Abstract

Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or on an entire planet. Biodiversity is not consistent across the Earth. Western Ghats, older than the Himalayas, is one of the 34 global hotspots of biodiversity – flora, fauna, landscape and ethnicity. Western Ghats, anarrow 1,700 km strip that stretches from the mouth of Tapti in Dhule district of Maharashtra to Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu is nature’s unique evolutionary laboratory still at work. We did a biodiversity survey for plant species in Karunya university Academic campus, which is located in the southern parts of the Western Ghats in the foothills of Siruvani forest. The campus was divided into four quadrants as North-East (NE), South-East (SE), South-West (SW) and North-West (NW) and collected plant samples from each quadrant were analysed, photographed and preserved as herbaria and deposited in the Biotechnology Department. We gave a unique code number to each plant that gives information about its location in the campus. We have identified different trees from 27 families (53 genera) and ornamental plants from 32 families (58 genera) and studied their properties and uses and the details are presented. The total area of Karunya university campus constitutes about 0.001770% of the total area of the Western Ghats. If a small part of the Western Ghats is so diverse, then one can imagine the biodiversity of the whole Western Ghats. This is the first attempt to explore the flora of Karunya campus.

Key words: Biodiversity, Western Ghats, Karunya university academic campus.