Relic forests as shelter for species

Relic forests, at species level conserve a good number of rare, endangered and unique species because of the presence of amiable microclimate (Table 1). These species, due to their sensitivity towards environment usually have restricted distribution which makes them prone to extinction if there would be any drastic change in their habitat. Similarly, a good number of relic taxa or primitive species have been reported from these patches indicating their once dominant distribution in the area which have been lost in course of time due to environmental change, anthropogenic intervention or geological phenomena (Chandran et al.2008, Chandran et al.2010).

In agricultural landscape, relic patches are smaller in size than their counterparts in forested area and are facing more threats. Although, individual level contribution seems to be not so promising but collectively they can set an example of regional species conservation at landscape level (Ray and Ramachandra 2010, Ray 2011).

Table 1.  Distribution of relic taxa in Central Western Ghats region, Uttara Kannada