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| Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainability with Special Reference to the Flora of Aravalli Range | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Paper Id :
17947 Submission Date :
14/07/2023 Acceptance Date :
22/07/2023 Publication Date :
25/07/2023
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| Abstract | The term "biodiversity" refers to the sum total of all living organisms on earth. It also refers to the interactions between these organisms and their surroundings. All the species are not present at one place. The occurrence of a species depends upon the range of environmental conditions it can tolerate. Biodiversity conservation refers to the preservation and management of biological diversity in order to gain resources for a sustainable development. Today there is a dire need to conserve biodiversity at all levels of the ecosystem as it is getting depleted at a much faster rate and the accusing finger directly points out to human activities. India is a land of rich biological diversity and therefore contributes significantly to global biodiversity. Rajasthan in India though has significant desert area and less forest cover, it still is a home to a wide variety of flora and fauna. My present study encompasses on the biodiversity conservation and sustainability with special reference to the Flora of Aravalli ranges of Rajasthan which harbours a panoptic range of flora. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Keywords | Biodiversity, conservation, sustainable, flora, fauna, ecosystem, global, aravalli | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduction |
The Aravalli Range (also written Aravali) is a mountain range in Northern-Western India that runs approximately 670 kilometres (430 miles) south-west from Delhi to Gujarat. Guru Shikhar (1,722 metres) is the tallest summit (5,650 ft). Pushkar town has developed in the Ajmer district in the state of Rajasthan, India amidst the Aravalli range of hills. This mountain range is known as Nag parbat (Snake Mountain).
There is a spectacular diversity present in the Aravallis which abode hundreds of species of flora which are getting depleted because of some threats posed to these ranges. These ranges are lured by many mineral reserves and strong stones and are therefore being overexploited. Mining, invasion by alien species and some developmental activities cause menace to these areas and pose a danger to the native plants thriving in these areas. |
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| Aim of study | The main aim of my research was to study the Biodiversity and the threat posed to the Aravallis of Ajmer region of Rajasthan. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Review of Literature | Rashmi Sharma,
Garima Kumari Chaumal and Ashok Gupta (2020) in
their research article mentioned that
aravallis should be protected from mining
and strict laws should be laid down
for this purpose and if mining is
not stopped, this area will soon be
transformed into desert. S. S. Katewa, B. L.
Chaudhary, A. Jain and P. Galav (2003).
documented the aboriginals of the Aravalli
hills of Mewar region's valuable
traditional knowledge about the applications and
qualities of wild plants. The paper
also goes into the current role of
plants in the production of traditional
commodities, as well as some of the
specialised skills that go into making
them. C. Sudhakar Reddy, S. L.
Meena, P. Hari Krishna, Prabhu D. Charan
and K. C. Sharma (2012) investigated the
habitat, distribution, and regeneration of Commiphorawightii
(Arn.) Bhandari (Burseraceae) in Rajasthan,
India, in order to enhance
conservation measures. D. U. Hooper, F. S. Chapin III, J. J. Ewel, and others in 2005 studied the impact of biodiversity
on the functioning of ecological system. Dar,
Jamal, Alhazmi, El-Sharnouby, Salah, &
Sayed, S. (2021) determined
various factors such as diversity, richness
and distributional pattern of moths in
Aravalli Hill Ranges of Rajasthan. Invasion by the species cause extensive effects on the habitats they invade, like impact on indigenous species diversity, soil nutrient composition, altering forest fire cycles and loss of productivity of invading ecosystems. Alien species like Lantana camara, Prosopisjullifloraand Partheniumhysterophorous can rapidly achieve high densities and therefore have greater establishment success and dominate invaded communities to the exclusion of indigenous species.
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| Methodology | Nag pahar near Pushkar is densely populated with local flora .The beauty of Nag pahar lies in the thick flora which surrounds it. Field surveys in the vicinity of Nag pahar (Aravallis) were conducted during different seasons from April, 2018 to March, 2021. The area was surveyed in two ways - (I) Walking on existing forest tracts and recording the observed species and (II) Walking on the unknown tracts, off the tracts into the vegetation and recording the observed species.
Quadrats of 10m×10m size were prepared at four sites to calculate plant population density and frequency and the data was recorded. During this study, a total of 14 plant species including 11 trees and 3 shrubs belonging to 8 families were studied. |
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| Result and Discussion | Aravalli
ranges have witnessed negative impact on
forest ecosystems posed by human
activities. These activities are generally
deleterious to biodiversity and pose a
threat to local flora and also causes
economic losses. According to some
earlier surveys conducted by researchers
under the guidance of Ex Vice Chancellor,
Dr. K. C. Sharma, MDS University,
Ajmer, in Nag pahar area, more than
2000 native plant species ,having ayurvedic
properties, were marked in red zone
(extinct or endangered) due to alien
species invasions. About 14 local
plant species were surveyed and have
been recorded which have become scarce
in recent years due to foreign
invasions. Six species belong to family
Fabaceae, two to family Moraceae and
one each to family Ramnaceae, Capparaceae,
Lamiaceae, Sapotaceae, Boraginaceae and
Rutaceae. Table
1: List of 14 local plants studied
in the Aravallis which have become
scarce due to invasions by alien plants.
Hansa
Meena in 2017 examined the effects of
climate change on biodiversity, as well
as investigated biodiversity protection
and the implications of government policies
in the Thar Desert. R.
