Mapping of realized and fundamental niches of threatened tree species using geoinformatics: A species level approach for sustaining biodiversity

Abstract

In order to ensure that threatened species are included in the conservation of our biological diversity, it is necessary to prioritise species and thus by landscape or implement measure for prioritised area. This requires geographical data specifying the places where threatened plants grow and the qualitative descriptions of environmental variables with which they are associated. The fundamental niche can be viewed as the set of environmental conditions and resources that allow a given species to survive and reproduce in the absence of biotic interactions. To survive and avoid competition for the same resources, a species usually occupies only a part of its fundamental niche in a particular community or ecosystem — that is its realized niche. Currently available floras, which provide valuable information about the species distribution pattern, do not indicate specific locations or the qualitative descriptions of environmental variables with which they are associated. In the present study realized niches of the threatened plant species of Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary were gathered using Global Positioning System (GPS) and distribution and abundance of each species were measured by stratified random sampling techniques. The realized niches of each threatened species were gathered by GPS and inductive habitat suitability assessment modelling has been done in Geographic Information System (GIS) along with environmental, edaphic, topographic and phytosociological data for their fundamental niche. The study resulted in documenting 151 tree species belonging to 51 families with eight threatened species. The distribution of each threatened species, their realized niches and its status, ecological amplitude among forest types and their geographical positions in the landscape were documented and mapped. This will lead to the exact locality information of the concerned taxa, their population status, edaphic and climatic characters of their habitat, their niche width, potential localities to be searched, knowledge of their habitat requirements; particularly the factors limiting their distributions, the factors leading to local and biological extinction and critical habitats.