The ecological regimes in the southern Western Ghats may be characterized within the following four categories.
- Elevation:- Low (<500M), moderate(500M -1500M), high(>1500 M)
- Precipitation:- Dry (<1000 mm), moderate(1000 mm-2500 mm) wet (>2500 mm)
- Topography:- Undulating, steep slopes
- Hydrology :- Along water courses, away from water courses.
Such a
classification will give in combination, 36 different ecological zones.
The Silent Valley Plateau represents a very well preserved example of
undulating terrain at mid elevation in the high rainfall zone under two
zones, one along the water course, Kunthipuzha and the other away from
the water course.
The Silent Valley Plateau, lying at the southwest corner of Nilgiris, sloping towards the south and is practically winged in by hills. The whole of the catchment’s forests are practically undisturbed, with no historical anthropogenic degradation, the sole exception being an attempt at coffee planting over 40 ha near the middle of Silent Valley Reserve during 1842, which was promptly abandoned in 1843, and also some selective felling amounting to 43,000 M3 for sleeper extraction from the southern half of the reserve. Because of the topographic isolation of the plateau, cut off as it is from the east, north, west and south by steep ridges end escarpments; there is little permeating influence from surrounding areas into this stretch of forests. There is no representation, comparable in area to the Silent Valley in the form of riparian and non-riparian ecosystems on undulating terrain at mid-elevation and in the high rainfall zone over the entire stretch of Western Ghats in Kerala.
The Silent Valley Plateau, lying at the southwest corner of Nilgiris, sloping towards the south and is practically winged in by hills. The whole of the catchment’s forests are practically undisturbed, with no historical anthropogenic degradation, the sole exception being an attempt at coffee planting over 40 ha near the middle of Silent Valley Reserve during 1842, which was promptly abandoned in 1843, and also some selective felling amounting to 43,000 M3 for sleeper extraction from the southern half of the reserve. Because of the topographic isolation of the plateau, cut off as it is from the east, north, west and south by steep ridges end escarpments; there is little permeating influence from surrounding areas into this stretch of forests. There is no representation, comparable in area to the Silent Valley in the form of riparian and non-riparian ecosystems on undulating terrain at mid-elevation and in the high rainfall zone over the entire stretch of Western Ghats in Kerala.
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