Ecology and Biogeography in India

Chapters' Contents.- I. Introduction.- II. Physical Features.- 1. The Peninsula.- 1.1. The Peninsular Plateau.- 1.2. The Peninsular Foreland.- 1.3. The Coastal Regions.- A. The Western Littoral Region.- B. The Eastern Littoral Region.- 1.4. Ceylon.- 2. The Extra-Peninsular Area.- 2.1. The Ranges of the Himalaya.- 2.2. The Geographical and Biogeographical Divisions of the Himalaya.- 3. The Indo-Gangetic Plains.- 4. The Soil.- 5. The Drainage.- 5.1. The Peninsular Rivers.- 5.2. The Extra-Peninsular Rivers.- 5.3. Changes in the course and evolution of the Drainage Patterns of the Extra-Peninsular Rivers.- 6. Natural Regions.- References.- III. Geology.- 1. General Structure.- 1.1. The Peninsular Area.- 1.2. The Extra-Peninsular Area.- A. The Himalayan Arc.- B. The Burmese Arc.- C. The Baluchistan Arc.- 2. Pre-Cambrian Eras.- 2.1. Kerala.- 2.2. Madras.- 2.3. Mysore.- 2.4. Rajasthan.- 2.5. Southern Bihar and Orissa.- 2.6. The Eastern Ghats.- 2.7. Assam.- 2.8. Cuddapah Basin.- 2.9. The Himalayan Area.- 3. The Palaeozoic Era.- 3.1. Lower Palaeozoic.- 3.2. Devonian System.- 3.3. Carboniferous System.- 3.4. The Gondwana Group.- 3.5. The Permian System.- 4. The Mesozoic Era.- 4.1. Triassic System.- 4.2. Jurassic System.- 4.3. Cretaceous System.- 4.4. Deccan Trap.- 5. The Tertiary Era.- 5.1. Eocene System.- 5.2. Oligocene and Lower Miocene.- 5.3. Middle Miocene to Lower Pleistocene.- 6. Pleistocene and Recent.- References.- IV. Weather and Climatic patterns.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Normal Seasonal and Annual Rainfall.- 3. The Indian Monsoon.- 3.1. The Dates of Establishment of the Monsoon.- 3.2. The Behaviour of the Southwest Monsoon during 1875-1950.- 3.3. Rainfall week by week during the year.- 3.4. Contemporary relationships of the Monsoon rainfall in fifteen divisions.- 3.5. Regional peculiarities of distribution of rainfall.- 4. Other important Weather Phenomena that bring rainfall.- 4.1. The Eastern Depression.- 4.2. The Western Depressions.- 4.3. Cyclonic Storms.- 4.4. Thunderstorms and Hailstorms.- 5. Cold and Heat Waves.- 6. Microclimatology.- 6.1. Solar and Terrestrial Radiation.- 6.2. The Ground as Active Surface.- 6.3. The Diurnal temperature range.- 6.4. Shimmering layer above ground.- 6.5. Invisible condensation at soil surface.- 6.6. Thermal balance on a clear day.- 6.7. Microclimate of the open and some typical crop-fields.- A. Some typical microclimates and their diurnal range.- B. Effect of plant communities on wind velocity.- C. Effect of environment on the evaporating power of air layers near the ground.- References.- V. Limiting factors.- 1. Present-day Climate and its relation to the Himalaya.- 1.1. The monsoon-dominated Seasons.- 1.2. The mechanism of the Indian Monsoon.- 2. The Relation between the Himalayan uplift and the biogeographical composition of India.- 3. The Relation between Distributional Patterns and Man.- 3.1. Destruction of habitats.- 3.2. Extermination of Fauna.- 4. Conclusion.- References.- VI. The Flora.- 1. General characters of the Flora.- 2. The Major Floristic groups.- 2.1. Exotic naturalized plants.- 2.2. Tropical Asiatic Elements.- 2.3. The Temperate zone Elements.- 2.4. The Steppes Elements.- 2.5. The Mediterranean Elements.- 2.6. The Tropical African and Madagascan Elements.- 2.7. Pleistocene Relicts.- 3. The Major Ecological groups.- 3.1. Tropical forests.- 3.2. Montane subtropical and Temperate Forests.- 3.3. Alpine Forests.- 3.4. Littoral Forests.- 4. Phytogeographical Divisions.- References.- VII. Vegetation and Phytogeography of the Western Ghats.- 1. Introduction.- 2. History of botanical studies in the Western Ghats.- 3. Phytogeographical regions and Vegetation.- 3.1. The Western Ghats from the R. Tapti to Goa.- 3.2. The Western Ghats from the R. Kalinadi to Coorg.- 3.3. The Nilgiri.- 3.4. The Anamalai, Cardamom and Palni Hills.- 4. The Endemic Flora of the Western Ghats.- 5. Acknowledgments.- References.- VIII. The Vegetation and Phytogeography of the Eastern Ghats.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The Northern Sal Division.- 3. The Deccan Division.- 4. The Southern Division.- References.- IX. The Vegetation and Phytogeography of Assam-Burma.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Vegetation of Assam.- 2.1. The Tropical Vegetation.- 2.2. The Temperate Vegetation.- 2.3. The Alpine Vegetation.- 2.4. Some other Interesting Elements of the Assam Flora.- 3. Phytogeographical Affinities of Assam.- 4. Burma.- References.- X. Vegetation and Phytogeography of the Himalaya.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The Northwest Himalaya.- 2.1. Kashmir.- 2.2. Himachal Pradesh.- 3. The Western Himalaya.- 4. The Central Himalaya.- 5. The Eastern Himalaya.- 5.1. Sikkim.- 5.2. Bhutan.- 5.3. Assam and the North-East Frontier Agency.- 6. Phytogeographical Affinities.- References.- XI. The tribal man in India: A study in the Ecology of the primitive communities.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Tribal Society.- 3. Tribal Villages.