Large share of India’s threatened endemic species in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka: Study

Context

Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka host a large share of India’s threatened and endemic species of amphibians, birds and mammals, according to a new study. 

Key-highlights of the Study

• The three states (Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka) account for 51 per cent of the country’s species threat abatement and restoration (STAR) score. 

• India’s total national STAR score was 41,817, of which 11,585 was for mammals, 10,843 for birds and 19,389 for amphibians.
• The global STAR score for the three species groups combined was 1,223,500.
• India's national STAR score represented 3.4 per cent of the global STAR; it was 3.7 per cent for mammals, 2.9 per cent for birds and 3.6 per cent for amphibians.
• The top 20 per cent of all 36 states contributed 80 per cent to the national STAR score.
  • These include Kerala (20 per cent), Tamil Nadu (18 per cent), Karnataka (13 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh (6 per cent), Assam (5 per cent), Maharashtra (5 per cent) and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean (12 per cent).  
• In contrast, the 20 states with lower STAR scores contributed only 6 per cent to the national STAR score. This is because several of them are small in area and host few threatened species. 
• Several bigger states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and Telangana, however, contributed less than 1 per cent to the national STAR score.
• The high STAR scores of the top three states (51 per cent combined) were primarily due to the presence of a number of endemic amphibian species that are critically endangered like
  • Indirana phrynoderma (Kerala Indian frog)
  • Fejervarya murthii (Ghats wart frog)
  • Indirana gundia (Gundia frog)
  • Micrixalus kottigeharensis (Kottigehar dancing frog) and others
• The high scores of the northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam were due to the presence of a high number of threatened birds and mammals such as Liocichla bugunorum and Biswamoyopterus biswasi.

Threats

• Threats from annual and perennial non-timber crop production
• Biological resource use — hunting and collecting birds and animals, logging and wood harvesting
• residential and commercial development