ENDEMISM, ETHNO BOTANY, AND INVASIVE ALLIED SPECIES OF ODISHA- A BIO-GEO-DIVERSITY STUDY

The aboriginal and ethnic people of Odisha in India are accustomed to living in most hostile and extreme climate under diverse meteorological conditions. The coastal state has immense rich biodiversity and possesses a rich ecosystem. The congregated bionetworks (marine, brackish, estuarine, inland and hilly) have different uniqueness in flora, fauna, aqua-fauna. Odisha, along the east coast of India is running parallel for 480Km to the Bay of Bengal including the largest brackish water lagoon Chilika and vast dry rainforests of the Eastern Ghats. The state has an area of about 155707 Km2, forest area recorded 51345Km2 (31.38%) and home to about 7,000 plant species including 120 Orchids, 63 varieties of Mangrove trees constituting the state as second largest mangrove ecosystem in India. Many of the ethnic medicinal plants of the state which are not prioritized in the National Ayush Mission list have been investigated. The enumeration and preservation planning of endemic and threatened species of flora, fauna, avifauna of Odisha reveals that the coastal ecosystem is richer than inland ecosystem of Odisha.