Ganges River Delta, Bangladesh and India

The Sundarbans delta is the largest mangrove forest in the world. It lies at the mouth of the Ganges and is spread across areas of Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. Interestingly, the Bangladesh and Indian portion of the jungle are listed in the UNESCO world heritage list separately as the Sundarbans and Sundarbans National Park respectively, though they are simply parts of the same forest. The Sundarbans is intersected by a complex network of tidal waterways, mudflats and small islands of salt-tolerant mangrove forests, and presents an excellent example of ongoing ecological processes. The area is known for its wide range of fauna. The most famous among these is the Bengal Tiger, but numerous species of birds, spotted deer, crocodiles and snakes also inhabit it. It is estimated that there are now 400 Bengal tigers and about 30,000 spotted deer in the area. Delta may refer to: Δ or δ, a letter of the Greek alphabet. ... Above and below water view at the edge of the mangal Mangrove are woody trees or shrubs that grow in coastal habitats or mangal (Hogarth, 1999), for which the term mangrove swamp also would apply. ... Early morning on the Ganges The River Ganges (Ganga in Indian languages) (Devanagiri गंगा) is a major river in northern India. ... Jump to: navigation, search West Bengal (পশ্চিম বঙ্গ, Pościm Bôngo) is a state in the eastern region of India. ... Jump to: navigation, search UNESCO logo The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, commonly known as UNESCO, is a specialized agency of the United Nations system established in 1945. ... Elabana Falls is in Lamington National Park, part of the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves World Heritage site in Queensland, Australia. ... COUNTRY India - (West Bengal) NAME Sundarbans National Park IUCN MANAGEMENT CATEGORY I (Strict Nature Reserve) X (World Heritage) BIOGEOGRAPHICAL PROVINCE 4. ... The tide is the regular rising and falling of the oceans surface caused by changes in gravitational forces external to the Earth. ... Jump to: navigation, search Mudflats are coastal wetlands that form when mud is deposited by the tides or rivers, they are found in sheltered areas such as bays, bayous, lagoons, and estuaries. ... Jump to: navigation, search (Ecology is sometimes used incorrectly as a synonym for the natural environment. ... Jump to: navigation, search Trinomial name Panthera tigris tigris (Linnaeus, 1758) The Bengal Tiger or Royal Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) is a subspecies of tiger found through the rainforests and grasslands of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, China, India and Nepal. ... Jump to: navigation, search Orders Many - see section below. ... Jump to: navigation, search Subfamilies Capreolinae Cervinae Hydropotinae Muntiacinae Defined strictly, a deer is a ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. ... Jump to: navigation, search Genera Crocodylus Osteolaemus Tomistoma See full taxonomy. ... Jump to: navigation, search Superfamilies and Families Henophidia Aniliidae Anomochilidae Boidae Bolyeriidae Cylindrophiidae Loxocemidae Pythonidae Tropidophiidae Uropeltidae Xenopeltidae Typhlopoidea Anomalepididae Leptotyphlopidae Typhlopidae Xenophidia Acrochordidae Atractaspididae Colubridae Elapidae Hydrophiidae Viperidae Snakes are cold blooded legless reptiles closely related to lizards, which share the order Squamata. ...

Most of the plot of prize-winning anthropologist Amitav Ghosh's 2004 novel The Hungry Tide is set in the Sundarbans. Amitav Ghosh (born 1956 in Calcutta), one of the finest Indian authors writing in the English language. ...

Ecosystem Details

The mangrove-dominated Ganges delta – the Sundarbans - is a complex ecosystem comprising one of the three largest single tract mangrove forests of the world (Blasco 1975). Shared between two neighboring countries, Bangladesh and India, the larger part (62% of the total mangrove ecosystem) is situated in the southwest corner of Bangladesh between latitudes 21°27′30″ and 22°30′ North and longitude 89°02′ and 90°00′ East. The western boundary of the Bangladeshi Sundarbans follows the Harinbhanga–Raimangal–Kalindi river system and abuts with the Indian Sundarbans. To the south the forest meets the Bay of Bengal; to the east it is bordered by the Baleswar River and to the north there is a sharp interface with intensively cultivated land. The natural drainage in the upstream areas, other than the main river channels, is everywhere impeded by extensive embankments and polders. The total land area is 4,143 km² (including exposed sandbars: 42 km²) and the remaining water area of 1,874 km² encompasses rivers, small streams and canals. Rivers in the Sundarbans are meeting places of salt water and freshwater. Thus, it is a region of transition between the freshwater of the rivers originating from the Ganges and the saline water of the Bay of Bengal (Wahid et al.. 2002). Above and below water view at the edge of the mangal Mangrove are woody trees or shrubs that grow in coastal habitats or mangal (Hogarth, 1999), for which the term mangrove swamp also would apply. ... A map showing the location of the Bay of Bengal. ... Satellite image of Noordoostpolder, Netherlands A polder is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as dikes. ... Early morning on the Ganges The River Ganges (Ganga in Indian languages) (Devanagiri गंगा) is a major river in northern India. ...

