Some Biological Problems comected with the Himalaya

• Published in: Ibis
• Main Author: Meinertzhagen, Colonel R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1928
• Subjects: Indian; Ice cap
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919x.1928.tb08733.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1474-919X.1928.tb08733.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1474-919X.1928.tb08733.x

Summary. (1) The Himalaya underwent a period of uplift from sea‐level commencing in Eocene times and reached their present approximate elevation in Pliocene times. The Quaternary Glacial Period caused intense cold on the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau, but precipitation was insufficient to form an extensive ice‐cap. (2) Modern distribution in the Himalaya and Indian Peninsula were not much influenced by the Quaternary Glacial Period. (3) Discontinuous distribution is evidence of previous continuous distribution, intervening extermination being brought about by some form of competition. (4) The afforested area of the Himalaya from Kashmir to Bhutan, and up to timber‐line, is a sub‐region of the Oriental Region and not of the Palæarctic Region. It was colonised almost entirely from the east or the hills of western China. (5) The Tibetan Plateau is definitely a sub‐region of the Palmirctic Region, and was probably colonised from the north. (6) The Kashmir sub‐region is probably more correctly placed in the Palæarctic than the Oriental Region, and appears to have been colonised from the north or north‐west. (7) A Transition Zone above timber‐line forms a true contact zone between the Palæarctic and Oriental Regions along the Himalayan Divide from Kashmir to Bhutan and beyond.