Seminar on the Topic

India as a mega diversity Nation – Hot spots of biodiversity and biosphere

reserves.

Research Scholar
MR. PRASHANT KARADAKATTI M.Sc B.Ed
Department of Studies in Botany,
Davanagere University Shivagangotri - 577007
 Motivation

Carbohydrate, Lipid Protein

Protein Starch
Mineral
Mineral / Vitamin

Lipoprotein
IF WE NEED TO BALANCE THE NATURE, WE NEED SOME LIVING DIVERSITY

Bacteria Pteridophytes Butter Flies Animals Bryophytes

Spiders Fungi Insects Plants Virus

Why India is Considered as Mega Diversity Country?
 Introduction
 “Biodiversity: Connecting with Nature” Mega bio-diverse country is one that contains the majority of living
species found on the earth.

 The main criterion for mega-diverse countries is endemism at the level of species, genera and families.

 A mega-diverse country must have at least 5,000 species of endemic plants and must border marine ecosystems.

 India is known for its rich heritage of Biological diversity.

 The greater the multi-diversity of species, the greater contribution to biodiversity.

 The large species richness and abundance are due to the immense variety of climatic and altitudinal conditions
in the country.
 These vary from the humid tropical Western Ghats to the hot desert of Rajasthan, from the cold desert of Ladakh
and the icy mountain of the Himalayas to the warm coast of peninsular India and these include ecosystem
diversity is the highest in the world.

 India is situated at the tri-junction of three realms Afro-tropical, Indo-Malayan and Paleo-Arctic realms, and
therefore, has characteristic elements from each of them.

 India is a remarkably diverse country having linguistic, genetic and cultural diversity
1. Balanced Climatic Factors.
2. Abiotic Factors Influence Biotic Factor.
3. Rainfall.
Why India is referred to as a Mega Biodiversity Country in the World?
4. Sunlight.
5. Edaphic Fator-Soil.
6. Forests.

Reasons
1. Balanced Climatic Factors
2. Abiotic Factors influence Biotic factors

Leaf Litter / pH
Draught
Environment Oxygen
Light / Photon

Temperature

Humidity
3. Rain Fall
The annual rainfall varies from less than 37 cm in
Rajasthan to 1500m in Cherapunji. The country experiences
three different seasons – winter, summer, and monsoons.
4. Sunlight
The days in summer are long and in winter short. With up to approximately
14 hours the longest days are in June. On the other hand, the longest dark nights
happen in winter (in the southern hemisphere it is the other way around). In
December a night in New Delhi lasted almost 14 hours.
 5. Edaphic Factor-Soil
Soils in India have widely formed
by the various agents of weathering such as
wind, water and temperature. Climate,
composition of parent rock and even
altitude play a role in the types of soil found
in different parts of the country. Indian soils
support varying kinds of vegetation,
depending upon the mineral content,
moisture-holding capacity and levels of
acidity. Different types of soil give life to
different kinds of vegetation depending
upon region to region and the weather
conditions. For example in Rajasthan Bajra,
millet, and barley are grown, Rice and
sugarcane is grown in Bihar, Bengal because
these require comparatively more water
than other crops apples, tea, and coffee is
grown in mountain soil. Similarly, cotton is
grown in Maharashtra because of black soil,
then we also have Ran of Kutch (salt pan)
where apart from the salt pan we can also
see migratory birds called flamingos etc
 6. Forests

Different types of forests are found

in India. In tropical regions, climatic
forests have luxuriantly growing
lofty trees which are more than 45
meters in height. The shrubs, lianas
(woody climbers) and epiphytes are
abundant because of high rainfall.
These forests are found in Andaman
and Nicobar Islands, Western coasts
and parts of Karnataka (N. Canara),
Annamalai hills (Koorj), Assam and
Bengal. In some regions, semi-
evergreen forests are found like
along the western coasts, eastern
Orissa and upper Assam where
annual rainfall is between 200 to
250 cm. They are characterized by
giant and luxuriantly growing
Wet Forests intermixed deciduous and Dry Deciduous Forests
evergreen species of trees and
shrubs.
 Biodiversity Census (BSI & POWO)

Number of Number of
Group Species in India Species in the SI/SW (%)
(SI) World (SW)

Mammals 350 4629 7.6

Birds 1,224 9,702 12.6

Reptiles 408 6,550 6.2

Amphibians 197 4,522 4.4

Fishes 2,546 21,730 11.7

Flowering Plants 15,000 2,50,000 6.0

 Endemic Species in India

 India has many endemic plant and animal species. Among plants, species endemism is
estimated at 33%.

 More than 140 endemic genera but no endemic families (Botanical Survey of India, 1983).

 Areas rich in endemism are north-east India, the Western Ghats and the north-western and
eastern Himalayas are hot spots.

 A small pocket of local endemism also occurs in the Eastern Ghats.

 The Gangetic plains are generally poor in endemics, while the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
contribute at least 220 species to the endemic flora of India (Botanical Survey of India, 1983).

