Bangalore: This park is not just a place to unwind or meet friends for a leisurely walk and conversation. Bangalore University campus perhaps has the distinction of having the region's first bio-diversity park on a campus.

Spread over 1,500 acres, it has more than 200 indigenous plant species, which according to former Secretary, Department of Ecology and Environment A.Yellappa reddy, serves as "an open laboratory".

The plant species cover the entire spectrum of evergreen, semi-evergreen, moist deciduous and dry deciduous forest systems.

"Before these plant species were planted, contour furrows and staggered pits were dug to conserve rainwater and soil, and between the contours species from similar regions were planted in clusters," Mr. Reddy says. Care was taken not to the tamper with, or remove the existing vegetation.

The park has 27 quadrants, created to serve as permanent sites to watch the growth of plants, measuring their height and girth over the years to come.

Around the quadrants, a sand path has been made to observe the footmarks of animals, birds and reptiles that may travel between the quadrants.

The biodiversity park has check dams and percolation tanks that form wetlands birds.

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