Sirsi

Geography

Sirsi is located at in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, within the central Western Ghats. The town lies at an average elevation of about above sea level and is characterized by undulating terrain consisting of lateritic plateaus, forested hills, and narrow valleys. Geologically, the region forms part of the Dharwar Craton and is composed predominantly of schists, banded gneiss, and granite gneiss, overlain by extensive lateritic formations resulting from prolonged tropical weathering. The soils in the area are derived from these parent rocks and are typically clayey to clayey-skeletal in texture, varying with topography and depth. The region experiences significant orographic influence due to its location on the windward side of the Western Ghats, resulting in high rainfall and the formation of numerous perennial and seasonal streams. Sirsi taluk has a high proportion of forest cover, accounting for approximately 78.1% of its total geographical area, with vegetation consisting mainly of tropical semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forests. A notable research location within Sirsi taluk is Janmane, a forested area situated approximately 14 km southwest of Sirsi along the Sirsi–Kumta road. The area hosts a field research station operated by the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), which serves as a base for ecological and biodiversity studies in the central Western Ghats. Janmane lies within a high-rainfall zone of the Western Ghats, receiving an average annual rainfall of around 4,300 mm, primarily during the southwest monsoon. The region is characterized by tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen forests and supports a wide range of endemic flora and fauna, reflecting the ecological richness of the central Western Ghats landscape.