The Department of Ecology of the French Institute of Pondicherry has been developing research projects on the forests of Southern Western Ghats region for the past 50 years. It has produced reference scientific outputs (vegetation maps, taxonomic and ecological syntheses, etc.) and gathered important collections and databases, particularly on the tree species of this region. This Western Ghats Forest Biodiversity Portal offers a large access to this unique scientific heritage through open source software tools, web-based applications and shared databases.

The Western Ghats region, a World Biodiversity Hotspot.

      The Western Ghats form a 1,600 km long escarpment that runs parallel to the southwestern coast of Peninsular India, from 8 to 21°N. Interactions between this relief and the summer monsoon winds result in strong bioclimatc gradients that determine a large variety of non-equatorial tropical forests, with a high proportion of endemic species (63% for the evergreen tree species).

      These particular features make the Western Ghats an exceptional field laboratory for understanding the mechanisms underlying the geographical distributions of individual plant species and their assemblages, such as speciation and adaptation to climatic constraints and changes. On another hand, long stretches of forest have been, and continue to be, under intense anthropogenic pressure leading to an accelerated fragmentation of the forest continuum. Consequently, there is an urgent need of precise information that is helpful in defining conservation priorities for the Western Ghats forests and species, some of the latter being already included within the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.