Bhardwaj, S.
Dutta K.
Sharma, M.
Dayanand in 2011revealed that unrestricted
harvesting, overexploitation, early harvesting,
overgrazing, burning, and other factors
have caused a number of economically
and medicinally significant plants in the
central aravalli region to become rare,
vulnerable, and endangered. Gaury& Devi
(2017) gave precise information on the
composition of each plant species at
the Aravalli Mountain Range in Haryana,
India , which is necessary for
developing conservation strategies for plant
biodiversity preservation and restoration. Table
2: Plant population density and percentage
frequency of the above mentionedplants were
analysed as follows:
From the above table it is interpreted that Aegle marmelos shows 100% frequency and hence is widely distributed in the Aravallis whereas the distribution of other species like Zyzipus nummularia, Cassia fistula, Capparis decidua, Tectona grandis, Acacia nilotica, Butea monospermaand Bauhinia variegatais comparatively less (75%) and Dalbergia sisoo, Madhuca indica, Ficus religiosa, Ficus benghalensis, Ehretia laevis, Tamarindus indica are even lesser (50%). |
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| Conclusion | The status of biodiversity of a country determines it’s ecology and economy. Natural resources are under increasing strain as the human population grows and socioeconomic development accelerates. This has resulted in habitat deterioration and the extinction of species. Sharma and Upadhyay in 2014 pointed out the role of a botanist in conservation of biodiversity in Rajasthan. He said that it is easy for a botanist to fight against biodiversity as he has a proper understanding of the physiological and ecological requirements of plants, their distribution status, importance, and the species that require immediate measurers and conservation methods, they would play a critical role in conservation, bio-prospecting, and sustainable utilisation of plant diversity. AndrewWarren and Clive Agnew in 1988 talked of land degradation and desertification in the arid and semi-arid areas and said that these are serious menace to sustainability. The conservation of biodiversity is a collective responsibility of all citizens. Government has planned and adopted many conservation strategies to protect the flora of Aravalli ranges. Biodiversity, in all of its forms, including wild and domesticated animals, is currently under decline. Despite the fact that residents of the region face problems due to a lack of resources, villagers' attitude toward protection of nature and existing biodiversity are ambivalent. People in general do not appear to be concerned about the region's loss of biodiversity. This could be attributed to a loss in biodiversity's direct contribution to promoting people's quality of life. It is concluded that habitat loss and fragmentation, over-exploitation and alien species invasions are the basic causes of biodiversity loss in the Aravalli ranges. Looking at the present scenario, when the indigenous flora of various localities in the hill tracts of Aravallis is declining, immediate understanding for it”s conservation and sustainability, is the need of the hour. We humans get countless and direct or indirect benefits from nature and plants with whom we share this planet. It is our moral responsibility to care of their good health so that sustainability is maintained. Furthermore, prompt efforts are intended in this direction so as to preserve what is left with us as these plants are important for many ecosystem functions. This highlights the importance of biodiversity as a driver of ecosystem functioning also in real-world systems. Petra Mass in 2008 looked into the role of indigenous people and their unique knowledge systems in the environmental issues discussion. Nature has the ability to revive itself if left alone.Hence it is concluded that in the past years the local plants (as mentioned in the table) have become meagre and the finger directly points out to human intervention. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| References | 1. Lata, S., & Upadhyay, D.P.(2014). Biodiversity conservation in Rajasthan: role of abotanist. Research Journal of Pharmaceutical, Biological and Chemical Sciences, 5(1), 1037-1043.
2. Maass, P.(2005). The cultural context of biodiversity conservation. In Valuationand Conservation of Biodiversity (pp.315-342). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
3. Meena, H.(2017). Climate Change: Biodiversity Conservation with Reference to Thar Desert. In Proceedings of the International Conferenceon Climate Change (Vol.1,pp.1-6).
4. Katewa, S.S., Chaudhary, B.L., Jain, A., & Galav, P. (2003). Traditional uses of plant biodiversity from Aravalli hills of Rajasthan.
5. Reddy, C.S., Meena, S.L., Krishna, P.H., Charan, P.D., & Sharma, K.C. (2012). Conservation threat assessment of Commiphora wightii (Arn.) Bhandari—an economically important species. Taiwania, 57(3), 288-293.
6.Warren, A., & Agnew, C. (1988). Anassessment of desertification and land degradation in arid and semi-aridareas (p.29). London: International Institute for Environmentand Development.
7. Bhardwaj, R., Dutta, S., & Sharma, K.C.(2011). Conserving biodiversity of medicinal plants from central Aravallis of Rajasthan, India.J Environ Res Dev,6(1), 69-75.
8. Hooper, D.U., ChapinIII, F.S., Ewel, J.J., Hector, A., Inchausti, P., Lavorel, S.,...& Wardle, D.A.(2005). Effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning: aconsensus of current knowledge. Ecological monographs,75(1),3-35.
9. Dar, A.A., Jamal, K., Alhazmi, A., El-Sharnouby, M., Salah, M., & Sayed, S.(2021). Mothdiversity, speciescomposition, and distributional patternin Aravalli Hill Range of Rajasthan, India. Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences, 28(9), 4884-4890.
10.Gaury,P.K.,&Devi,R.(2017). Plants pecies composition and diversityat the aravalli mountain rangein Haryana, India.JournalofBiodiversity,8(1),34-43. |
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