<p><strong>An assessment of the local endemism of flowering plants in the northern Western Ghats and Konkan regions of India: checklist, habitat characteristics, distribution, and conservation</strong></p>

Abstract

The Western Ghats of India support a significant amount of biodiversity despite heavy habitat loss. The northern part of this biodiversity hot-spot, along with Konkan, is considerably different from its southern and central counterparts on account of lesser precipitation and extended dry season. Though this region has been floristically surveyed well, there was a long need for a synthesis on local endemism of the flowering plants. Therefore, the present work was undertaken to produce an updated list of the local endemic plant species of the region with an analysis of habitat characteristics and their survival strategies. An extensive review of literature, herbarium records, and field studies yielded a checklist of 181 taxa including four monospecific genera which were examined for their distribution across their latitudinal spread and habitat specificity. A majority of the endemics are therophytes with their predominance, especially on rock outcrops. Northern Western Ghats seems to be the center of rapid diversification of certain herbaceous endemic genera like Ceropegia, Glyphochloa, Dipcadi, Eriocaulon and a few others. Despite being declared as a biodiversity hot-spot and having a higher concentration of endemic taxa, the region is underrepresented in global IUCN threat status assessments. The implication of effective conservation measures is necessary and the data presented in the manuscript can be used as a proxy for conservation planning.

Desiccation‐tolerant vascular plants from Western Ghats, India: review, updated checklist, future prospects and new insights

“…The WG outcrops have heterogeneity in temperature, humidity, precipitation, and length of dry and rainy periods (Watve and Thakur 2006). The region also supports a high degree of local endemism (Shigwan et al 2020b) and is the center of radiation and diversification for many lineages of endemic taxa Tetali 2019, Bharti et al 2021).…”

Spatial patterns of phylogenetic diversity and endemism in the Western Ghats, India: A case study using ancient predatory arthropods

“…The protected areas in the northern WG are small in size and consist of fragmented forests with high anthropogenic disturbance located in the vicinity of urban centers (Gadgil, 2011; Thorpe & Watve, 2015). Apart from centipedes, there have been records of other range‐restricted species on these plateaus across different taxa (snails: Aravind et al., 2005; plants: Lekhak & Yadav, 2012; Shigwan et al., 2020; amphibians: Katwate et al., 2013). The present study highlights the need to systematically understand the evolutionarily unique species found in these plateaus across different taxonomic groups and identify key areas of conservation importance.…”

Vanishing waters: water chemistry of temporary rock pools of the Western Ghats, India

“…LLF is more or less continuous from Maharashtra (16°N) to Northern Kerala (12°N), interspersed with tree pockets, agricultural lands, and human settlements. The microclimatic conditions of these regions vary from almost xeric in the summer and winter (October-May) to inundated during the monsoon (June-September) (Watve 2007;Shigwan et al 2020). Rockpools get filled and often flooded during the monsoon (June-September) and are primarily dry during other times of the year Figure 1 shows the annual precipitation and annual temperature at study sites.…”