Abstract
The Red Data Book of Indian Plants (RDB) is a reference manual that lists threatened angiosperms, gymnosperms and pterydophytes. Because it is widely used as an analytical tool and is a major reference for impact assessments on vegetation, it is important that the RDB be as comprehensive and up to date as possible. This study is an attempt to cross-check the listings in the RDB using vegetation inventories and another reference manual, the Atlas of Endemics of the Western Ghats, India []. Field inventories across the Western Ghats gave an estimate of the species relative abundances and the Atlas provided quantitative information on the number of records for the endemic species in herbaria, literature, and during field surveys. The results of this analysis indicate that the RDB and the Atlas agree statistically regarding the conservation status of endemic trees. However, the proportion of threatened species per Atlas record category behaves erratically, indicating that some threatened endemic trees are not listed in the RDB. Our results suggest that the status of threatened plant species should be reexamined on a priority basis using quantitative methodology. An updating of the RDB is urgently needed, particularly for the endemic plants of the Western Ghats. We provide a list of species that are likely to be threatened, yet are not listed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ayyappan N. and Parthasarathy N. 1999. Biodiversity inventory of trees in a large-scale permanent plot of tropical evergreen forest at Varagalaiar, Anamalais, Western Ghats, India. Biodiversity and Conservation 8: 1533–1554.
Daniels R.J.R., Kumar N.A. and Jayanthi M. 1995. Endemic, rare and threatened flowering plants of South India. Current Science 68: 493–495.
Ganesh T., Ganesan R., Soubadra Devy M., Davidar P. and Bawa K.S. 1996. Assessment of plant biodiversity at mid-elevation evergreen forest of Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Western Ghats, India. Current Science 71: 379–392.
Garrigues J.-P. 1999. Action anthropique sur la dynamique des formations végétales au sud de l'Inde (Ghâts occidentaux, Etat du Karnataka, District de Shimoga), Ph.D. Thesis, University of Claude Bernard, Lyon I, France.
Gaston K.J. 1994. Rarity. Chapman & Hall, London.
IUCN 1994. IUCN Red List Categories. International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. The World Conservation Union, Cambridge, UK.
IUCN 2001. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1. IUCN Species Survival Commission. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland (Also available online at http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/redlists/RLcats2001booklet.html).
Lucas G. and Synge H. 1978. The IUCN Plant Red Data Book. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, p. 540.
Matthew K.M. 1983. The Flora of the Tamilnadu Carnatic. The Rapinat Herbarium, India (3 volumes).
Matthew K.M. 1999a. A report on the conservation status of south Indian plants. Biodiversity and Conservation 8: 779–796.
Matthew K.M. 1999b The Flora of the Palni Hills, South India. The Rapinat Herbarium, India (3 volumes).
Nayar M.P. and Sastry A.R.K. (eds) 1987. Red Data Book of Indian Plants Vol. 1. Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, India.
Nayar M.P. and Sastry A.R.K. (eds) 1988. Red Data Book of Indian Plants Vol. 2. Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, India.
Nayar M.P. and Sastry A.R.K. (eds) 1990. Red Data Book of Indian Plants Vol. 3. Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, India.
Parthasarathy N. 1999. Tree diversity and distribution in undisturbed and human impacted sites of tropical wet evergreen forest in southern Western Ghats, India. Biodiversity and Conservation 8: 1365–1381.
Pascal J.P. 1988. Wet Evergreen Forests of the Western Ghats of India. French Institute of Pondicherry, Pondicherry, India.
Pascal J.P. and Pélissier R. 1996. Structure and floristic composition of a tropical evergreen forest in south-west India. Journal of Tropical Ecology 12: 195–218.
Ramesh B.R. and Pascal J.P. 1997. Atlas of Endemics of the Western Ghats (India). Distribution of Tree Species in the Evergreen and Semi-Evergreen Forest. French Institute of Pondicherry, Pondicherry, India.
Ramesh B.R., Pascal J.P. and De Franceschi D. 1993. Distribution of endemic, arborescent evergreen species in the Western Ghats. Proceedings of the Rare, Endangered and Endemic Plants of the Western Ghats. Kerala Forest Department, Kerala, India, pp. 20–29.
Ruokolainen K., Tuomisto H., Vormisto J. and Pitman N. 2002. Two biases in estimating range sizes of Amazonian plant species. Journal of Tropical Ecology 18: 935–942.
Siegel S. and Castellan N.J. Jr. 1989. Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. 2nd edn. McGraw-Hill International Editions, Statistics Series, Singapore.
Swamy P.S., Sundarapandian S.M., Chandrasekar P. and Chandrasekaran S. 2000. Plant species diversity and population structure of a humid tropical forest in Tamil Nadu, India. Biodiversity and Conservation 9: 1643–1669.
Walter K.S. and Gillett H.J. (eds) 1998. 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. Compiled by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Puyravaud, JP., Davidar, P., Pascal, JP. et al. Analysis of threatened endemic trees of the Western Ghats of India sheds new light on the Red Data Book of Indian Plants. Biodiversity and Conservation 12, 2091–2106 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024184814545
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024184814545