India’s rich biological diversity – its immense range of ecosystems, species and genetic forms is by virtue of its tropical location, climate and physical features. India’s biogeographical composition is unique as it combines living forms from three major biogeographical realms, namely – Eurasian, Agro-Tropical and Indo-Malayan.
India’s fabulous biodiversity is estimated to be over 45,000 plant species representing about seven percent of the world’s flora; and its bewildering variety of animal life represents 6.5 per cent of world’s fauna. 15,000 species of flowering plants, 53,430 species of insects; 5050 species of molluscs, 6,500 species of other invertebrates; 2,546 species of fishes; 1228 species of birds, 446 species of reptiles, 372 species of mammals and 204 species of amphibians have been identified.
In India about 1, 15,000 species of plants and animals have been identified and described. India stands tenth in 25 most plant-rich countries of the world. Plant richness means greater uniqueness of species present.
India has been described as one of 12 mega-diversity countries possessing a rich means of all living organisms when biodiversity is viewed as a whole. The greater the multidiversity of species, greater is the contribution to biodiversity. There are 25 clearly defined areas in the world called ‘hot spots’ which support about 50,000 endemic plant species, comprising 20 per cent of the world’s total flora. India’s defined location of ‘hot spots’ is the Western Ghats and the Northeastern regions.
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Forests, which embrace a sizeable portion of biodiversity, now comprise about 64 m. hectares or about 19 per cent of the land area of the country, according to satellite imaging. Roughly 33 cent of this forest cover represents primary forest. Indian flora comprises about 15,000 flowering plants and bulk of our rich flora is to be found in the Northeast, Western Ghats, the Northwest and Eastern Himalayas, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Likewise, Assam and the Western Ghats are home to several species of mammal fauna, birds, and reptilian and amphibian fauna.
As one of the oldest and largest agriculture societies, India has also a striking variety of at least 166 species of crop plants and 320 species of wild relatives of cultivated crops. There is a vital, but often-neglected factor when we focus on biodiversity. It may be a matter of she surprise for many to understand that the tribals who officially constitute 7.5 per cent of India’s population have preserved 90 per cent of the country’s biocultural diversity. To a large extent, the survival of our biodiversity depends on how best the tribals are looked after.
To preserve our rich biodiversity, nine biosphere reserves are set up in specific biogeographic” zones: the biggest one is in the Deccan Peninsula in the Nilgiris covering Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Others are the Nanda Devi in Uttar khand in the Western Himalayas, the Nokrek in Meghalaya, Manas and Dibru Saikhowa in Assam, the Sunderban’s in the Gangetic plain in West Bengal, Similar in Orissa, the Great Nicobar and the Gulf of Mannar in Tamil Nadu.