My First Experience in an ever wet Evergreen Forest

 Diaries from the Dark Forest

My First Experience in an ever wet  Evergreen Forest

Shruti’s First Impressions of KMTR

I have grown up seeing the dry deciduous forests of Jharkhand. These forests are known to me as they change as the weather or season changes. In the winter, they are lush green and in the summer, they seem dead and dry. As the rain sweeps in, all the creatures in the forest are awakened. The dry fall leaves become wet and form a life-giving bed for mushrooms and other seedlings to grow. The seed coat becomes softened and life sprouts out of it. You can see thousands of little plants growing under one big tree. This scenario remains for, say, about 4-5  months and again the trees start a new cycle of reproduction by shedding leaves, flowering and fruiting. 

But, just imagine, what would happen if this wet condition never changed. All the mosses, ferns, and climbers would remain through the year on the same wet floor filled with semi-decomposed leaves hosting a wide variety of mushrooms, all remaining the same no change at. The trees would never have to shed their leaves to save water to survive the harsh heat of summer. Yes, these were the thoughts going through my mind when I experienced my first ever visit to a wet evergreen forest. I had been reading about the evergreen forest from the time I was in school so I knew that the wet evergreen forest was the characteristic of this forest and thus I knew  the species to expect, but I was less analytical and more thrilled and overwhelmed at the time.