'Shola' is a habitat - high altitude stunted 'evergreen' forest patches with large undulating grasslands in between. This together forms the shola-grassland complex or Mosaic, and is a habitat exclusive to the southern part of the Western Ghats. It is probably derived from the Tamil word Solai - 'thicket' or 'Bamboo clump'.
Due to its altitude and evergreen character, it is house to some of the most threatened and endemic species. Some of the speicies seen here may have their close relatives only in the distant evergreen forests of North-East India or those in South-east Asia. Some others are found nowhere else in the world.
The Western Ghats are one of the globally recogized "biodiversity hotspots". Among the many larger animals inhabiting a shola-grassland mosaic are Tigers and Leopards, Elephants, Gaur, Spotted Deer etc. The endangered Nilgiri Tahr (an Asian Goat-antelope) endemic to the shola-grassland is now having a very restricted range 400-km stretch of shola-grassland mosaic, from the Nilgiri Hills to the Ashambu Hills (Mishra and Johnsingh 1998). Hornbills, Nilgiri Woodpigeons, Trogons and some of the endemic flycatchers ( Brownbreasted, Rustytailed, Nilgiri Verditer etc.) are some of the 300+ birds that inhabit this area. The area shows high endemicity and is rivalled only by the forests in North-east 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. [1]
Although generally said to occur in the vicinity of 2000 MSL altitude, many hill ranges throw up sholas even at 1600 MSL + (eg. Biligirirangan 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]
References[1] - Govt. of India 1997
[2] - Misra & Johnsingh 1998
[3] - Personal Observaiton
[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
From Wikipedia Contributors Shola [Internet] Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; 06:52, 7 Feb 2005 [Cited 9th Feb. 2005] Available at www.wikipedia.com/en/wiki/shola
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