South Indian Journal of Biological Sciences

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History, Biogeography, Biodiversity and Bioprospecting: Scenario from the Western Ghats


Affiliations
1 PG and Research Centre in Botany, Sacred Heart College, Thevara, Cochin, India
 

The history of the Western Ghats goes back to the event of breaking‐up of the super continent of Gondwana, during the continental drift, some 150 million years ago. The origin is a debatable subject among geologists with several views and theories based on different kinds of evidences. Fault escarpment theory suggest that mountains of the Western Ghats are results of a gigantic fault due to an upward distorting of a large rigid shield of the Indian peninsula during the volcanic period. Erosional escarpment hypothesis advocates the origin of the Western Ghats due to coastal planation whereas Oldham proposed that the Western Ghats as a dead cliff. Biogeographically, the Western Ghats represents 4% of India's land region with high torrential rainfall which experiences monsoon and tropical climate with high variation in wind speed makes it one of the ten bio‐geographic zones in India. With nearly 40% of the total number of species being endemic, the Western Ghats is considered to be one among the hotspots in the world but facing severe threats. Bio prospecting may help to ensure the participation of indigenous ethnic people in biodiversity protection and sustainable resource utilization. A National policy has to be designed in such a way that local ethnic communities get benefits from the utilization of natural resources by marketing natural resources.

Keywords

The Western Ghats, Biodiversity, Biogeographic Zones.
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  • History, Biogeography, Biodiversity and Bioprospecting: Scenario from the Western Ghats

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Authors

Giby Kuriakose
PG and Research Centre in Botany, Sacred Heart College, Thevara, Cochin, India
Jis Sebastian
PG and Research Centre in Botany, Sacred Heart College, Thevara, Cochin, India

Abstract


The history of the Western Ghats goes back to the event of breaking‐up of the super continent of Gondwana, during the continental drift, some 150 million years ago. The origin is a debatable subject among geologists with several views and theories based on different kinds of evidences. Fault escarpment theory suggest that mountains of the Western Ghats are results of a gigantic fault due to an upward distorting of a large rigid shield of the Indian peninsula during the volcanic period. Erosional escarpment hypothesis advocates the origin of the Western Ghats due to coastal planation whereas Oldham proposed that the Western Ghats as a dead cliff. Biogeographically, the Western Ghats represents 4% of India's land region with high torrential rainfall which experiences monsoon and tropical climate with high variation in wind speed makes it one of the ten bio‐geographic zones in India. With nearly 40% of the total number of species being endemic, the Western Ghats is considered to be one among the hotspots in the world but facing severe threats. Bio prospecting may help to ensure the participation of indigenous ethnic people in biodiversity protection and sustainable resource utilization. A National policy has to be designed in such a way that local ethnic communities get benefits from the utilization of natural resources by marketing natural resources.

Keywords


The Western Ghats, Biodiversity, Biogeographic Zones.

References