Question 15 from UPSC CSE 2015 - Environment

Question

Which one of the following National Parks has a climate that varies from tropical to subtropical, temperate, and arctic?

Accepted Answer

Correct Option: D. Namdapha National Park

Strategy: Focus on latitude and altitude ranges indicated in the question. Only a park with vast elevation difference can show such a spectrum of climates. Namdapha, located in Arunachal Pradesh, spans elevations from tropical lowlands to snowbound hills, enabling all four climatic zones. The other parks, though high altitude, do not cover as wide a climatic range within a single park boundary.

Key Info: Namdapha National Park, situated in the Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh, is renowned for its exceptional altitudinal gradient, ranging from about 200 meters above sea level in the tropical lowlands to over 4,500 meters in the subtropical, temperate, and arctic zones. This allows the park to exhibit a transition from tropical rainforest, subtropical forest, temperate broadleaf, to alpine meadows and snow-covered regions, making it the only national park in India with such climatic diversity.

- Khangchendzonga National Park (Sikkim) features temperate to alpine climates but lacks true tropical and extensive subtropical zones in one contiguous landscape.
- Nandadevi National Park (Uttarakhand) is primarily temperate, subalpine, and alpine, with no tropical belt inside the park area.
- Neora Valley National Park (West Bengal) primarily encompasses subtropical and temperate forests, rising up to subalpine, but it does not span the full climatic range down to tropical.

Namdapha's ecological diversity supports a high range of flora and fauna, including several endangered species and varied habitats, from lush rainforest at lower elevations to alpine vegetation at the highest points. It is also part of the Eastern Himalayas biodiversity hotspot.

Answer

Option A: Khangchendzonga National Park

Answer

Option B: Nandadevi National Park

Answer

Option C: Neora Valley National Park