southern slopes of the Himalayas carry a thicker vegetation cover because of relatively higher precipitation than the drier north-facing slopes. At higher altitudes, mosses and lichens form part of the tundra vegetation. The southern mountain forests include the forests found in three distinct areas of Peninsular India viz; the Western Ghats, the Vindhyas and the Nilgiris. As they are closer to the tropics, and only , m above the sea level, vegetation is temperate in the higher regions, and subtropical on the lower regions of the Western Ghats, especially in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
The temperate forests are called Sholas in the Nilgiris, Anaimalai and Palani hills. Some of the other trees of this forest of economic significance include, magnolia, laurel, cinchona and wattle. Such forests are also found in the Satpura and the Maikal ranges. Littoral and Swamp Forests India has a rich variety of wetland habitats.
About per cent of this comprises areas under paddy cultivation. The total area of wet land is . million hectares. Two sites — Chilika Lake (Odisha) and Keoladeo National Park (Bharatpur) are protected as water-fowl habitats under the Convention of Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention).
An international convention is an agreement among member states of the United Nations. The country’s wetlands have been grouped into eight categories, viz. (i) the reservoirs of the Deccan Plateau in the south together with the lagoons and other wetlands of the southern west coast; (ii) the vast saline expanses of Rajasthan, Gujarat and the Gulf of Kachchh; (iii) freshwater lakes and reservoirs from Gujarat eastwards through Rajasthan (Keoladeo National Park) and Madhya Pradesh; (iv) the delta wetlands and lagoons of India’s east coast (Chilika Lake); (v) the freshwater marshes of the Gangetic Plain; (vi) the floodplains of the Brahmaputra; the marshes and swamps in the hills of northeast India and the Himalayan foothills; (vii) the lakes and rivers of the montane region of Kashmir and Ladakh; and (viii) the mangrove forest and other wetlands of the island arcs of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Mangroves grow along the coasts in the salt marshes,