Extinction of luvunga scandens (roxb.) buch.-ham. ex wight & arn. from the erstwhile undivided district of bardhaman in West Bengal, India: a case study

Extinction and invasion are two major crises of the current millennium which are antagonistic to the sustainable development of the phytodiversity of a region. A plant species may become endangered and eventually extinct when death rate exceeds regeneration rate for a prolonged period of time. The reasons may be natural or anthropogenic. However, now-a-days, anthropogenic activities have become globally prominent in causing extinction of many plant species of ecological and economic significance. Many plant species are facing tremendous pressure and are on the verge of extinction - either globally or locally. In the present paper, a humble effort has been made to present a case study establishing localized extinction of a native plant (Roxb.) Buch.-Ham. ex Wight & Arn. from the erstwhile undivided Bardhaman district of West Bengal in India within the last one hundred fifty years only. This study has been concluded with some recommended interventions for the sustainable conservation of the existing phytodiversity of the surveyed region but admitting that all threat assessments should be pooled to provide more data and broaden their scope for monitoring progress towards targets within the framework of the existing Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. Finally, some of the future scopes for research with respect to finding the causes of extinction of the taxon have been suggested.