Mudumalai

Mudumalai

 

Overview

In 1987, a Forest Dynamics Plot was set up in Mudumalai Game Reserve in the eastern foothills of the Western Ghat Mountains of Southern India by the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI).   The first census began in 1988.  The Mudumalai forest is seasonal semi-evergreen lowland forest, typical of the lowland dry teak forest of the Indian subcontinent. Mudumalai is much less diverse than the other Forest Dynamics Plots surveyed to date, with 76 species and about 26,000 stems. The forest is an open-canopy woodland with grass cover that is subject to nearly annual fires and to browsing by large herds of elephants. A major focus, with significance for forest management practices through much of India, is the impact of fire and elephants on forest regeneration. The plot is recensused every year, although diameter measurements are not taken during every census. Remeasurement censuses have occurred in 1992 and 1997. 

Established: 
1988
Joined Network: 
1990
Ecological Zone: 
Tropical dry forest
Number of plot(s):
0
Size: 
50.00ha
Dimensions: 
1000 x 500
Latitude: 11.598900000000
Longitude: 76.533800000000