Faunal Ecology and Conservation of the Great Indian Desert

Abstract

The Great Indian Desert is biogeographically the easternmost edge of the Saharan-Arabian Desert zone, with an extent of 280,000 km2 area, comprising 61% of the total geographical area of the state. The Great Indian Desert is one of the smallest deserts in the world, but it exhibits a wide variety of habitats and biodiversity. It is the most thickly populated deserts in the world with an average density of 83 persons per km2, whereas, in other deserts, the average is only seven persons per km2. The vegetation of this region consists mainly of xerophytes like Prosopis cineraria, Capparis deciduas, Calotropis procera, Salvadora oleoides and Lasiurus scindicus. The Great Indian Desert is quite rich in animal life, and the fauna of this desert is mainly of Palaearctic-Oriental origin, exhibiting a remarkable diversity in habitat. This chapter based on field surveys conducted from 2000 to 2004 under the project sponsored by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, is also consulted with existing literature on the various fauna of the Great Indian Desert. The surveys were carried out in different habitats like sandy area, stable and shifting type of sand dunes, rocky area, gravel, sewan grass, lakes and tanks of saline and fresh water, canal area and agricultural fields which provide excellent shelter to the fauna of this region. The species richness, abundance and diversity of different faunal groups, namely, insects, beetles, ants, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, have been described in details. The arrival of canal water has increased the diversity of fauna in the Great Indian Desert.