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News:Tamil Nadu government are constructing fire lines’ or ‘fire breaks’, in the Mukurthi National Park(MNP) ahead of summer and peak fire season.
Facts:
About Mukurthi National Park:
- Location: It is located in the northwest corner of Tamil Nadu in the Western Ghats mountain range.It is also a part of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
- Type:It is characterised by montane grasslands and shrublands interspersed with sholas in a high altitude area of high rainfall, near-freezing temperatures and high winds.
- Keystone Species:The main reason behind establishing a national park in the place was to protect the Nilgiri Tahr which is a Keystone species.
- The park also has the distinction of being a UNESCO World Heritage Site because it is part of the Western Ghats.
Additional information:
About Fire Line:
- It is an artificially formed break in foliage or forest cover to control the spread of wildfires by limiting the amount of combustible vegetation available.
About Keystone Species:
- keystone species is a species that plays an essential role in the structure, functioning or productivity of a habitat or ecosystem at a defined level (habitat, soil, seed dispersal, etc).
- Disappearance of such species may lead to significant ecosystem change or dysfunction which may have knock on effects on a broader scale.
