ABSTRACT
Western Ghats is a continuous chain of hill peaks situated on the Western escarpment of Peninsular India ranging from 8 to 21°N latitude. It runs to a length of around 1490 km parallel to the west coast of Peninsular India, and it is interrupted at 11°N by a 30 km wide pass at Palghat Gap. These Western Ghats ranges are known for their rich repository of floral and faunal diversity. It has been recognized as one of the major global biodiversity hotspots in India. The southwest monsoon facilitates the major proportion of rainfall of southern Western Ghats and withdraws in the reverse direction in south to north gradient. The length of the dry period is also increased from south to north. Altitude in the Western Ghats varies from 50 m to 2300 m above mean sea level (msl). The highest peak of Western Ghats range is Anaimudi (2695 m) in the Annamalai hills. As toward the north, the average elevation is declined around 1000 m. The temperature is also parallelly declined lower to higher elevations. The climatic variables like rainfall, dry period length, and temperature, which are responsible for heterogeneous vegetation types of the Western Ghats with a strong north-south and east-west gradient. Vegetation types vary from tropical wet evergreen, montane sholas, moist deciduous, dry deciduous to scrub forests. This chapter highlights the geology, formation, topography, rock types, soil types, rainfall, temperature range, moisture, rivers and water bodies, biogeography, and general vegetation of Western Ghats.
