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The Terai Arc landscape in India

The Terai-Duar Savanna Ecoregion is spread over the southern slopes of the Himalayas in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) lies within this ecoregion covering an area of approximately 49,500 sq km in India and Nepal stretching from the Bagmati River in the East to the Yamuna River in the west. There are 13 existing Protected Areas (PAs) that fall within this landscape and the TAL is the best surviving remnant of the once extensive alluvial grassland and forest ecosystems in the ecoregion. The landscape is also home to some of Asia's largest and most well-known wildlife such as tigers, elephants and rhinos along with a large variety of other rare, endangered and endemic wildlife species. This study, which focuses on key global change phenomena affecting the TAL has identified two specific biophysical factors for analysis: increasing habitat fragmentation and proliferation of invasive species.

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