WILD and

DOMESTICATED
GENETIC RESOURCES
OF PAKISTAN
 INTRODUCTION
• Pakistan occupies a land area of over 880,000 square kilometers and
forms part of the south Asian subcontinent.
• Pakistan’s diversity extends to its climatic, socioeconomic and
environmental characteristics that differ significantly from region to
region.
• Pakistan spans a remarkable number of the world's broad ecological
regions.
• According to various classification systems Pakistan includes
examples of three of the world's eight bio geographic 'realms'
• four of the world's ten 'biomes' (the desert biome, temperate
grassland biome, tropical seasonal forest biome and mountain
biome) and
• three of the world's four 'domains' (the polar/mountain domain,
humid temperate domain and dry domain)
 FLORA and FAUNA of PAKISTAN
• The diversity of landscapes and climates in Pakistan allows a
wide variety of trees and plants to flourish.
• The forests range from coniferous alpine and subalpine trees
such as spruce, pine and deodar cedar in the extreme
northern mountains, through deciduous trees in most of the
country (for example the mulberry like shisham found in
the Sulaiman Mountains), to palms such
as coconut and date in southern Punjab, southern
Balochistan and all of Sindh.
• The western hills are home to juniper, tamarisk, coarse
grasses and scrub plants.
• Mangrove forests form much of the coastal wetlands along
the coast in the south.
• Coniferous forests are found at altitudes
ranging from 1,000 to 4,000 meters in most of
the northern and northwestern highlands. In
the xeric regions of Balochistan, date palm
and Ephedra are common.
• In most of Punjab and Sindh, the Indus plains
support tropical and subtropical dry and moist
broadleaf forestry as well as tropical and xeric
shrub lands. These forests are mostly
of mulberry, acacia, and eucalyptus.
• About 2.2% or 1,687,000 hectares
(16,870 km2) of Pakistan was forested in 2010.
 Cedrus deodara, (Urdu:‫ دیودار‬ALA-LC
: Diyodār) Pakistan's national tree

MANGROVE forests

Jasminum officinale, (Urdu:‫ گل یاسمین‬ALA-LC

: Gul-i Yāsmīn) Pakistan’s national flower[
• The fauna of Pakistan reflects its varied climates too.
Around 668 bird species are found there: crows, sparrows,
mynas, hawks, falcons and eagles commonly occur.
• Palas, Kohistan has a significant population of Western
Tragopan.
• Many birds sighted in Pakistan are migratory, coming from
Europe, Central Asia and India. The southern plains are
home to mongooses, civets, hares, the Asiatic jackal,
the Indian pangolin, the jungle cat and the desert cat.
• There are mugger crocodiles in the Indus, and wild boar,
deer, porcupines and small rodents are common in the
surrounding areas. The sandy scrublands of central Pakistan
are home to Asiatic jackals, striped hyenas, wildcats and
leopards.
• The lack of vegetative cover, the severe climate and the impact of
grazing on the deserts have left wild animals in a precarious
position.
• The chinkara is the only animal that can still be found in significant
numbers in Cholistan. A small number of nilgai are found along the
Pakistan-India border and in some parts of Cholistan.
• A wide variety of animals live in the mountainous north, including
the Marco Polo sheep, the urial (a subspecies of wild
sheep), Markhor and Ibex goats, the Asian black bear and
the Himalayan brown bear.
• Among the rare animals found in the area are the snow leopard,
the Asiatic cheetah and the blind Indus river dolphin, of which
there are believed to be about 1,100 remaining, protected at the
Indus River Dolphin Reserve in Sindh.
• In total, 174 mammals, 177 reptiles, 22 amphibians, 198
freshwater fish species and 5,000 species of invertebrates
(including insects) have been recorded in Pakistan.
 Capra falconeri, (Urdu: ‫ مارخور‬Mārḵẖor) Pakistan's
national animal

Alectoris chukar, (Urdu: ‫ چکور‬Cikor)

Pakistan’s national bird
• The flora and fauna of Pakistan suffer from a
number of problems. Pakistan has the second-
highest rate of deforestation in the world.
This, along with hunting and pollution, is
causing adverse effects on the ecosystem. The
government has established a large number of
protected areas, wildlife sanctuaries, and
game reserves to deal with these issues.
 Title Symbol
National tree Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara)

National flower Poet's Jasmine (Common Jasmine)

National fruit Mango (Mangifera indica)

National animal Markhor (Capra falconeri)

National bird Chukar Partridge (Alectoris chukar)

National aquatic animal Indus River dolphin or Bhulan (Platanista

minor)

National fish Mahseer (Tor putitora)

National reptile Mugger Crocodile (Crocodylus palustris)

National amphibian Indus Valley Toad (Bufo stomaticus)

