Bangladesh Biodiversity Assessment

Bangladesh Biodiversity Assessment: A Brief-review

Abstract

Bangladesh is a country of rich biological diversity. Bangladesh Sundarbans is the home to Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris). The different ecosystems support about 3 Gymnosperms, 1700 Pteridophytes and 5700 Angiosperms plants species. Approximately 53 species of amphibians, 158 reptiles (including 19 marine species), 690 birds (380 residents, 209 winter visitors, 11 summer visitors and 90 vagrants) and 121 species of mammals (including 5 marine species) found in Bangladesh. But this stunning biodiversity both plants and animals are declining at an alarming rate from the wilderness. Only proper conservation and management initiatives can save them from extinction.

Keywords: Biodiversity, Wildlife, Bangladesh

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VII International extramural scientific-practical conference, Moscow, Russian Federation

Introduction

Bangladesh a small subtropical country in South Asia with rich biological diversity. The richness of this diversity as a consequence of its location in the subtropical belt at the confluence of the two major biotic sub-regions of the Oriental Region: The Indo-Himalayas and Indo-China. The biodiversity of these two biotic sub-regions overlap in Bangladesh, making the country’s biodiversity very diverse from all directions. The species richness of Bangladesh is well recognized when compared with other areas. For example, the total number of bird species in Bangladesh is nearly the same as all of Europe [1]. The five broad types of ecosystems in Bangladesh are coastal and marine ecosystems, inland freshwater ecosystems, terrestrial forest ecosystems, hilly ecosystems and man-made homestead ecosystems [2]. Bangladesh’s inland water bodies are known to be the habitat of 266 species of indigenous fish, 13 exotic fish, 56 prawns, about 26 freshwater mollusks, and 150 birds. The marine water bodies (200 nautical miles along the coast) are also remarkable for being habitat of 442 species of fish (Figure 2). There are at least 36 species of marine shrimps. About 336 species of mollusks, covering 151genera have been identified from the Bay of Bengal. In addition, several species of crabs, and 31 species of turtles and tortoises, of which 24 live in freshwater, are found in Bangladesh [2-3].