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An Overview of the Biodiversity in Nepal

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Himalayan Biodiversity in the Changing World

Abstract

Nepal is a mountainous country in the central Himalayas, which occupies about one third of (800 km) of the entire length of the Himalayan mountain range. Nepal alone claims eight out of the top ten tallest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest (8,848 m). Apart from the mountains, deep gorges, river valleys and the flat lands it provides a unique assemblage of very different habitats and a great biodiversity within a small geographical area. The 147 181 km2 that make up Nepal is slightly less than 0.1% of the global land mass, but contains a disproportionately large diversity of plants and animals. The country’s 118 ecosystems harbour over 2% of the flowering plants, 3% of the pteridophytes and 6% of the bryophytes in the world’s flora. Similarly, the country harbours 3.9% of the mammals, 8.9% of the birds and 3.7% of the world’s fauna of butterflies (Table 1.1).

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Acknowledgements

Financial support was provided by the grant No. 06073 of the MSMT CR.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biodiversity Research, Global Change Research Centre, AS CR, Na sádkách 7, CZ-370 05, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Prakash Kumar Paudel & Bishnu Prasad Bhattarai

  2. University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31, České Budějovice, CZ-370 05, Czech Republic

    Prakash Kumar Paudel & Bishnu Prasad Bhattarai

  3. CzechGlobe – Global Change Research Centre AS CR, Biodiversity Research Centre, Na sádkách 7, 370 05, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

    Pavel Kindlmann

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  1. Prakash Kumar Paudel
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  2. Bishnu Prasad Bhattarai
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Correspondence to Prakash Kumar Paudel .

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  1. , Biodiversity Research Centre, CzechGlobe - Global Change Research Cent, Na Sadkach 7, Ceske Budejovice, 370 05, Czech Republic

    Pavel Kindlmann

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Paudel, P.K., Bhattarai, B.P., Kindlmann, P. (2012). An Overview of the Biodiversity in Nepal. In: Kindlmann, P. (eds) Himalayan Biodiversity in the Changing World. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1802-9_1

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