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Eco-tourism to Protect the Threatened Biodiversity of Sundarban Biosphere Reserve


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1 Department of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, B.I.T, Mesra, Ranchi.
     

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Sundarban is a nature's school for the Eco-tourists. The beautiful forests of Sundarbans embracing a mysterious tract of wilderness are located in the lower Ganga delta of Bengal. The mangrove forests and the overall ecosystem in Sundarbans are the ideal habitats for large group of terrestrial, avian and aquatic fauna, starting from Protozoa to Mammals. It contains the richest biodiversity among the inter-tidal forest in the world and is the only natural mangrove forest in the world, where the tiger (Panthera tigris tigris L.) resides. The succession from ocean to land and to fresh water/brackish-water through estuaries, change in water salinity from almost nil to high through grades of different concentration; newly formed islands with soft swampy mud to mature old islands with hard saline banks provides fascinating habitat opportunities to various organism. The nature's magic of high tide-low tide, the Mangrove species like Rhizophores having stilt ischolar_mains, or Pneumatophores having breathing ischolar_mains, or Phoenix (Golpata) providing perfect camouflage for the tigers, teach the tourists about Nature's determination to survive and sustain. The pre-historic Mudskipper or many species of crabs, fish and oysters/mollusks can make the visitors enthralled. And a nature's trail at Burir dabri camp, glorious Sunrise at Kalash, or enchanting Sunset in the Sundarban Tiger Reserve can be a "Joy forever".

A genuine understanding of the interaction of responsible factors should be of paramount interest to the estuarine ecosystem and for prosperity. Recently, it has been established that natural factors along with direct and indirect human interferences have largely changed the biological composition, ecosystem function, productivity, and regeneration and succession patterns within the mangrove ecosystem.


Keywords

Biodiversity, Threats, Sundarbans, Eco-tourists
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  • Eco-tourism to Protect the Threatened Biodiversity of Sundarban Biosphere Reserve

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Authors

Chatterjee Rajeshwari
Department of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, B.I.T, Mesra, Ranchi.

Abstract


Sundarban is a nature's school for the Eco-tourists. The beautiful forests of Sundarbans embracing a mysterious tract of wilderness are located in the lower Ganga delta of Bengal. The mangrove forests and the overall ecosystem in Sundarbans are the ideal habitats for large group of terrestrial, avian and aquatic fauna, starting from Protozoa to Mammals. It contains the richest biodiversity among the inter-tidal forest in the world and is the only natural mangrove forest in the world, where the tiger (Panthera tigris tigris L.) resides. The succession from ocean to land and to fresh water/brackish-water through estuaries, change in water salinity from almost nil to high through grades of different concentration; newly formed islands with soft swampy mud to mature old islands with hard saline banks provides fascinating habitat opportunities to various organism. The nature's magic of high tide-low tide, the Mangrove species like Rhizophores having stilt ischolar_mains, or Pneumatophores having breathing ischolar_mains, or Phoenix (Golpata) providing perfect camouflage for the tigers, teach the tourists about Nature's determination to survive and sustain. The pre-historic Mudskipper or many species of crabs, fish and oysters/mollusks can make the visitors enthralled. And a nature's trail at Burir dabri camp, glorious Sunrise at Kalash, or enchanting Sunset in the Sundarban Tiger Reserve can be a "Joy forever".

A genuine understanding of the interaction of responsible factors should be of paramount interest to the estuarine ecosystem and for prosperity. Recently, it has been established that natural factors along with direct and indirect human interferences have largely changed the biological composition, ecosystem function, productivity, and regeneration and succession patterns within the mangrove ecosystem.


Keywords


Biodiversity, Threats, Sundarbans, Eco-tourists

References