Survey-gap analysis for botanical research using integrated approach through taxonomical data and geoinformatics
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J. Indian Soc. Remote Sens. (September 2010 : Special issue on Biodiversity and Landscape Ecology) 38 : 577-584
SHORT NOTE
Survey-gap analysis for Botanical Research using Integrated approach through Taxonomical Data and Geoinformatics C.S. Reddy
Received: 20 November 2009 / Accepted: 24 February 2010 Keywords Survey-gap • Herbarium • Geoinformatics • Adilabad • India
Abstract India is one of the 12 mega biodiversity countries in the world. There are still many areas where inadequate information on plant wealth is available. Gap area prioritization is of utmost concern to understand the species richness of different parts of India. In this context survey-gap analysis was carried out to assess exploration status and to prioritise areas using integrated approach through taxonomical data and geoinformatics. In order to
C.S. Reddy ( ) Forestry and Ecology Division, National Remote Sensing Centre, Balanagar, Hyderabad - 500 625, India
email : [email protected]
highlight the gaps in botanical exploration in the country, the present case study was conducted in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh. A grid size of 5'×5' has been prepared to analyse the exploration status. The results indicated that most parts of study area have been under-explored and unexplored. Of the 200 grids, only one grid has been well explored with species collections of above 100. The study brought to light that moist deciduous forests were not covered during floristic studies. Comparative analysis with disturbance index and biological richness maps evidently points out that explorations were undertaken only in high disturbed zones and areas of low to medium biological richness. This geospatial analysis clearly points the need for more attention to the exploration of tropical forests in India. There is a need of systematic botanical studies to prioritise the conservation strategies of varied natural ecosystems. It is recommended for national level survey-gap analysis as an important step to determine the floristic wealth, species representativeness and distribution.
578 J. Indian Soc. Remote Sens. (September 2010 : Special issue on Biodiversity and Landscape Ecology) 38 : 577-584
Introduction The three physical resources of the Planet Earth include the land, water and biological diversity. Biological diversity covers the humans who depend on it. Nevertheless, humans have learnt to manage or almost manipulate the mother nature. In the process, they left several indelible scars in their path of “progress”. Consequently, there is a tremendous decline in the overall biodiversity as clearly noted in the Agenda 21, at the Earth Summit 1992 (CBD, 1992). There are many areas of the world (terrestrial and marine) about which we have little or no information. We have not yet completed the basic survey of our biological diversity (Funk et al., 2005). India lies at the junction of the three major biogeographic realms, namely, the Indo-Malayan, the Eurasian and the Afrotropical and known for its unique biological diversity. It is one of the 12 m
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