The North Western Ghats montane rain forests stretch down the spine of the Western Ghats range in southwestern India, reaching from southernmost Gujarat through Maharashtra, Goa, and Karnataka, north of Mumbai. These forests occupy the higher ground above roughly 1,000 meters elevation, where they are surrounded at lower altitudes by moist deciduous forest. In contrast to the deciduous lowlands, the montane zone is predominantly evergreen laurel forest dominated by trees of the laurel family (Lauraceae), including Litsea, Phoebe, and Cinnamomum. Its climate is shaped by the southwest monsoon between June and September, which deposits heavy rainfall on the western slopes and sustains wet, multi-storied forest. The region is extraordinarily rich and endemic, with more than a third of all plants, half of the reptiles, and over three-quarters of the amphibians known from India found here, and its flagship purple frog is regarded as a living fossil dating to before the breakup of Gondwana. The ecoregion is classed as critically endangered, with only about 17 percent of its area protected as of 2017.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 15.3°N, 74.6°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
12b-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
13a-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.8°F by mid-century. SSP3-7.0 (current trajectory) · CHELSA v2.1 bio06 sampled across 10 of 10 points within this ecoregion's bounding box.
At a glance
Dominant biome
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Realm
Indomalayan
Approximate area
11,949 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Recover (Dinerstein NNH 3)
About the tropical & subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome
Warm, wet, highly productive forests — including tropical rainforests — with closed canopies, near year-round growing seasons, and the richest terrestrial biodiversity on Earth. Low seasonality and high rainfall sustain dense, layered vegetation from canopy to forest floor.
Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion
Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's CHELSA-derived current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.
Currently suited · 4
These plants fit the ecoregion as it is today, but the mid-century projection moves them outside their stated zone range — plan for them to struggle by 2070.
No curated collection's plants all fit this ecoregion's zone range. We surface a collection only when every member would grow here — partial fits get filtered out rather than mislead. As the catalog and the curated set both grow, this section will fill in.
Related ecoregions
Other tropical & subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregions to explore: