Western Ghats

is the highest peak in India, south of the Himalayas. Chembra Peak ] Western Ghats streams are home to several brilliantly coloured ornamental fishes like "Red line torpedo barb", "Red-tailed barb, [ [http//:www.geocities.com/musammilu/musa.html] ] Osteobrama bakeri", Günther's catfish and freshwater puffer fish "Tetraodon travancoricus", "Carinotetraodon imitator" and marine forms like "Chelonodon patoca" (Buchanan-Hamilton,1822); [cite web
url=http://zoologica.lifescience.ntu.edu.tw/Z-10-1/Z-10-1-2.PDF
title=zoologica
publisher=
accessdate=2006-12-18 ] mahseers such as "Malabar mahseer" [Silas "et al"., (2005) Indian Journal of Fisheries, 52(2):125-140]
*Birds- There are at least 508 bird species. Most of Karnataka's five hundred species of birds [http://karnatakabirds.net] are from the Western Ghats region. [ [http://www.karnatakaforest.gov.in/English/forest_glance/biodiversity.htm] Karnataka forest department (forests at a glance - Bio-diversity)] Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary is located at the northern end of the Malabar ranges and the southern tip of the Sahyadri ranges and bird species from both ranges can be seen here.
*Insects- There are roughly 6,000 insect species from Kerala alone. [Mathew George and Binoy C.F., "An Overview of Insect Diversity of Western Ghats with Special Reference to Kerala State", retrieved 7/24/2007. ( [http://www.wii.gov.in/envis/rain_forest/chapter3.htm Online version] ). Brief summary of work so far carried out on the insect fauna of Western Ghats of Kerala] Of 334 butterfly species recorded from the Western Ghats, 316 species have been reported from the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. [George Mathew and M. Mahesh Kumar, "State of the Art Knowledge on the Butterflies of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve", INDIA, retrieved 9/1/2007 ( [http://www.wii.gov.in/envis/rain_forest/chapter6.htm Online version] ). Introduction butterfly fauna]
*Molluscs- Seasonal rainfall patterns of the Western Ghats necessitate a period of dormancy for its land snails, resulting in their high abundance and diversity including at least 258 species of gastropods from 57 genera and 24 families. [Madhyastha N. A., Rajendra, Mavinkurve G. and Shanbhag Sandhya P., "Land Snails of Western Ghats", retrieved 9/1/2007 ( [http://www.wii.gov.in/envis/rain_forest/chapter9.htm Online version] ) Introduction Molluscs]

Notes

References

* A Rendezvous with Sahyadri Harshal Mahajan
* Wikramanayake, Eric; Eric Dinerstein; Colby J. Loucks; et al. (2002). "Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a Conservation Assessment." Island Press; Washington, DC.* Trek the Sahyadris Harish Kapadia
* [http://www.karnatakaforestdepartment.org/ Karnataka forest Department- National Parks and WLS]
* [http://www.wii.gov.in/envis/rain_forest/chapter2.htm|Daniels, R.J. Ranjit, Wildlife institute of India, "Biodiversity in the Western Ghats"]
*Ajith Kumar, Salim Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore, India, Ravi Chellam, B.C.Choudhury, Divya Mudappa, Karthikeyan Vasudevan, N.M.Ishwar, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Dun, India, Barry Noon, Department of Fish and Wildlife Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, U.S.A. (2002) "Impact of Rainforest Fragmentation on Small Mammals and Herpetofauna in the Western Ghats, South India", [http://www.wii.gov.in/faculty/publication/frag.wii.report.pdf Final Report, pp. 146, illus. Full text] retrieved 3/14/2007* List of Butterflies recorded from the Western Ghats
* Verma Desh Deepak (2002) "Thematic Report on Mountain Ecosystems", Ministry of Environment and Forests,13pp, retrieved 3/27/2007 [http://www.biodiv.org/doc/world/in/in-nr-me-en.doc Thematic Report on Mountain Ecosystems] Full text, detailed data, not cited.
* Abstracts, Edited by Lalitha Vijayan, SACONR. Vasudeva, University of Dharwad, Priyadarsanan, ATREE, Renee Borges, CES, ISSC, Jagdish Krishnaswamy, ATREE & WCSP. Pramod, SACON, Jagannatha Rao, R., FRLHTR. J. Ranjit Daniels, Care Earth, Compiled by S. Somasundaram, SACON (1-2 December 2005) [http://www.westernghatsforum.org/abstract_12_05.pdf "Integrating Science and Management of Biodiversity in the Western Ghats"] , 2nd National Conference of the Western Ghats Forum, Venue: State Forest Service College Coimbatore, Organized by Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Anaikatty, Coimbatore – 641108, INDIA. Sponsored by Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. Supported by The Arghyam Foundation, The Ford Foundation & Sir Dorabiji Trust Through Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE)

External links

* [http://amitkulkarni.info/pics/ Pictures and Images of Sahyadri nature]
* [http://www.discoverwild.org/squirrels.html Squirrels of the Western Ghats]
* [http://photos.yahoo.com/sudarshan_bhat_trekker Sahyadri forts, old temples & caves]
* [http://westernghats.info Pictures and stories on Western Ghats]
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* [http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/biodiversity/documents/rivers.htm Rivers of Western Ghats]
* [http://www.madforclicks.com/album.php?catid=26 Pictures of Sahyadri]
* [http://www.trekshitiz.com Photographs of forts and other in Sahyadri]
* [http://www.pank.in/photoshare Unique tool to share pictures of forts, other prominent places, birds, flowers in Sahyadri]
* [http://www.tugoz.com/album.php?catid=26 Sahyadris Gallery]