Endemism There are more than 200000 species in India of whic | Upsc Environment

Endemism

There are more than 200000 species in India of which several are confined to India (endemic).

Endemism is the ecological state of a species being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation, country or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere.

A particular type of animal or plant may be endemic to a zone, a state or a country. The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution.