New species hotspot
At least 353 new species have been discovered in the Eastern Himalayas between 1998 and 2008, according to a new report by WWF. This translates to an average of 35 new species finds every year through the last decade -- an astounding figure! What's more, there are two new intriguing mammals among these new species -- a flying frog and the world's smallest deer. The bright green frog uses its long red webbed feet to glide in the air, and the miniature muntjac or leaf deer is just over two feet tall. And there's a colour changing flower too which goes from blue to purple when temperatures soar!
Photo caption: The deer, the flying frog & the colour changing flower. Courtesy: WWF
Small wonder that such a treasure trove exists since the largely inaccessible landscape of the Eastern Himalayas remains unexplored. The difficult terrain makes it a Herculean task to plan and execute biological surveys.
Expeditions to the region have unraveled 244 plants, 16 amphibians, 16 reptiles, 14 fish, 2 birds and 2 mammals, and at least 61 new invertebrates. The finds are spread over the Himalayas in Bhutan, north-eastern India, northern Myanmar, Nepal and southern Tibet.
The region harbours a staggering array of species, says the 'New Species report': 10,000 plants, 300 mammals, 977 bird species, 176 reptiles, 105 amphibians and 269 freshwater fish. The Eastern Himalayas are also home to many of the remaining Bengal tigers and are the last bastion of the greater one-horned rhino.
The findings, WWF contends, come with a warning that this important hotspot of biological diversity is most at risk from climate change, what with rapid glacial water retreats. The organisation has urged governments attending the climate change talks in Copenhagen this December to commit industrialised countries to a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. It also suggests that the governments of Bhutan, India and Nepal, develop a shared three-country vision and a "unified conservation and sustainable development plan that ensures the connectivity of landscapes within the Eastern Himalayas, allowing for the free movement of wildlife across
political borders and combating illegal trade at a regional level."
Comments
This is beautiful! A "pictionary" of these species should be made available to all biology undergrads in this country. I am sure it will generate great interest towards generating future ecologists and biologists in our nation.
The question is how to do it. Any suggestions?
Posted by: Aditya Mittal | August 31, 2009 07:09 AM
To begin with, the report (available online) has pictures and description of a number of these species with an index of all the species at the back.
For people with keener interest, I am sure WWF would be happy to take it further. Indeed, a good idea Aditya. It would be equally important to get more of your friends in the biological sciences across this country interested in your idea.
Posted by: Subhra Priyadarshini | August 31, 2009 07:22 AM
Thanks. The report is indeed very nice (and useful). I somehow missed it while reading your blog the first time. On the lighter side, the first few pages of the report have pictures of a species desperately in the need of diversity!
As for getting more friends interested, that's another Herculean task in our system. After all, let me ask this from you: as a representative of NPG in India, how many of my scientist friends have you been able to interest in writing for you? I find only a select group of folks participating in your fantastic efforts. On the other hand, you put an impact factor with Nature India, and you convince our scientists of "foreign acceptability" of Nature India, I bet you'll be flooded with hordes of scientific "well wishers of Indian science" submitting their contributions to you everyday.
That said, I will investigate opening a line of communication with WWF. We just got a small student event conducted by them at our campus yesterday evening.
I'd also like to inform you that my students were advised (read as "forced to") spend time on your efforts via Nature India. I'm happy to inform you that they've started getting interested, results of which can be seen at http://network.nature.com/groups/sbs-iitd
Posted by: Aditya Mittal | August 31, 2009 09:31 AM
Thanks for your support to Nature India. However, I notice that many of the IITD forum members are not members of the 'Nature India forum' on Nature Network. They might me interested in taking part in the discussions in the Nature India forum here:
http://network.nature.com/groups/natureindia/forum/topics
Though it is strictly not the topic of this post, I am answering your query on submissions for Nature India here. Generally, Nature India seeks commentaries from eminent scientists of this country. Our commentaries are written by subject experts. We do get a lot of articles/views/opinions and other pieces from scientists across the country but have to handpick the best that meet our scientific and editorial standards, as with any other publication. I am also happy to report that Nature India has a huge readership outside of India and a sizable number of 'well wishers' in India! Hope that answers your queries.
Posted by: Subhra Priyadarshini | August 31, 2009 10:33 AM
Thanks for the clarifications, and congrats again on your efforts. Maybe I can use the cliched "I stand corrected"!
I've conveyed the message to our IITD forum members.
Posted by: Aditya Mittal | August 31, 2009 10:45 AM
It's really nice to come across this news -- 35 species per year through the last decade. But If I am not wrong then 1998 was the last warmest year in earth's history and some of the scientists are also correlating this phenomenon with the "cooling effect of Global Warming". And all these species were also discovered in the Himalayas (coolest place in India). I am wondering if there is any correlation between both these issues. I hope this to be just a coincidence and nothing else but if it is not then?
Posted by: Hirdesh Kumar (Hakuna Matata), | August 31, 2009 04:07 PM
Discovery of new species is often dependent on our accessibility of their habitat. So, climate change is indeed making us aware of several new species on several different levels (e.g. from the polar caps to the Himalayas). That said, 10 years of time have also seen a lot of technological advancement where researchers have better tools/equipment for such discovery expeditions.
The real concern is: now that the species are discovered, can this diversity be preserved?
Posted by: Aditya Mittal | September 1, 2009 06:52 AM
Prima facie, this is really a matter of curiosity among the scientific community. But as Hirdesh pointed out, if this finding is anywhere related to climate change, then an exhaustive study is needed to find a correlation between the two. Needless to say if there is a correlation, the next task would be to ponder over the problem of climate change and its repercussions in the context of speciation.
Posted by: Dushyant Garg | September 1, 2009 07:54 AM
Shonil Bhagwat from the School of Geography & the Environment, University of Oxford and Martin Palmer of the Alliance of Religions & Conservation, Bath, UK have written to Nature making an interesting observation on how the world's religions can help in conservation efforts. An observation I thought readers of this blog might find interest in:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7260/full/461037b.html
Posted by: Subhra Priyadarshini | September 3, 2009 08:31 AM
The work is really appreciable and will help explore new species but the problem is to conserve them ex situ and in situ as their environment is changing very fast. There's need to generate awareness among policy makers .
Posted by: Dr. Umashankar Patel | September 5, 2009 03:44 PM
It is very significant that some more species of flora and fauna have added to our biological diversity. Biological diversity is needed to determine the origin of life. All species have a value and humans have no right to reduce the richness in our environment. Since present human activities are destroying the earth's biodiversity, existing political/ideological/economic structures must be changed. Here's urging professional biologists, philosophers and all concerned to come out of from their narrow everyday concerns and to act and live to show that 'nature matters'.
Posted by: Rachana Tomar | September 10, 2009 09:48 AM