From: satish@beerbust.Eng.Sun.COM (Satish Ramachandran)
Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
Subject: Re: Forests!
Date: 10 Jan 1993 18:01:45 GMT
Organization: Sun
NNTP-Posting-Host: beerbust

Newsgroups: alt.culture.kerala
Subject: More on rain forests (somewhat long)
Organization: Sun

In article <9301090610.AA01537@eng.auburn.edu> rinamdar@eng.auburn.edu (Rohit Dattatray Inamdar) writes:
>Subject: In article 1ikf1iINN4lh@gap.caltech.edu, milhouse.caltech.edu!sathi (Narayana Sateesh Pillai) writes:
>	I have a problem in understanding the rain forest question.
>Does Kerala have a Tropical Rain Forest? 
>My understanding is that it doesn't.
>		| Sateesh Pillai			
>
>The tropical rain forests are found near the tropics (by thiis I mean
>the tropic of 
>Rohit

After referring to some books I have on this subject and recalling
conversations with ERC Davidar and Hanumantha Rao and Sreedharan
(eminent Indian conservationists), I convinced myself to write this
up on rain forests, tropical RF, RFs in India,

The term "rain forests" is itself open to a wide range of
descriptions.  A zoologist will answer based on the life forms that
a forest supports and conclude that for a forest to be a RF, it has to
support a plethora of life forms -- flora and fauna.  A botanist will
lean toward the flora part more; an anthropologist toward the tribes
that exist there...

There are two types of rain forests - equatorial and tropical.
Equatorial rain forests lie along the earth's equator.
Tropical rain forests lie between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
Primarily found in C. and S. America, S.E. Asia, Africa.  Mostly at
low altitudes and on some mountain sides upto 4500 feet.  
Note that equatorial rain forests fall within tropical rain forests
(more on the difference below).

Tropical rain forests are also called jungles.  Which brings us closer
to European definitions of forests in India.  Kipling et al, right?

Rain falls every month in the tropical rain forests, though not always
at the same level.  The forests can be assured that there is no dire
punishment (such as removal from the esteemed "rain forest" category)
if they fail to receive rain every day!  Being assured that their
identity is not dependent on the whims and fancies of the rain gods, 
they continue to support a myraid set of flora and fauna.  All under a
dense canopy that permits just a little bit of light to filter
through.  But let's not make the mistake of assuming that this dense
canopy is what is central to a rain forest.  The redwood forests of
N. California do not permit much light to filter down to the
undergrowth.  but they are no rain forests...

The tropical rain forests are mostly found in hot and moist climates.
The combination of heat and moisture is ideal for year-long
photosynthesis. It is this combination of sunlight, warmth and rain
that defines a tropical rain forest.

The wettest tropical rain forests are the equatorial ones.  Also
called equatorial evergreen forests.

Less wet are the semi-deciduous tropical forests and these are 
what are found in Kerala.

Asia's rain forests are mostly in Indonesia, Malaysia, New Guinea
and Phillipines, with India contributing with the southern segment
of the Western Ghats (the borders of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil 
Nadu).

Yes, they are the forests I mentioned in my previous posting
which, incidentally, was also my first in ack :-(

At some point in our distant past, all/most of the region between the
tropics was covered by rain forests.  We sure have come a long way,
haven't we?!

regards,
-s

p.s.  re: Silent Valley.

Silent Valley is so named coz no crickets or cicadas chirrup there.

I heard the "theory" (see below) eons ago (well, more or less 12 years
back).  And, as I found a few months back, it is still alive.  Can
somebody confirm it?  Or is it what I think it is, a pop-myth?

They were the first forests where I experienced the "primeval silence
of the forests".  Apparently, some chemical constituent in the soil 
there keeps the "noisy folks out of this place".  Is this true?
Anybody in the know?