Rare, Endangered and Threatened plants of Southern Western Ghats

Western Ghats - Biodiversity hotspot

The Western Ghats of Peninsular India has been recognized as one of the 34 hotspot areas in the world in terms of species and endemism. Among the 5,500 flowering plants reported from the region, 2,015 species are reported as endemics. In the Western Ghats, the Southern Western Ghats consisting southern parts of Karnataka, Kerala and Southern Tamil Nadu are the richest in terms of diversity. Plant diversity in the area estimates over 4,500 flowering plants of which 1,500 are Western Ghats endemics.

Database of RET

A comprehensive database on Rare, Endangered and Threatened (RET) plants of Southern Western Ghats is made available at http://www.retplants.kfri.res.in/ by Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI).

760 RET plants spread over in 332 genera in 109 families are recorded from the Southern Western Ghats. The information available on 260 RET plants are included. The literature on 260 species has been categorized under broadly divided six research components  - Population Structure (PS), Population Dynamics (PD), Climatic and Edaphic analysis (CEF), Conservation Strategies (CS), Restoration (RE) and Evaluation (EV).

Status followed in the database

The various status followed in the database have been taken from IUCN and other published works. The threat status followed as per IUCN is given below. Details of the same are also given in the References.

1. Extinct
2. Extinct in the wild
3. Critically Endangered
4. Endangered
5. Vulnerable
6. Near Threatene

The database is formulated in a web based information system along with detailed search interface for the use of Researchers, Foresters, Policy makers and those involved in plant biodiversity conservation programmes.

Of these, 2,159 abstracts pertained to various studies available on each species are incorporated. In certain cases, where the abstracts are not available, citations of 51 publications are provided. Abstracts of publications are compiled from Commonwealth Agriculture Bureau of Information System (CABI), Google Scholar, Indian Forestry Abstracts, R&D Library Information Systems.

For more information, visit http://www.retplants.kfri.res.in/ .

Source : Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI)

Related resources

1. National Biodiversity Authority
2. e-library of Biodiversity International