Telangana: Zoological Survey of India books released

ZSI and Freshwater Biology Regional Centre (FBRC) took up projects to study the fauna of various wetlands under its jurisdiction

Hyderabad: Forest Minister A Indrakaran Reddy on Thursday released two Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) publications – “Current status of faunal diversity of Telangana” and “Faunal diversity of Bhoj Wetland” in a function at Aranya Bhavan.

ZSI and Freshwater Biology Regional Centre (FBRC) took up projects to study the fauna of various wetlands under its jurisdiction. Recently, the FBRC also started to study the faunal diversity of various conservation areas. The faunal resources of such areas have been published from time to time by the ZSI Director Dr Kailash Chandra.

Scientists of ZSI are engaged in studying and documenting the taxonomy and systematics of fauna of the country in different ecosystems.

The first book on “Current status of Faunal Diversity of Telangana” authored by the ZSI Director and other scientists of FBRC. Various faunal groups from the State of undivided Andhra Pradesh have been published from time to time during 1993 to 2008 in eight faunal volumes. After bifurcation, there are some publications on individual faunal groups in various scientific journals, but in scattered form.

This book emphasises on fauna of Telangana, which was earlier referred to as Trilinga Desa located in the centre of the Deccan plateau and western part of Eastern Ghats. It has a widely different type of forest which covers around 26,969.48 sq.km of geographical area including 12 protected areas of the State along with seven wildlife sanctuaries and three national parks and two tiger reserves covering an area of 5,692.48 sq. km.

The State is also endowed with rich floral and faunal diversity. Current publication reports about 2,450 faunal species from the State, belonging to 1,440 genera accommodated under 456 families and 125 orders of 45 different faunal groups including vertebrates and invertebrates.

Among these, 1,744 species are invertebrates and 706 are vertebrates. Eighty-two endemic fauna has been documented. The group wise faunal composition shows that phylum Arthropoda has 52 per cent of State fauna which includes Arachnida, Crustacea and Insecta.

Further, it cannot be claimed that this is the final account of total biodiversity of Telangana as most districts and some other faunal groups still remained unexplored. Further intensive field exploration will hopefully increase the number of species and groups.

The current work provides baseline information on faunal diversity, which could help in preparation of strategies for better management and conservation of biodiversity of the State.

According to officials, wetlands are ecologically as well as economically essential systems which harbour precious natural resources and play a crucial role in the various hydrological cycle, carbon sequestration and global greenhouse gas emission.

Currently, there are around 2,375 Ramsar sites around the world. Of them, India has 42 Ramsar sites. Bhoj wetland is one of the Ramsar site, which is a unique human-made wetland, in the city of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

Zoological Survey of India under its mandate attempted to study the Faunal Diversity of Bhoj Wetland, Madhya Pradesh. During three years of the project, surveys were conducted in 16 randomly selected sampling sites. The collection of various freshwater and terrestrial faunal species was made using standard methodologies.

A total 1,060 species belonging to 751 genera and 285 families are reported and documented in the book. Of these, 518 species are invertebrates, and 542 species pertaining to vertebrates including fishes (86 species), amphibians (9 species), reptiles (43 species) birds (357 species), and mammals (32 species).

The consolidated information will serve as a useful aid to researchers and managers for formulating policies in effective conservation and management planning of the ecological restoration of the Bhoj Wetland.

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