Back to Contents

FREE FULL TEXT PDF

CONTRIBUTION TO THE RED LIST OF PAKISTAN: A CASE STUDY OF ASTRAGALUS GAHIRATENSIS ALI (FABACEAE-PAPILIONOIDEAE)

HAIDAR ALI¹ AND M. QAISER²

Abstract: Astragalus gahiratensis Ali (Fabaceae-Papilionoideae) is endemic to District Chitral Pakistan. The  population size i.e. 127 mature individuals were found in 4 localities in 2005, 28 mature individuals were found in 03 localities in 2006 and 107 mature individuals were found in 4 localities in 2007, the taxon deserved the status of  Critically Endangered (CR) category. The main threat posed to the taxon is its habitat degradation. Soil erosion resulted from deforestation and grazing are among the other main threats responsible for the reduction in population size. In 3 localities i.e., Chitral-Chaghbeni towards Ishpeder, Chitral-Gokhshal and Chitral Gol-Ishpeder, 75%, 13.79% and 18.64% decrease has been observed in its population size, respectively. There is urgent need to develop species specific conservation strategies, followed by comprehensive conservation action plan and thereafter their implementation at ground root level on national scale.

¹Department of Weed Science, Agricultural University Peshawar-25130, Pakistan

²Federal Urdu University for Arts, Science and Technology, Karachi / Islamabad, Pakistan