NATURAL BEAUTY OF SRILANKA
Location and Physical Features
Sri Lanka, an island in the Indian Ocean is located to the south of the Indian subcontinent. It lies between 5O 55' and 9O 55' north of the equator and between the eastern longitudes 79O 42' and 81O 52'. The total land area is 65,610 sq. km. and is astonishingly varied. A length of 445 km. and breadth of 225 km. encompasse beautiful tropical beaches, verdant vegetation, ancient monuments and a thousand delights to please all tastes. The relief features of the island consist of a mountainous mass somewhat south of the centre, with height exceeding 2,500 metres, surrounded by broad plains. Palm fringed beaches surround the island and the sea temperature rarely falls below 27OC.
Location and Physical Features
Sri Lanka, an island in the Indian Ocean is located to the south of the Indian subcontinent. It lies between 5O 55' and 9O 55' north of the equator and between the eastern longitudes 79O 42' and 81O 52'. The total land area is 65,610 sq. km. and is astonishingly varied. A length of 445 km. and breadth of 225 km. encompasse beautiful tropical beaches, verdant vegetation, ancient monuments and a thousand delights to please all tastes. The relief features of the island consist of a mountainous mass somewhat south of the centre, with height exceeding 2,500 metres, surrounded by broad plains. Palm fringed beaches surround the island and the sea temperature rarely falls below 27OC.
Climate and Seasons
In the lowlands the climate is typically tropical with an average temperature of 27OC in Colombo. In the higher elevations it can be quite cool with temperatures going down to 16OC.at an altitude of nearly 2,000 metres. Bright, sunny warm days are the rule and are common even during the height of the monsoon - climatically Sri Lanka has no off season. The south west monsoon brings rain mainly from May to July to the western, southern and central regions of the island, while the north-east monsoon rains occur in the northern and eastern regions in December and January.
Temperature Chart
| Jan-April | May-August | Sept-Dec | ||||
| Max. | Min. | Max. | Min. | Max. | Min. | |
| Colombo | 30OC | 22OC | 30OC | 24OC | 29OC | 22OC |
| Kandy | 31OC | 17OC | 29OC | 21OC | 28OC | 18OC |
| Nuwara Eliya | 21OC | 14OC | 18OC | 16OC | 18OC | 15OC |
| Trincomalee | 32OC | 24OC | 33OC | 25OC | 33OC | 23OC |
Rain Forest of Sri Lanka
Rain forest:-
1.Adam's peak
2.Sinharaja
3.Yala
4.Vilpattu
The Sri Lanka Lowland Rain Forests represents Sri Lanka's Tropical rainforests below 1,000 m in elevation in the southwestern part of the island. The year-around warm, wet climate together with thousands years of isolation from mainland India have resulted in the evolution of numerous plants and animal species that can be only found in rain forests in Sri Lanka.The thick forest canopy is made up of over 150 species of trees, some of the emergent layer reaching as high as 45 m. The lowland rain forests accounts for 2.14 percent of the Sri Lanka's land area.This ecoregion is the home of the Jungle Shrew, a small endemic mammal of Sri Lanka.Sri Lanka has the highest density of amphibian species worldwide. Many of these including 250 species of tree frogs live in these rain forests.
Forest Cover
The lowland rain forests cover 124,340.8 ha in total, accounts for 2.14 percent of the Sri Lanka's land area. Wet monsoon forests are receiving 2,500 millimetres (98 in)-1,800 millimetres (71 in) of annual rainfall and situated belove 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) of altitude. Kanneliya, Viharakele, Nakiyadeniya, and Sinharaja, which is a world heritage site are the forests that represent this ecoregion. Bambarabotuwa, Morapitiya Runakanda, Gilimale and Eratne are some of the other forest reserves. Even rainfall throughout the year, and invariable temperature resulted in rich biodiversity. These forests also act as an important catchment area for rivers.
Geological History
Sri Lanka is a continental island, separates from the Asian continent only by shallow palk strait. Sri Lanka was once a part of Gondwanaland, until Cretaceous period. Then as a part of Indian plate, it detached and drifted northward. The Indian plate collided with Asian mainland about 55 million years later. Therefore many ancient Gondwana taxonomic groups present in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka first became separated from the mainland Indian subcontinent during the late Miocene epoch.
Due to climatic changes an intermittent drier region emerged between the moist forests in southwest Sri Lanka and the Western Ghats in India, the closest other moist forests. Although the island connected with the mainland repeatedly by land bridges since the initial separation, Sri Lanka's moist forests and its wet forest-adapted biota have identified ecologically isolated.
Geological History
Sri Lanka is a continental island, separates from the Asian continent only by shallow palk strait. Sri Lanka was once a part of Gondwanaland, until Cretaceous period. Then as a part of Indian plate, it detached and drifted northward. The Indian plate collided with Asian mainland about 55 million years later. Therefore many ancient Gondwana taxonomic groups present in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka first became separated from the mainland Indian subcontinent during the late Miocene epoch.
Due to climatic changes an intermittent drier region emerged between the moist forests in southwest Sri Lanka and the Western Ghats in India, the closest other moist forests. Although the island connected with the mainland repeatedly by land bridges since the initial separation, Sri Lanka's moist forests and its wet forest-adapted biota have identified ecologically isolated.Almost all the endemic flora and fauna of Sri Lanka are confined to the southwestern rain forests.Warm and moist climate and long physical isolation wet forest adopted species have promoted a high degree of endemism and specialization. More than 60 percent of 306 endemic tree species of Sri Lanka are restricted to this ecoregion. Further 61 species are shared with montane rain forests and dry forests. The dominant tree family in Asian rain forests, the family Dipterocarpaceae shows a special endemicity. All but one species of the 58 species of the family Dipterocarpaceae only be found in these rain forests, including two endemic genera, Shorea and Stemonoporus. Anoectochilus setaceus or Wanaraja (Sinhalese for "King of forest") an endemic orchid is only found in undisturbed forests of this ecoregion. Several plant species shows highly localized distribution. The lowland and sub montane forests are the floristically richest in Sri Lanka and of all South Asia.