 WCMC's Threatened Plants Unit (TPU)is in the preliminary stages of cataloguing the world's
centres of plant diversity; approximately 150 botanical sites worldwide are so far recognised as
important for conservation action, but others are constantly being identified (IUCN, 1987).
 Endemic Species in India

 Five locations have so far been issued for India: the Agastyamalai Hills, Silent Valley and New Amaram
Balam Reserve and Periyar National Park (all in the Western Ghats), and the Eastern and Western
Himalayas.

 Endemism among mammals and birds is relatively low. Only 44 species of Indian mammals have a range
that is confined entirely to within Indian territorial limits.

 Four endemic species of conservation significance occur in the Western Ghats. They are the Lion-tailed
macaque, Macaca silenus, Nilgiri leaf monkey, Trachypithecus johni, Brown palm civet, Paradoxurus
jerdoni, Nilgiri tahr and Hemitragus hylocrius.

 Only 55 bird species are endemic to India, with distributions concentrated in areas of high rainfall. They
are located mainly in eastern India along the mountain chains where the monsoon shadow occurs,
southwest India and the Nicobar and Andaman Islands.

 In contrast, endemism in the Indian reptilian and amphibian fauna is high. There are around 187 endemic
reptiles and 110 endemic amphibian species. Eight amphibian genera are not found outside India.
 Biosphere Reserves in India

To preserve the rich biodiversity, nine biosphere reserves have been set up in specific biogeographic” zones:

 The biggest being in the Deccan Peninsula in the Nilgiris covering Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka.

 Others include the Nanda Devi in Uttarakhand in the Western Himalayas, the Nokrek in Meghalaya, Manas, and
Dibru Saikhowa in Assam, the Sunderbans in the Gangetic Plain in West Bengal, Similar in Orissa, the Great
Nicobar and the Gulf of Mannar in Tamil Nadu.

 As per satellite imaging, about 19 per cent of the country’s land area comprises forests. It has 80 national parks at
present, which house the largest number of tigers and one-horned rhinos found in the world, Asiatic lions and a
large percentage of elephants.

 Six significant wetland areas of India have been declared as “Ramsar Sites” under the Ramsar Convention. Under
the World Heritage Convention, Seven natural sites have been declared as “World Heritage Sites”.
 Environmental Information, Awareness, Capacity Building and Livelihood Programme

EIACP Programme Centre "Wildlife & Protected Areas Management"

 Natural World Heritage Sites
Name of World Area Covered
Serial Number State Locations Year of Notification
Heritage Site (sq.km)
Great Himalayan
1 National Park Himachal Pradesh 2014 905.4
Conservation Area
Maharashtra, Goa,
2 Western Ghats Karnataka, Tamil 2012 7,953.15
Nadu & Kerala
Nanda Devi and
3 Valley of Flowers Uttarakand 1988 630.00 – 87.50
National Park
Sundarbans
4 West Bengal 1987 1,330.10
National Park
Kaziranga National
5 Assam 1985 429.96
Park
Keoladeo National
6 Rajasthan 1985 28.73
Park
Manas Wildlife
7 Assam 1985 391.00
Sanctuary
 Biosphere Reserves in India

 India accredited the International Convention on Biodiversity(CBD) on 18 February 1994 and became Party
to the Convention in May 1994.

 The CBD is an international legal instrument for fostering the conservation and sustainable use of biological
diversity and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from commercial and other utilization of
genetic resources.

 It is the responsibility of The Ministry of Environment and Forest in India to oversee environmental policy
and procedures and the administration of the national parks of the country as well.

 India has worked on creating ‘landscape conversion’ that includes wildlife reserves, communal forests, and
some private lands.
Conclusion:
India is one of the Mega Biodiversity Nations in the entire
world because only the reason that is both biotic and abiotic
factors are balanced, maintained and Managed. Community and
ecosystem are not only the grid of nature but also refer to the
productivity, nutritional status, biocontrol, biofertilizers,
bioenergy, breeding strategies, livelihood and lifestyle. Indian
Physical barriers are much focused by biodiversity protection
schemes and managed by several organizations. Even the
government acts are obliged and restricted with steps taken
against exhausts, the resources are balanced in the rate of
mortality and natality rather than food inflations.
 References

 "Biodiversity, Australia State of the Environment Report 2001 (Theme Report): The meaning, significance and
implications of biodiversity (Megadiverse countries)". 2014-12-11. Retrieved 2018-07-02.

 Myers, N. et al. Nature 403, 853–858 (2000).

 India, a Country Study United States Library of Congress, Note on Ethnic groups.

 Karanth, P. K. (2003) Evolution of disjunct distributions among wet-zone species of the Indian subcontinent:
Testing various hypotheses using a phylogenetic approach Current Science, 85(9): 1276-1283.

 Botanical Survey of India, 1983.

 "Global Forest Resource Assessment 2020". www.fao.org. Retrieved 26 May 2020.

 https://www.scribd.com/document/360364995/India-as-a-Mega-Diversity-Nation-1-1# .
 ಪ್ರತ್ಯಕ್ಷ ದೇವರು ನಮ್ಮ ಪರಿಸರ

Thank You so Much