 SPECIES RICHNESS AND ENDEMISM IN
PAKISTAN
• Species richness is only one measure of biological diversity but the
use of this parameter to assess biodiversity is limited by the fact
that many species, particularly insects, fungi and micro-organisms,
remain to be identified.
• 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.
• The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution.
• Another term for a species that is endemic, is precinctive - which
applies to species (and sub specific categories) that are restricted
to a defined geographical area.
• Because Pakistan is largely bounded by man-made
borders and does not comprise an isolated entity in
bio geographic terms, relatively few species are
found only in Pakistan.
• Thus, Pakistan has relatively low national rates of
endemism for some species (about 7% for flowering
plants and reptiles, and 3% for mammals) but
higher for fresh-water fish (15%).
• However, the proportion of 'restricted range'
species occurring in Pakistan is much higher, and for
many of these species, Pakistan contains the bulk of
the global population.
• Research on status and trends of the mammals,
reptiles, birds, fishes, invertebrates, and plants and
domesticated plants and animal species is spread
widely in the universities, Zoological Survey
Department, Pakistan Museum of Natural History
(PMNH), National Institute of Oceanography (NIO)
and the National Agricultural Research Centre
(NARC) and also scientifically conducted through
various projects all over the country.
• The most authentic details of species diversity
available is in the Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP)
(2000)and is reproduced below:
Species Richness and Endemics for Major Plant and Animal Groups in Pakistan
Taxa Total Reported in Endemic Threatened
Mammals 174 6 20
Birds 668 ? 25
Reptiles 177 13 6
Amphibians 22 9 1
Fish (freshwater) 198 29 1
Fish (marine) 788 - 5
Echinoderms 25 - 2
Mollusks (Marine) 769 - 8
Crustaceans (Marine) 287 - 6
Annelids (Marine) 101 - 1
Insects >5000 - -
Angiosperms 5700 380 ?
Gymnosperms 21 - ?
Pteridophytes 189 - ?
Algae 775 20 ?
Fungi >4500 2 ?
• Pakistan is endowed with diverse livestock
genetic resources. In fact it is postulated that
one of the centers of animal domestication lay
in this part of the world.
• Pakistan has a large livestock population, well
adapted to the local environmental
conditions.
• Current population of farm animals in
Pakistan consist of 23.34 million buffaloes,
22.42 million cattle, 24.24 million sheep,
49.14 million goats and 0.77 million camels.
Important areas of research and development in animal
genetic resources are:
 development of low-cost performance-recording system
 evaluation and strengthening of on-going progeny-
testing programs
 starting of progeny-testing programs for important
breeds
 phenotypic characterization of breeds to identify
specific traits of economic importance
 development of beef breed
 genetic characterization of different breeds of livestock
 development of molecular markers for economic traits
• In Pakistan, sheep is the main source of
income of rural poor especially in rural areas
and has an excellent export potential to
earn foreign exchange. At present there are
28.4 million sheep in the country and their
population is increasing at the rate of 2.63
percent per annum.
• Sheep gives us wool, meat and skin.
• However, it is the need of time to enhance
the overall production of meat and wool
through improving both its population and
potential in the country.
• Buffalo is the main dairy animal in Pakistan.
There are approximately 27.3 million buffaloes
in Pakistan (GOP, 2006) which puts Pakistan at
2nd position after India with 98 millions.
• Agriculture is the mainstay of Pakistan’s economy.
• Nearly one-fourth of total output (GDP) and 44 percent of total
employment is generated in agriculture.
• Not only that 44 percent of country’s work force are employed in
agriculture but 67.5 percent of country’s population living in rural
areas is directly or indirectly linked with agriculture for their
livelihood.
• Recently Pakistan has attained self sufficiency in staple crops and
major source of earning in foreign exchange is from export of rice
and cotton.
• Agriculture is the main income generating sector contributing about
25 percent to the GDP.
• Kharif (summer) and Rabi (winter) are two crop seasons where a
number of cereals, legumes, vegetables, sugar crop, oilseeds, fodder,
fiber, spices and condiments are grown. Among fruits, a variety of
fruits from tropical (mango, guava, citrus, coconut) to temperate
fruit and nuts (apple, peach, plum, apricot, grapes, cherry, walnut,
PLANT GROUP NATIVE INTRODUCED
Cereals Bread wheat, rice, barley Maize, millet, sorghum
Food legumes Mungbean, moth bean, Chickpea, lentil, peas, faba
pigeon, pea, cowpea, bean, common bean
mashbean

Sugar crops Sugarcane Sugar beet

Vegetables Brinjal, okra, melons, cucurbits Carrot, radish, turnip, tomato,
cabbage, cauliflower,
pumpkin,
bottle gourd, potato

Oilseeds Sesame, mustard, castor, Groundnut, soybean,

safflower sunflower, linseed
Fiber plants Desi cotton, sunhemp, tree American cotton, jute
cotton
Spices & condiments Turmeric, black mustard Ginger, mint, fennel, coriander,
cumin
Fruit plants and nuts Mango, citrus, jujube, guava, Apple, peach, plum, grapes,
pomegranate, banana, date palm, papaya,
apricot, walnut almond,
cherry, mulberry
 WILD CROPS
1. Wheat
2. Barley
3. Rice
4. Sorghum
5. Millet
6. Cotton
7. Kenaf (Jute)
8. Mustard
9. Chickpea
10. Pome fruits (Apple, Louqat, Pear)
11. Nut fruits (Almonds, Chestnut, Pine nut, Walnut)
12. Stone fruits (Peaches, plums, cherries)