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Explain the Importance of Flora and Fauna and What are Endemic Species?
Some plants and animals typically belong to a particular area. They are not found naturally in other areas. The plants’ that grow naturally in a particular area are called flora of that area. And the animals’ which live naturally in a particular area are called fauna’ of that area.
The plants and animals of a particular area are called flora and fauna of that area. Thus, flora and fauna means plants and animals which are found naturally in that area. Teak, Jamun, Fern, Sal, Wild mango and Arjun are the flora of Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve (see Figure). Cheetal, Wolf, Leopard, Chinkara, Blue bull, Barking deer, and Wild dog are the examples of fauna of the Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve (see Figure).
Before we go further and give the definition of species, we should know the meaning of the term ‘fertile offspring: A fertile offspring is a baby animal or a baby plant which can reproduce its own kind of organisms in due course of time. We can now define a species as follows:
A species is a group of same kind of organisms which can interbreed to produce fertile offspring. All the members of a species have common features (or common characteristics). The species can be of animals as well as of plants. Some of the examples of species are: Human (Man), Tiger, Dog, Cat, Cow, Peacock, Cockroach, Mango, Neem, Paddy, Pine, Lotus and Sunflower.
There are about 6,00,000 species of animals and 4,00,000 species of plants in the world today. The term ‘endemic’ means something which exists in a ‘particular area’ (or ‘specific area’). Keeping these points in mind, we will now discuss ‘endemic species:
Endemic Species
Endemic species are those species (of plants and animals) which are found exclusively in a ‘particular area’. Endemic species are restricted to a certain area. Endemic species are not found naturally anywhere else (in other areas).
The plants and animals which are found only in a particular area are said to be ‘endemic’ to that area. A particular type of animal or plant species may be endemic to a zone, a state or a country. The plants such as sal and wild mango are found naturally only in the Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve area.
So, sal and wild mango are the two examples of the endemic flora (or endemic plants) of the Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve. In other words, the plant species (or trees) like sal and wild mango are endemic to the Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve area (see Figure).
The animals such as Indian giant squirrel (having a big fluffy tail), flying squirrel and bison (a wild ox) are found naturally only in the Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve area. So, giant squirrel, flying squirrel and bison are the three examples of endemic fauna (endemic animals) of the Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve area.
In other words, the animal species like giant squirrel, flying squirrel and bison are endemic to Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve area (see Figure).
A number of factors are endangering the existence of endemic species. For example, the ‘destruction of forests’, ‘introduction of new species’ and ‘increasing human population’ in the vicinity of forest reserves are affecting the natural habitat of endemic species and endangering their existence. Because of this, some of the endemic species may vanish in the near future.