Hyderabad: Climate change will gradually force larger plant species, endemic to biodiversity hotspots in the country, to “shift” to other conducive environments, said researchers from University of Hyderabad and IIT-Kharagpur.

About 24 per cent of existing endemic species in Indian biodiversity hots-pots will be reduced by 2050 while about 41 per cent will be lost by 2080, models predicted. UoH scientists are now taking up a study of endemic species in the Eastern Ghats and Nalla-malla forests, although they say many of them have already been lost.

Scientists from UoH and IIT Kharagpur studied about 637 large plant species endemic to biodiversity hotspots in Western Ghats, Himalayas and the Indo-Burma region.

Expansive studies of these species were taken up by Dr Vishwa Sudhir Chitale and Dr Mukund Dev Behera of IIT Kharagpur and Dr Parth Sarathi Roy of UoH. The scientists explained that “movement” of plant species was a part of their evolutionary process. “We wanted to see how endemism was getting affected due to different anthropogenic and climate processes. What we have seen is that endemic plant species are trying to shift to cooler and humid climates.

These species are very sensitive to external factors,” Dr Parth Sarathi Roy, Geospatial chair professor, University centre for earth and space sciences, UoH said.
Various bio-climatic and anthropogenic factors are impacting this movement. Changes in the number of rainy days, total rainfall, temperature and disturbances due to humans are forcing this change.

Scientists predict that species endemic to the Western Ghats will shift to south and southwestern directions while species endemic to the Himalayas will shift north and northeastwards. “Where these species can’t shift, they are trying to confine themselves leading to range reduction,” Dr Roy said. UoH scientists will also take up a study of the East-ern Ghats and Nallamalla forests in AP and TS.