New Delhi: After a series of bad news in the environment sector there is now some good news from the North East, which is continuously affected by loss of flora and fauna.
A new study found that, despite rapidly shrinking habitats, as many as 366 new varieties of plants and 248 new species of animals were discovered by researchers and scientists in India some of which are from the North East, Botanical Survey of India and Zoological Survey of India sources said.
Fifty-four of the fauna species discovered have been noticed for the first time in the country. The new record vastly enhances the biodiversity of India – one of the 12 megabiodiversity countries of the world – with Western Ghats and Eastern Himalayas being two of the world’s 25 biodiversity hotspots.
About 29 per cent of the new plant varieties were discovered in the Western Ghats, and 20 per cent in Eastern Himalayas. Western Himalayas and the Deccan Peninsula account for 14 per cent each, while the North-East accounted for 9 per cent, the BIS sources said.
Andaman and Nicobar, Eastern India and semi-arid regions accounted for 5, 6 and 3 per cent of the new findings, respectively. With 47,513 plant species, Indian flora accounts for about 11.4 per cent of the total recorded plant species in world.
A majority of the new animal species were reported from North-east Himalayas, Western Ghats and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. India is home to 92,873 animal species, about 6.64 per cent of the word’s recorded 13,99,189 animal species.
Scientists at the ZSI said the discovery of 11 new fish varieties would widen the existing fish base of more than 2,500, providing more food and livelihood.With about 17,000 coastal species, India is still far behind China and Australia. The two countries have more than 20,000 marine species each.
The rate of extinction in India due to habitat destruction is said to be at least 1,000 times the baseline studies. The new species were recorded in a small area of operation and were most threatened, ZSI sources added.
