GANESHAIAH, K NSACHIN, A ROSARIO2016-11-142016-11-142013-07-27TH-10358http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/85388Mapping the distribution of a species and identifying populations for 'in-situ' conservation is considered as the primary step in any species conservation. For 'in-situ' conservation, the population must be large and contiguous, with high density per unit area, regeneration high genetic diversity and high fitness. With invention of new tools and techniques of mapping, now it's easy to identify the populations for 'in-situ' conservation. One such tool is 'Ecological Niche Modelling' (ENM), which helps identifying the most suitable habitats for species conservation based on known points of occurrences. In this study we have attempted to identify populations of Saraca asoca (Roxb.) W. J. de Wilde, for 'in-situ' conservation along Western Ghats. As a first step, we developed niche map for Saraca asoca with the help of DIVA-GIS, an ENM tool. We studied the populations from different areas of varying suitability for their fitness measures such as regeneration, density, girth, height, fluctuating leaf asymmetry and specific leaf weight along with genetic diversity. The results from this study validated the assumption that the populations growing in higher suitability areas possessed higher fitness and high genetic diversity than the populations growing in least suitable areas. Based on the results we have been able to identify the 'Sink’ populations for creating 'Forest gene banks' an 'in-situ' conservation strategy. The 'Donor' populations to contribute complementary genes to ‘Sink’ were also identified.endiseases, fungi, chickpeas, biological development, planting, biological phenomena, genotypes, extraction, irrigation, pathogensThesis