DIVERSITY OF PTERIDOPHYTES IN WESTERN GHATS - A REVIEW.

Pteridophytes are vascular cryptogams that dominated the earth 250 million years ago. Currently, there are 13,600 species of pteridophytes around the world, and is the second most dominant plant group. In India, there are 1200 pteridophyte species with 70 families and 192 genera. The pteridophyte hotspots in India are the Himalayas, Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, Central India, and Andaman and the Nicobar Islands. The Western Ghats occupies only 6% of the Indian landmass and still holds a pteridophyte diversity of 383 species. Fern and fern allies are highly sensitive to changes in their natural habitat, thus habitat destruction, anthropogenic influences, climate change, etc., are causing a fast decline in their population. Epiphytic species are easily destroyed due to the felling of trees and because of this at present 41-43% of epiphytic pteridophytes in India are reported to be threatened. It necessitates the frequent analysis of the pteridophyte flora of a region to ensure the existence of its species diversity. The potential of in-vitro and ex-situ conservation techniques can be explored for the conservation of threatened pteridophyte species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]