- 4. Tribal family and Marriage Types.- 5. Tribal Demography.- 6. Regional Distribution of Tribal populations.- 7. Tribal Government.- 8. Interrelations with others.- 9. Cultural-Ecological Adaptations and Changes.- 9.1. Hunters, Fishers and Gatherers.- 9.2. Shifting cultivators.- 9.3. Peasants, Artisans and Castes.- 9.4. Transhumant herders and Terrace Cultivators.- 9.5. Nomadic Groups.- References.- XII. Some examples of recent Faunal Impoverishment and Regression.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Some Vanishing species of Reptiles.- 3. Some Vanishing species of Birds.- 4. Some Vanishing Mammals.- 5. Impoverishment and Regression.- 6. Major Factors determining Faunal Impoverishment and Regression.- References.- XIII. The Ecology of Vertebrates of the Indian Desert.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The Indian Desert.- 3. Fishes.- 4. Amphibians.- 5. Reptiles.- 5.1. Ecological Distribution.- 5.2. Food.- 5.3. Breeding.- 5.4. Zoogeography.- 6. Birds.- 7. Mammals.- 7.1. Ecological Distribution.- 7.2. Food.- 7.3. Reproduction.- 7.4. Population characteristics.- 8. The Vanishing Desert Wildlife.- 9. Behavioural and Physiological Adaptations to the Xeric Environment.- 10. Zoogeography.- References.- XIV. Ecology and Biogeography of the Termites of India.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Some Aspects of the Ecology of Termites in India.- 2.1. Termites and Soil.- 2.2. Termites and Living Plants.- 2.3. Relation between Atmospheric temperature and humidity and Termites.- 2.4. Gravity response and Vertical distribution of Termites.- 2.5. Populations of Termite Colonies.- 2.6. Inquilinism.- 2.7. Termites and Fungi.- 2.8. Natural Enemies of Termites.- 2.9. Termitophile Associates.- 3. Limiting Factors in Distribution of Termites.- 4. Distribution of some important Termites from India.- 4.1. Kalotermitidae.- 4.2. Termopsidae.- 4.3. Hodotermitidae.- 4.4. Rhinotermitidae.- 4.5. Termitidae.- 4.6. Indotermitidae.- References.- XV. The Biogeography of Indian Butterflies.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The faunal centres of Indian butterfly genera.- 3. The Derivation of the Indian butterfly fauna in relation to Continental Drift.- 4. The faunal elements of Indian butterfly species and their relation to the generic centres.- 5. Conclusion.- References.- XVI. Some aspects of the Ecology and Geography of Diptera.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Major Ecological Types.- 2.1. The monsoon Communities.- 2.2. The winter Communities.- 2.3. The Humid-tropical Elements.- 2.4. The Dry Tropical deciduous Forest Communities.- 2.5. The Temperate zone Communities.- 2.6. The Synanthropous Communities.- 3. Nematocera.- 4. Brachycera.- 5. Conclusion.- References.- XVII. Ecology and Distribution of fresh-water Fishes, Amphibia and Reptiles.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Fish.- 2.1. Distributional Patterns of the primary fresh-water fishes.- 3. Amphibia.- 4. Chelonia.- 5. Lacertilia.- 6. Serpentes.- 7. Crocodilia.- 8. Summary.- References.- XVIII. Mammals of Assam and the Mammal-Geography of India.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The major Ecological Associations.- 3. The Faunal composition.- 4. Faunal Resemblance.- 5. Faunal Interchanges.- 6. Species Dispersal.- 6.1. Nature of Invasions.- 7. Criticism of the Satpura Hypothesis.- 8. Mainstreams of the Faunal Flow.- References.- XIX. Biogeography of the Peninsula.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The Character Fauna.- 3. The Gondwana Faunal Derivatives.- 3.1. The Peninsular Endemics.- 3.2. The Madagascan Elements.- 4. The Younger Intrusive Elements.- 4.1. The Indo-Chinese Faunal Derivatives.- 4.2. The Malayan Elements.- 5. The Palaearctic Elements.- 6. Distributional Patterns.- 7. Faunal subdivisions.- 8. The Laccadive and Maladive Islands.- 9. Seychelles Islands.- References.- XX. Biogeography of the Eastern Borderlands.- 1. Ecology.- 2. The Character Fauna.- 2.1. Endemics.- 2.2. The Indo-Chinese and Malayan Elements.- 2.3. Other Component Elements.- 3. Distributional Patterns.- 4. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands.- References.- XXI. Biogeography of the Himalaya.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Fauna of the Forest Zones.- 2.1. The Himalayan Forest east of the R. Sutlej.- 2.2. The Himalayan Forest west of the R. Sutlej.- 3. Fauna above the Forestline.- References.- XXII. Biogeography of the Western Borderlands.- 1. Introduction.- 2. General Ecology.- 3. Character Fauna and Biogeographical Affinities.- References.- XXIII. Biogeography of the Indo-Gangetic Plain.- 1. Introduction.- 1.1. The Indus Plains.- 1.2. The Gangetic Plains.- 1.3. The Upper Gangetic Plain.- 1.4. The Middle Gangetic Plain.- 1.5. Bengal.- 2. Ecology.- 3. Character Fauna and Distributional Patterns.- References.- XXIV. Biogeographical Evolution in India.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The origins of the Flora and Fauna.- 3. The origins of the Distributional Patterns.- References.