Environment

The dramatic changes in elevation along this transect result in a variety of biomes, from tropical savannas along the Indian border, to subtropical broadleaf and coniferous forests in the hills, to temperate broadleaf and coniferous forests on the slopes of the Himalaya, to montane grasslands and shrublands, and finally rock and ice at the highest elevations.
This corresponds to the Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands ecoregion.
Subtropical forests dominate the lower elevations of the Hill Region. They form a mosaic running east-west across Nepal, with Himalayan subtropical broadleaf forests between 500 and 1,000 metres (1,640 and 3,281 ft) and Himalayan subtropical pine forests between 1,000 and 2,000 metres (3,281 and 6,562 ft). At higher elevations, to 3,000 metres (9,843 ft), are found temperate broadleaf forests: eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests to the east of the Gandaki River and western Himalayan broadleaf forests to the west.
The native forests of the Mountain Region change from east to west as precipitation decreases. They can be broadly classified by their relation to the Gandaki River. From 3,000 to 4,000 metres (9,843 to 13,123 ft) are the eastern and western Himalayan subalpine conifer forests.