This document discusses national parks and biodiversity conservation in India. It provides information on several national parks in India, including their locations, key species, and ecosystems. It also defines in-situ and ex-situ conservation and describes the goals of national parks in conserving biodiversity and habitats where species naturally occur. Threats to national parks like habitat loss and overexploitation are mentioned.
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National parks.......
2. In- situ: Conservation of habitats, species and
ecosystems where they naturally
occur.Eg;National parks.
Ex- situ: The conservation of elements of
biodiversity out of the context of their natural
habitats is referred to as ex-situ conservation.
Eg;- Zoos, botanical gardens and seed banks
3. Reserve of natural or semi-natural land,
declared or owned by a Government, set aside
for human recreation and enjoyment, animal
and environmental protection and restricted
from most development.
4. The largest national park in the world meeting
the IUCN definition is the
Northeast Greenland National Park.
Yellowstone National Park,U.S.A. was the first
national park in the world.
India’s first national park (an IUCN category
II Protected area) is Hailey National Park, now
known as Jim Corbett National Park.
6. A national park was deemed to be a place
with one or several ecosystems not materially altered by
human exploitation and occupation, where plant and
animal species, geomorphological sites and habitats are
of special scientific, educative and recreative interest are
conserved.
minimum size-1000 hectare.
Statutory legal protection.
Sufficient budget & staff are need for effective protection.
Prohibition of exploitation of natural resources.
Visitors are allowed to enter, under special conditions:
for inspirational, educative, cultural & recreative
purposes.
7. 1. Sunderbans National Park
It is a magnificent tangle of mangrove jungle that’s the only one of its
kind in the world. It’s spread over 54 islands. The Sundarbans is only
accessible by boat. Don’t be hopeful of seeing any tigers though. They
usually remain well hidden in the reserve.
2. Bandhavgarh National Park
It is best known for the highest concentration of tigers in any park in
India. The park features dense green valleys and rocky hill terrain, with
an ancient fort built on 800 meter (2,624 ft) high cliffs., this park offers
the best chance of seeing tigers.
3. Kanha National Park
It has the honor of providing the setting for Rudyard Kipling’s classic
novel, The Jungle Book. It’s rich in lush saal and bamboo forests, lakes,
streams and open grasslands. This large park is well regarded for its
research and conservation programs, and many endangered species
have been saved there. As well as tigers, the park abounds
with barasingha (swamp deer) and an extensive variety of other animals
and birds.
8. 4. Nagarhole National Park
The park is a place of unspoilt wilderness, with serene forest,
bubbling streams, and a tranquil lake. Visitors can also go trekking.
The park offers the opportunity to see elephants close up in their
natural habitat, and it’s not unusual to see herds of elephants on the
river bank. However, the likelihood of seeing a tiger here is quite rare
compared to parks such as Bandhavgarh in the north.
5. Ranthambore National Park
It is a fascinating blend of history and nature. Inside the park is a
formidable fort that was built in the 10th century and coveted by
many rulers. The park itself is characterized by rocky plains and steep
cliffs. It supports a diverse range of flora and fauna, including around
30 tigers.
10. Silent Valley:Commonly known as
Sairndhrivanam in India.Park is a unique
example of tropical rain forest.The valley has a
wide variety of peninsular mammals like tailed
macaque lion,Nilgiri Tahr,tiger,leopard etc..
Eavikulam :Set up for the preservation of Nilgiri
Tahr.Now the park has the largest known
population of Tahrs existing in the world.Also
shelters Atlas moths,elephants,tigers etc..
11. Periyar:Situated in hills of Western Ghats. Along
the fringes of the Periyar lake are marshy areas
with tall plants. Here it is possible to see large
herds of Indian elephants with relative ease as
well as Nilgiri langur& Lion-Tailed macaque.
14. Core zone: 236.74 square kilometers (91 sq mi)) is located in
the Nilgiri Hills, Palakkad District in Kerala.
Buffer zone;Territorial forests located around the national
park have been subject to a working-plan to accomplish
objectives such as extraction of bamboo and reed which affect
the long-term conservation of the park.
In addition Illegal activities such as ganja cultivation, setting
forest fires, trapping and poaching wild animals, frequently
occur in the territorial forests located in the immediate vicinity
of the national park.
This has resulted in degradation of habitat and reduced forest
cover, which has adverse effects on the long term survival of
the core area of the national park
15. Climate: The park being completely enclosed within a ring of hills, has its own
micro-climate and probably receives some convectional rainfall, in addition to rain
from two monsoons.
In the remaining months, condensation on vegetation of mist shrouding the valley is
estimated to yield 15 per cent of the total water generated in the rainforest.
Birds
16 bird species in Silent Valley as threatened or restricted: Nilgiri Wood-pigeon,
Malabar Parakeet, Grey-headed Bulbul, Broad-tailed Grassbird, Rufous Babbler,
Laughing Thrush, etc..
Rare bird species - Ceylon Frogmouth and Great Indian Hornbill.
The most abundant bird was the Black bulbul.
Mammals
34 species of mammals - threatened Lion-tailed Macaque, Niligiri Langur,
Malabar Giant Squirrel, Nilgiri Tahr, Peshwa’s Bat (Myotis peshwa) and
Hairy-winged Bat.
9 species of bats, rats and mice.
Insects
The maximum number of species belong to orders Lepidoptera and Coleoptera.
33 species of crickets and grasshoppers.
Over 128 species of butterflies and 400 species of moths
16. Flowering plants:701 Dicotyledons distributed among 113 families and
420 genera.
There are 265Monocotyledons here distributed among 21 families and 139
genera. Families best represented are the Orchids with 108 species
including the rare, endemic and highly endangered orchids Ipsea
malabarica, Bulbophyllum silentvalliensis and Eria
tiagii, Grasses (56), Legumes (55), Rubiaceae(49) and Asters (45).
There are many rare, endemic and economically valuable species, such as
cardamom Ellettaria cardamomum, black pepper Piper
nigrum, yams Dioscorea spp etc.
Trees
Six distinct tree associations have been described in the valley.
Occurrence of lion-tailed macaque is dependent on the flowering
of Cullenia exarillata in the forest
17. Major threats include:
Habitat loss or degradation
Over exploitation
Fragmented habitats too small to support a variety of species
Invasive species.
Lack of funds for scientific research and resource protection.
Pressure to drill for oil or build along park boundaries.
Over tourism.
Threats from forest fire.
Natural calamites.
Global warming
Hunting / poaching.
18. NPCA offers seven recommendations to protect,
enhance and restore biodiversity in the national
parks
Improve & expand national park service science &
management program.
Put a higher priority on combating threats from invasive species
Implement the ‘endangered species act’
Expand existing parks , & protect land & water connections
critical to wild life.
Provide the operating funds necessary to support badly needed
research resources management & protection efforts.
Inspire support for bio diversity protection in national parks by
educating & informing the public about threats to park
biodiversity.
19. LET’S HOLD OUR HANDS TOGETHER
FOR THE PROTECTION OF NATIONAL
PARKS MOREOVER FOR
BIODIVERSITY…….