Bio-diversity in Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh: Status Of Biodiversity In J&K

Select Language Afrikaans Albanian Arabic Armenian Azerbaijani Basque Belarusian Bulgarian Bengali Catalan Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Estonian Filipino Finnish French Galician Georgian German Greek Gujarati Haitian Creole Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Javanese Kannada Khmer Korean Latvian Lithuanian Macedonian Malay Maltese Marathi Nepali Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Punjabi Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Slovenian Spanish Swahili Swedish Tamil Telugu Thai Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Vietnamese Welsh Yiddish

This article has been sourced from an authoritative, official publication. Therefore, it has been ‘locked’ and will never be thrown open to readers to edit or comment on. After the formal launch of their online archival encyclopædia, readers who wish to update or add further details can do so on a ‘Part II’ of this article.

The source of this article

Bio-diversity in Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh

By the Department of Forests, Government of Jammu and Kashmir

Bio-diversity in Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh: Status Of Biodiversity In J&K

Broadly speaking, Biodiversity of J&K can be categorized into following types of Ecosystems:

1. Biodiversity of Agricultural Ecosystems.

2. Biodiversity of Fresh Water Ecosystems

3. Biodiversity of Forest Ecosystems

4. Biodiversity of Cold Desert Ecosystems.

Wild Biodiversity

All plants and animal forms including microscopic organisms which originated or colonized the available habitats on their own and are thriving without man’s assistance come under the category of Wild Biodiversity. Such life forms are more adopted to local conditions and have the inner resilience to cope with the changing environmental pressures.

Wild Flora of J&K

The perusal of literature on the floristic studies of J&K reveals that Victor Jacquemont (1803-82) was the first botanist to enter the picturesque valley of Kashmir to undertake the floristic study of that time. He collected a large number of plants and his collections were studied by J. Cambessedes & F. Decaisne (1845). W. Morrcraft was the first European to study the plants of Ladakh region.

He also studied the plants of Kashmir valley from 1822 onwards. Godfrey Thomas Vigne (1835) collected 99 specimens from Kashmir and neighbourhood. Falconer, another famous plant collector also made notable collections from Kashmir in 1839. John Forbes Royle sent many collectors to Kashmir during 1833-1839 and published an illustrated account of Kashmir plants in 1839. Thomas Thomson (1848) collected several plants from different parts of the state and data was published in London Journal of Botany Vol. 1 : 68, 1849. Other botanists who ventured into the floristic studies of the Kashmir included Schlagint weit (1855-1877), William Hay (1862), J.L. Stewart (1868) and Handerson & Hume (1873). C.B. Clarke visited Kashmir in 1876 and collected a number of specimens. Duthie (1893-1894) recorded his floristic observations in the Records of Botanical Survey of India.

The first half of the present century witnessed the publication of two important books, B.O. Coventry’s, “Wild Flowers of Kashmir”(1923-30) and E. Blatter’s “Beautiful Flowers of Kashmir” (1927-28). Both these books were known better for their contribution in promotion of popular knowledge than their taxonomic value.

Other notable additions to the floristc studies of the period include the work of Meebold (1909), Keshavanand IFS (1906-08), Steward (1916-1945), Lambert (1933), Blatter(1927), Bamber(1919), Mukerji(1940) and Pennell(1943). Hooker(1872-1897) also described plants of Kashmir in his book, “Flora of British India”. Lambert (1935) listed the forest trees and shrubs of J&K State.

After the reorganization of the Botanical Survey of India, T.A. Rao in 1960 made the first botanical exploration in some parts of the state and account is published in the records of Botanical Survey of India. The explorers of recent times include Kapoor et al (1963, 1986) Y.K. Sarin (1971), Singh and Kachroo (1976) Dhar and Kachroo (1983), Brij Mohan Sharma (1981) who have made contribution towards documentation of various floras of different parts of the State. The recent flora entitled “Flowers of the Himalaya”, by Polunin & Stantion (1984), “Flora of Jammu and Plants of Neighborhood” by B.M. Sharma & P Kachroo (1981), Flora of Trikuta Hills by S.K. Kapoor and Y.K. Sarin (1989), “Flora of Udhampur” (1998) by Ajai Swami & B.K. Gupta and Wild and Cultivated Plants of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh by Om. Prakash Vidharthi, IFS (1997) has also contributed towards floristic studies of this State. Some of the notable works in this field are:

Forest Flora of Srinagar and plants of neighborhood by G. Singh & P. Kachroo (1987). 1. The flora of Ladakh by Stewart R.R. (1916-17). 2. Flora of upper Lidder valleys of Kashmir Himalayas by B.M. Sharma & P.S. Jamwal Vol I & Vol II. 3. Flora of Jammu and plants of neighborhood by B.M. Sharma & P. Kachroo (1981). 4. Flora of District Doda of Bachan Lal Whellum & Rani Mangotra (Ph.D. work). 5. In addition to these works in the field of higher plants, exploration and documentation of lower group of plants has also been attempted by various workers and notable works are:

1. Algal Flora of Ladakh by Shashi Kant & Pushp Gupta. (1998).

2. Diversity of Macro fungi of Bhaderwah by Rajkumar Rampal

3. Floristic studies in Bryophytes of Kashmir Himalaya by F.A. Bandey (1997).

4. Taxonomic studies on Hepatic Flora of District Jammu by Sarika Gupta (2002)

5. Hepaticae & Anthocerotae of Jammu Division by Mohd. Tanwir & Anima Langar (Unpublished work).

6. The Hepaticae of Kashmir Valley by S.C. Srivastava (1979).

Based on¬¬ available data (Published and Unpublished) diversity of various plant groups in J&K is represented as under:

Table 26: Plant group wise number of species reported

Group	Sub Group	No. of Species reported
		<st1:City w:st="on">Jammu</st1:City> Region	<st1:place w:st="on">Kashmir Region	Ladakh Region	J&K
Algae	Cyanophyta Chlorophyta Chrysophyta Bacillariophyta Xanthophyta Dinophyta Euglenophyta Cryptophyta Rhodophyta Charophyta Sub-Total	13 400	054 170 002 163 002 002 013 - - - 406	171 440 008 175 015 018 018 001 002 - 848	900
Fungi	Phycomycetes Ascomycetes Basidiomycetes Deuteromycetes Sub Total	300	023 084 175 140 422	11	450
Bryophytes	Liverworts Hornworts Mosses Sub Total	66 4 13 83	48 - 162 210	9 - - 9	250
Pteridophytes	Ferns	93	93	-	100
Gymnosperms	Cupressaceae Ephedracere Ginkgoaceae Pinaceae Taxodiaceae Sub Total	11	04 01   06 01 13	3	13
Angiosperms	Dicots Monocots Sub Total	1300	1590 410 2000	880 - 880	2403 0651 3054

Source: <st1:PlaceType ">University of Jammu & University of Kashmir (Ph.D. & other research documents consulted)