Hot- spots of Biodiversity in INDIA

Biodiversity hotspot

• A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with a significant reservoir of biodiversity that is threatened with destruction.
• An area is designated as a hot spot when it contains at least 0.5% of plant species as endemic.
• There are 25 such hot spots of biodiversity on a global level, out of which two are present in India.

These are:

1. Indo- Burma (earlier The Eastern Himalayas) and
2. The western Ghats & Sri Lanka

           These hot spots covering less than 2% of the world’s land area are found to have about 50% of the terrestrial biodiversity.

Criteria for determining hot-spots:

• No. of Endemic Species i.e. the species which are found no where else
• Degree of threat, which is measured in terms of Habitat loss

Indo- Burma (Eastern Himalayas) Hotspot

• The hotspot includes all of Cambodia, Vietnam & Laos, and nearly the entire areas of Thailand, Myanmar & Bhutan as well as part of Nepal, far eastern India and extreme southern China.
• In addition, it covers several offshore Islands including Mainan Islands in the South China Sea and Andaman & Nicobar Islands in Indian Ocean.
• Indo-Burma is one of the most threatened biodiversity hotspots, due to the rate of resource exploitation and habitat loss.

Western Ghats and Sri Lanka:

• Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, also known as the “Sahyadri Hills” encompasses the mountain forests in the southwestern parts of India and on the neighboring Islands of Sri Lanka.
• The entire extent of hotspot was originally about 1,82,500 square kms, but due to tremendous population pressure, now only 12,445 square Km or 6.8% is in pristine condition.
• The important populations include Asian elephant, Indian tigers and the endangered lion tailed macaque.