The high altitude wildlife areas of western Arunachal Pradesh

Mapping
Chapter 3
Vegetation and wildlife habitat mapping in the high altitudes of
Western Arunachal Pradesh, Eastern Himalaya
Vegetation and topography together make up the basic ecological template defining
the distribution and abundance of wildlife. In this chapter, we use ground data in
conjunction with satellite imageries for the survey region to map different vegetation
types represented in the higher elevations (> 2750 m) of Tawang and West Kameng
districts. We also use these vegetation maps together with the information on
mammal species richness (Chapter 2) and topography to delineate the tentative
boundaries of the proposed high altitude wildlife reserve. We have provided the
details of the field-methods, analytical techniques, and technical results of the
mapping exercise in Appendix 5.
Vegetation types and mapping
Based on broad structural and compositional characteristics, the vegetation and
landscape of the survey sites (elevational range < 2750 m) was classified into the
following broad types:
a) Permafrost (PMF): An elevation of 5250 m largely represented the upper limit for
vegetation growth. Most areas above this elevation consisted of barren rocky or scree
slopes and glaciers, and were classified as permafrost in our mapping exercise.
We obtained locations using a GPS (top left) and took detailed notes on the vegetation. The higher
elevations were dominated by High Altitude Grassy Meadows (top right) and Dwarf Rhododendron
Meadows (below).
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