In terms of biodiversity, the Sundarbans contrasts the other large mangrove forests for its extraordinarily diverse wildlife and designated as a UNESCO’s World Network of International Biosphere Reserves since 2001. The forest also has immense protective and productive functions. Constituting 51% of the total reserved forest estate of Bangladesh it contributes about 41% of total forest revenue and accounts for about 45% of all timber and fuel wood output of the country (FAO 1995). A number of industries (e.g. newsprint mill, match factory, hardboard, boat building, furniture making) are based on the raw material obtained from the Sundarbans ecosystem. Various non-timber forest products and plantations help generate considerable employment and income generation opportunities for at least half a million poor coastal population. Besides production functions of the forest, it provides natural protection to life and properties of the coastal population in cyclone prone Bangladesh. A Biosphere Reserve is an international conservation designation for reserves designated by UNESCO under the MaB (Man and the Biosphere) Programme. ... // Forestry plantations A plantation of Douglas-fir in Washington, USA; note the trees of uniform size and planted in straight lines, and the lack of diversity in the ground flora In forestry, plantations of trees are typically grown as an even-aged monoculture for timber production, as opposed to a... Jump to: navigation, search A tropical cyclone in the northern hemisphere. ...

However, despite the fact that the Sundarbans is mostly free of permanent human habitation and retained a forest closure of about 70% according to the Overseas Development Administration (ODA) of the United Kingdom in 1985, forest inventories reveal a decline in standing volume of the two main commercial mangrove species—sundri (Heritiera fomes} and gewa (Excoecaria agallocha}—by 40% and 45% respectively between 1959 and 1983 (Forestal 1960 and ODA 1985). Also, despite a total ban on all killing or capture of wildlife other than fish and some invertebrates, there appears to be a pattern of depleted biodiversity or loss of species (notably at least six mammals and one important reptile this century), and that the "ecological quality of the original mangrove forest is declining" (IUCN 1994). Genera See text Ref: Euphorbiaceae in The Families of Flowering Plants, as of 2002-07-13 The Spurge family (Euphorbiaceae) is a large family of flowering plants with 280 genera and around 6000 species. ... Various species of deer are commonly seen wildlife across the Americas and Eurasia. ... Invertebrate is a term coined by Chevalier de Lamarck to describe any animal without a backbone or vertebra, like insects, squids and worms. ...

References

• Blasco, F. (1975). The Mangroves of India. Institut Francis de Pondichery, Travaux de las Section Scientifique et Technique, Tome XIV, Facicule 1. Pondichery, India.
• FAO (1995). Integrated Resource Management Plan of the Sundarbans Reserved Forest - Final Report. FAO Project BGD/84/056. FAO, Rome, Italy.
• Forestal (1960). Forest Inventory 1958-59 Sundarbans Forests. Oregon: Forestal Forestry and Engineering International Ltd, Canada.
• IUCN (1994). Mangroves of the Sundarbans. Volume 2: Bangladesh. The IUCN Wetlands Programme. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.
• ODA (1985). A forest inventory of the Sundarbans, Bangladesh. Main Report. Land Resources Development Centre, Surbiton, England.
• Wahid, S.M., Alam, M.J. and Rahman, A. (2002). "Mathematical river modelling to support ecological monitoring of the largest mangrove forest of the world – the *Sundarbans". Proceedings of First Asia-Pacific DHI software conference, 17-18 June, 2002.

External links

• Sundarbans mangroves (World Wildlife Fund)
• Notes on the Sundarbans by Samuel Snedaker