The North east india is a part of both Himalayas as well as Indo Burman biodiversity hotspot in the world.It has richest reservoir of plant diversity in India.All types right from grassland, meadows, marshes, swamps, shrub forest, mixed deciduous forest,humid evergreen forest,temprate and alpine vegetation are found here.The varied forest type found here are home to numerous plants and animals.
The region has been identified by (ICAR) as a center of rice germplasm while the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), India, has highlighted the region as being rich in wild relatives of crop plants. It is the Centre of origin of citrus fruits. Two primitive variety of maize, Sikkim Primitive 1 and 2 have been reported from Sikkim. Although jhum cultivation, a traditional system of agriculture, is often cited as a reason for the loss of forest cover of the region, this primary agricultural economic activity practiced by local tribes reflects the usage of 35 varieties of crops. The region is rich in medicinal plants and many other rare and endangered taxa. Its high endemism in higher plants, vertebrates and avian diversity has qualified it to be a biodiversity ‘hotspot’ and this aspect has been elaborated in details in the subsequent sections.
The following figures highlight the biodiversity significance of the region:
The global distribution of 24
restricted-range species is limited to the region. The region’s lowland and
montane moist-to-wet tropical evergreen forests are considered to be the
northernmost limit of true tropical rainforests in the world.
The region has been identified by (ICAR) as a center of rice germplasm while the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), India, has highlighted the region as being rich in wild relatives of crop plants. It is the Centre of origin of citrus fruits. Two primitive variety of maize, Sikkim Primitive 1 and 2 have been reported from Sikkim. Although jhum cultivation, a traditional system of agriculture, is often cited as a reason for the loss of forest cover of the region, this primary agricultural economic activity practiced by local tribes reflects the usage of 35 varieties of crops. The region is rich in medicinal plants and many other rare and endangered taxa. Its high endemism in higher plants, vertebrates and avian diversity has qualified it to be a biodiversity ‘hotspot’ and this aspect has been elaborated in details in the subsequent sections.
The following figures highlight the biodiversity significance of the region:
- Out of the nine important vegetation
types of India, six are found in the North Eastern region.
- These forests harbor 80,000 out of
15,000 species of flowering plants. In floral species richness, the
highest diversity is reported from the states of Arunachal Pradesh (5000
species) and Sikkim (4500 species) amongst the North Eastern States.
- According to the Indian red data book
published by the Botanical Survey of India, 10 percent of the flowering
plants in the country are endangered. Of the 1500 endangered floral
species, 800 are reported from North East India.
- Most of the North Eastern states have
more than 60% of their area under forest cover, a minimum suggested
coverage for the hill states in the country.
- North East India is a part of Indo-Burma'hotspot'.
The hotspot is the world's second largest, next only to the Mediterranean
basin with an area 2,20,60,000 km2 among the 25 identified.
No comments:
Post a Comment