the many larger animals inhabiting a shola-grassland mosaic are tigers and leopards, elephants, gaur, Spotted Deer. The endangered Nilgiri Tahr (an Asian goat-antelope) is endemic to the shola-grassland, and its range is now restricted to a 400-km stretch of shola-grassland mosaic, from the Nilgiri Hills to the Ashambu Hills.^[1] Hornbills, Nilgiri Woodpigeons, Trogons, and some of the endemic flycatchers (Brownbreasted, Rustytailed, Nilgiri Verditer etc.) are some of the 300+ species of birds that inhabit this area. The area shows high endemicity and is rivalled only by the forests in northeast India; 35 percent of the plants, 42 percent of the fishes, 48 percent of the reptiles, and 75 percent of the amphibians that live in these rain forests are endemic species.^[2] Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 528 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (704 × 800 pixel, file size: 205 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 528 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (704 × 800 pixel, file size: 205 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... The Agasthiyamalai range of the Western Ghats The Western Ghats are a mountain range in India. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... For other uses, see Tiger (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Linnaeus, 1758 Synonyms Felis pardus Linnaeus, 1758 The Leopard (Panthera pardus) is an Old World mammal of the Felidae family and one of the four big cats of the genus Panthera, along with the tiger (), the lion () and the jaguar (). Once distributed across southern Eurasia and Africa from... Binomial name Linnaeus, 1758 Asian Elephant range The Asian or Asiatic Elephant (Elephas maximus), sometimes known by the name of its nominate subspecies (the Indian Elephant), is one of the three living species of elephant, and the only living species of the genus Elephas. ... Binomial name Bos gaurus H. Smith, 1827 Range map The Gaur (IPA gauɹ) (Bos gaurus, previously Bibos gauris) is a large, dark-coated ox of South Asia and Southeast Asia. ... Binomial name Nilgiritragus hylocrius (Ogilby, 1838) The Nilgiri Tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius) ungulate native to the Nilgiri Hills and the southern portion of the Western Ghats range in Tamil Nadu and Kerala states of southernmost India. ... Map of The Nilgiris district The Nilgiris or Blue Mountains are a range of mountains and a district in the south-Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. ... Genera Aceros Anorrhinus Anthracoceros Buceros Bucorvus Ceratogymna (=Bycanistes) Ocyceros Penelopides Tockus Hornbills (Family Bucerotidae) are a group of birds whose bill is shaped like a cows horn, but without a twist, sometimes with a casque on the upper mandible. ... Binomial name Columba elphinstonii (Sykes, 1832) The Nilgiri Woodpigeon (Columba elphinstonii) is a bird endemic to moist deciduous forests and sholas of south India. ... Genera Apaloderma Euptilotis Harpactes Pharomachrus Priotelus Trogon The trogons and quetzals are birds in the order Trogoniformes which contains only one family, the Trogonidae. ... For other uses, see Fish (disambiguation). ... Subclasses Anapsida Diapsida Synonyms Reptilia Laurenti, 1768 Reptiles are tetrapods and amniotes, animals whose embryos are surrounded by an amniotic membrane, and members of the class Sauropsida. ... For other uses, see Amphibian (disambiguation). ...

Shola forests have an upper storey of small trees, generally Pygeum gardneri, Schefflera racemosa, Linnociera ramiflora, Syzigium spp., Rhododendron nilgiricum, Mahonia nepalensis, Elaeocarpus recurvatus, Ilex denticulata, Michelia nilagirica, Actinodaphne bourdellonii, and Litsea wightiana. Below the upper story is a low understory and a dense shrub layer. These shola forests are interspersed with montane grasslands, characterized by frost- and fire-resistant grass species like Chrysopogon zeylanicus, Cymbopogon flexuosus, Arundinella ciliata, Arundinella mesophylla, Arundinella tuberculata, Themeda tremula, and Sehima nervosum. Schefflera is a plant in the family Araliaceae. ... Subgenera Azaleastrum Candidastrum Hymenanthes Mumeazalea Pentanthera (Azaleas) Rhododendron Therorhodion Tsutsusi (Azaleas) Vireya Source: RBG, Edinburgh Rhododendron (from the Greek: rhodos, rose, and dendron, tree) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. ... Species About 70 species Mahonia is a genus of about 70 species of evergreen shrubs in the family Berberidaceae, native to eastern Asia, the Himalayas, North America and Central America. ... Species see text Elaeocarpus is a genus of tropical and subtropical evergreen trees and shrubs. ... This article is about the plant type. ... Species about 50; see text Michelia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the Magnolia family (Magnoliaceae). ... The Actinodaphne genera is a member of the Lauraceae or Laurel family comprises a group of flowering plants within in the order Laurales. ... Species 200-400, including: Litsea is a genus of evergreen or deciduous trees or shrubs belonging to the Laurel family, Lauraceae. ... Montane grasslands and shrublands is biome defined by the World Wildlife Fund. ... Cut grass growing on in the Hudson River Park Tall grass growing wild at Lyme Park Grass covered house in Iceland. ...

Although generally said to occur above 2000 meters above sea level, shola forests can be found at 1600 meters elevation in many hill ranges (eg. Biligiriranga Hills).^[3]

Periodic brush wildfires are a key part of the ecosystem, helping to maintain the patchwork of grassland and forest that characterizes the sholas, and preventing the buildup of large amounts of flammable debris. However, some shola areas have suffered from excessive amounts of burning, leading to the shrinkage of forest patches and the growth of invasive species.^[4] A wildfire, also known as a wildland fire, forest fire, vegetation fire, grass fire, peat fire (gambut in Indonesia), bushfire (in Australasia), or hill fire, is an uncontrolled fire often occurring in wildland areas, but which can also consume houses or agricultural resources. ... Lantana invasion of abandoned citrus plantation; Moshav Sdey Hemed, Israel The term invasive species refers to a subset of introduced species or non-indigenous species that are rapidly expanding outside of their native range. ...

See also

• Neelakurinji

Binomial name (Nees) T. Anderson Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes kunthiana) is a shrub that used to grow abundantly in the shola grasslands (the origin of Water) of Western Ghats in South India above 1800 metres. ...

References

1. ^ Misra & Johnsingh 1998
2. ^ Govt. of India 1997
3. ^ Personal Observation
4. ^ Rawat, G.S, P.V. Karunakaran, and V.K Uniyal. 2003. Shola grasslands of the Western Ghats: conservation status and management needs. ENVIS Bulletin on Grassland Ecosystems and Agroforestry 1(1):57-64. 112 kB PDF