India’s Addition to Flora and Fauna in 2024
Source: The Hindu
GS I: Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location- changes in critical geographical features (including waterbodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.
GS III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
Overview
- News in Brief
- About India’s Addition to Flora and Fauna in 2024
- Zoological Survey of India (ZSI)
Why in the News?
India added new species to its Flora and Fauna in the year 2024 for megadiverse country.
News in Brief
- The details of new discoveries and new records were released by the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change recently.
- In terms of diversity of fauna, the country has recorded 1,05,244 species and subspecies encompassing all forms of faunal life from protists to mammals.
- Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), the country’s premier institution for faunal exploration and research, publishes Animal Discoveries every year, detailing the new discoveries of fauna.
- Similarly, the Botanical Survey of India (BSI), the country’s premier organisation for plant research and taxonomy, publishes Plant Discoveries every year detailing the new discoveries of flora.
About India’s Addition to Flora and Fauna in 2024
- India added 683 new species to its fauna in the year 2024, which included 459 new species and 224 new species records.
- The country also added 433 taxa of flora during the same period, which included 410 species and 23 infraspecific taxa of plants.
State Status
- The maximum number of new discoveries of fauna in 2024 was recorded from Kerala with 101 species (80 new species and 21 new records).
- It is followed by Karnataka 82 (68 new species and 14 new records).
- Tamil Nadu recorded 63 discoveries with 50 new species and 13 new records.
- Arunachal Pradesh recorded 72 animal discoveries (42 new species and 30 new records)
- Meghalaya 42 new discoveries (25 new species and 17 new records).
- West Bengal 56 new discoveries (25 new species and 31 new records).
- The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, another biological hotspot in the country, recorded 43 new discoveries of fauna from the region, including 14 new species and 29 new records.
Fauna Status
- In terms of plant discoveries, the highest number of flora discovered was from Kerala (58).
- It is followed by Maharashtra (45) and Uttarakhand (40).
- The new plant discoveries for 2024 record
- 154 angiosperms
- 4 pteridophytes
- 15 bryophytes
- 63 lichens
- 156 fungi
- 32 algae
- 9 microbes
- Faunal discoveries for the year 2024 include two new genera and 37 species of reptiles and five new species of amphibians.
- The hotspot regions, such as the Western Ghats and the North-Eastern regions, have contributed 35% of total discoveries.
- India has recorded and documented 56,177 species of plants — angiosperms, gymnosperms, pteridophytes, bryophytes, lichens, fungi, and algae, etc.
Overall Recorded Status
- In terms of diversity of fauna, the country has recorded 1,05,244 species and subspecies encompassing all forms of faunal life from protists to mammals.
- India, recognised as one of the 17 megadiverse countries worldwide, occupies a vital position in the ecological framework of our planet.
- Despite covering only 2.4% of the Earth’s land area, the nation is home to approximately 8% of the world’s recorded biodiversity.
Megadiverse countries are those that contain the highest levels of biodiversity on Earth, including a large number of endemic species.
Zoological Survey of India (ZSI)
- Established in 1916.
- Under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
- The headquarters are located in Kolkata.
- 16 regional centres across the country.
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