Patterns of species discovery in the Western Ghats, a megadiversity hot spot in India

Abstract

Even since Linnaeus, naturalists and taxonomists have been systematically describing species new to science. Besides indicating gaps in taxonomic effort, understanding the temporal patterns of species discovery could help in identifying drivers that determine discovery. In this study we report the patterns of discovery of eight taxa -birds, butterfl ies, frogs, tiger beetles, grasses, asters, ferns and orchids -in the Western Ghats, a megadiversity centre in India. Our results indicate that the discovery curves for birds and butterfl ies have been saturated while those for frogs and grasses continue to increase. Within each taxon, the major drivers of discovery were commonness of the species and their size. The average years taken for discovery across taxa were directly related to the per cent endemicity and species richness of the taxa. We discuss the trajectories of discovery with respect to rarity or endemicity of the species and life history features, and the implications these might have for strategizing the discovery process in India.

Population variations in the Fungoid Frog Hylarana malabarica (Anura: Ranidae) from northern Western Ghats of India

“…The continual increase in the discovery trend of Western Ghats' amphibians (Aravind et al 2007), further bolsters this fact. It is possible that several of these species could be cryptic with no apparent easily distinguishable morphological differences ).…”

“…The Western Ghats are rich in amphibian fauna, and while the first species was discovered in the early 1800s the discovery trend for Western Ghats amphibians has yet to reach a plateau (Aravind et al 2007). A recent record of a new frog family from the Western Ghats (Biju & Bossuyt 2003) reflects the limitation of our knowledge of the amphibian diversity of this important biogeographic region (Hedges 2003), as do recent descriptions of new amphibian species (Gururaja et al 2007;Kuramoto et al 2007;Zachariah et al 2011).…”

An Ecological Study of the Anurans in Tea Plantations in a Biodiversity Hotspot

“…The isolated hills of the Western Ghats may function as sky islands that support high levels of endemism in the biota. They have been hypothesized to serve as centers of speciation for amphibians, orchids and balsams (Aravind et al 2007). Sky islands are isolated terrestrial islands that have varying degrees of connectivity (Robin et al 2011;Warshall 1994).…”

“…The Western Ghats region in the 'Western Ghats and Sri Lanka Biodiversity Hotspot,' is home to over 384 amphibians, approximately 80% of which are endemic Mittermeier et al 2011). Of these amphibian species from India, approximately 56% are found in the Western Ghats and more than 73 new species of amphibians have been described from India in the last 5 years ( The endemism in the 'Western Ghats and Sri Lanka Biodiversity Hotspot' has been typically attributed to the subcontinent's geographical history of long-term isolation (Aravind et al 2007;Bocxlaer et al 2009;Dutta et al 2004;.…”

“…However, in case of amphibians even with all these dramatic threats to the taxon, the rate of discovery of new species remains an increasing function because of the recent focus on amphibian research in India (Dinesh et al 2015a;). Our knowledge regarding the distribution patterns, abundances and ecological interactions of these newly described species is still lacking (Aravind et al 2007). Very few long-term community-level studies of amphibians have been conducted in India, and the present study focused on identifying the best standard surveying method for amphibians in the tea plantation landscape of the southern Western Ghats in Kerala, to identify methods used be in a comaparative study of sites across the tea plantation landscape.…”