The Eastern Himalayas are considered to be a region of global importance for biodiversity; the result of the synergistic interactions of the complex mountain terrain, extreme elevation gradients, overlaps of several biogeographic barriers, and regional monsoonal precipitation (Wikramanayake et al. 2001a). The distribution of the region's biodiversity has been mapped as ecoregions directed along the horizontal axis of the mountain range (Wikramanayake et al. 2001b), and represent the ecological diversity from the Terai-duar grasslands and savannas at the base of the Himalayas to the alpine grasslands at the top, with the range of forest types in-between and along the steep altitudinal cline, from <300 m to > 4000 m. The vegetation that comprises these distinct ecoregions is the consequence of the interactions of elevation, precipitation, temperature, and seasonality (Jobaggy and Jackson 2000, Korner 1998, Ohsawa 1990, 1995).
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