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Enigmatic Encounters: Excerpts From A Field Biologist
Get PDFField visits will never be boring to most field biologists; instead it becomes an inevitable ground to make new discoveries from the natural world. In some way, for a few, it also allows one to express freely, the pictures of nature, through the art of music, paintings, photographs, or popular writing. When I first landed up in the dense thickets of Kudremukh National Park, I was mesmerized by many things at once. Yes, there were lush green hills, black clouds, pockets of evergreen forests, misty trails and thousands of noisy streams waiting for my warm hug. All this was enough for me to feel good about. This feeling did freshen up my mood and filled my mind with countless cheerful dreams
Inserting Politics and History in Conservation
No full text“On 2 October 2012, birthday of the Mahatma (Gandhi),
Sargun Masomait, a 35-year-old tribal woman . . . began
marching toward New Delhi from Gwalior. She was part
of a group of 40,000 people – tribals, Dalits, nomads,
nowhere people with no land of their own, the wretched
of the Indian earth, out to claim their dignity; or to reclaim it” (Pandey 2012). The March of the Landless led to the signing of the Agra declaration between the marchers and the central government which included the demand for the “effective implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA)” (Jansatyagraha 2012).We recount this event from among many recent ones to emphasize the political and democratic support for rights-based legislation such as the FRA
A framework for considering ecological interactions for common non-timber forest product species: a case study of mountain date palm (Phoenix loureiroi Kunth) leaf harvest in South India
Get PDFIntroduction: Many economically important non-timber forest products (NTFPs) come from widespread and common plant species. Harvest of these species often is assumed to be sustainable due to their commonness. However, because of the ecological roles of common species, harvest may affect and be affected by ecological interactions at broader scales, which are rarely considered when evaluating the sustainability of harvest. We use a case study of the mountain date palm (Phoenix loureiroi Kunth), harvested in South India to produce brooms, to present a conceptual framework illustrating how intensive harvest of a common species interacts with other anthropogenic management practices, plant-animal interactions and surrounding environmental conditions.
Methods: We apply this framework to understanding the impacts of mountain date palm harvest in the southern Western Ghats regions of the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. We integrate data on the extent and levels of commercial harvest, local management practices, the ecological context in which harvest occurs, and research on harvest effects. We use this information to document the intensity and extent of mountain date palm harvest in the study area, identify the ecological implications of harvest, and demonstrate how a framework that considers harvest in the context of ecological communities and ecosystems is important for assessing the impacts of harvest of common NTFP species.Results: We show that mountain date palm leaves are heavily harvested from natural areas in the southern Western Ghats but that harvest levels have declined in recent years. Mountain date palm management and harvest occur within a network of ecological interactions, linking human activities to population-, community-, and ecosystem-level processes. We demonstrate that understanding the effects of return interval of anthropogenic fire, herbivory by wild animals and livestock, as well as the light environment in which harvest occurs are critical to assessing the sustainability of mountain date palm harvest. Conclusions: By considering mountain date palm leaf harvest in the context of ecological interactions at multiple scales, our findings show that sustainability cannot be assessed only from a population-level perspective. This general framework highlights the need to incorporate ecosystem- and community-level properties and processes more frequently into assessments of the sustainability of NTFP harvest—especially for widespread and common species—to ensure that their important economic and ecological roles are maintained
Mapping Urban Tree Species Using Very High Resolution Satellite Imagery: Comparing Pixel-Based and Object-Based Approaches
Get PDFWe assessed the potential of multi-spectral Geo Eye imagery for biodiversity assessment in an urban context in Bangalore, India. Twenty one grids of 150 by 150 m were randomly located in the city center and all tree species within these grids mapped in the field. The six most common species, collectively representing 43% of the total trees sampled, were selected for mapping using pixel-based and object-based approaches. All pairs of species were separable based on spectral reflectance values in at least one band, with Peltophorum pterocarpum being most distinct from other species. Object-based approaches were consistently superior to pixel-based methods, which were particularly low in accuracy for tree species with small canopy sizes, such as Cocos nucifera and Roystonea regia. There was a strong and significant correlation between the number of trees determined on the ground and from object-based classification. Overall, object-based approaches appear capable of discriminating the six most common species in a challenging urban environment, with substantial heterogeneity of tree canopy sizes
Reconciling natural history and species ecology: Myristica beddomei (Myristicaceae) in the Western Ghats, India.
Get PDFNatural history is an important component of any ecological or conservation research. Very often this is not given adequate attention, and observations on the genera or species are often generalized to other, supposedly similar, congeneric species. In this study, we document the natural history of fruit-frugivore interactions of Myristica beddomei (Myristicaceae) found in the mid-elevation evergreen forests of the Western Ghats, India, and determine how different these interactions are compared to other Myristicaceae species. M.beddomei has a single hard seed covered by an orange-yellow aril. Species of Myristicaceae are usually dispersed by large frugivorous birds, and also by primates in the Neotropics. In South Asia, Myristicaceae dispersal is usually by large birds such as hornbills, but our observations over several years indicate that M. beddomei is not bird-dispersed, even though some fruit traits suggest bird dispersal. Our observations suggest that obligate seed predators like macaques and squirrels can facilitate dispersal of the species. We discuss these observations and explore why such outliers might have evolved in the regio
Invasive Plant Species in Indian Protected Areas: Conserving Biodiversity in Cultural Landscapes
No full textInvasive plant species in Indian protected areas have received relatively little attention until recently. This may partly be due to a historical emphasis on wildlife protection, rather than on a broader science-based approach to conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. A literature review of invasive plant
species in India showed that nearly 60 % of all studies have been done since 2000, and only about 20 % of all studies are from protected areas. Studies from protected
areas have largely focused on a small subset of invasive alien plants, and almost half these studies are on a single species, Lantana camara, probably reflecting the
species’ ubiquitous distribution. The spread of alien plants in India has been both ecologically and human mediated. Efforts to manage plant invasions have, in the
past, been diluted by the ambivalence of managers attempting to find beneficial uses for these species. Despite growing knowledge about the harmful impacts of certain invasive plants on native species and ecosystems, their deliberate spread has continued, even till quite recently. And, despite the successful implementation of
management initiatives in some protected areas, these efforts have not expanded to other areas. The lack of a national coordinated effort for invasive species monitoring, research, and management largely underlies this
A unique radiation of marine littorinid snails in the freshwater streams of the Western Ghats of India: the genus Cremnoconchus W.T. Blanford, 1869 (Gastropoda: Littorinidae)
No full textThe caenogastropod family Littorinidae is almost exclusively marine, but a unique freshwater genus, Cremnoconchus, is known from India. Its members are restricted to montane streams on the western escarpment of the Western Ghats, at altitudes between 300 and 1400 m. Four species and several varieties were described in the 19th century, but no taxonomic study has been carried out for over 120 years and the last anatomical report was in 1935. Nevertheless, they are of unusual evolutionary interest and also of conservation concern as a genus endemic to the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot. Based on anatomical study of newly collected material and examination of historical and type specimens, we present a systematic revision of Cremnoconchus, illustrating shells, radulae, and reproductive anatomy. The very large eggs, invaginated penial filament, and calcified operculum are unique among Littorinidae. Three valid, described species (C. syhadrensis, C. conicus, C. canaliculatus) are recognized in the northern Western Ghats in Maharashtra state, where all can occasionally be found sympatrically. We describe an additional six new species from the central Western Ghats in a small area (linear distance 80 km) of Karnataka state, over 500 km south of the previously known range of the genus. Here the species each appear to be restricted to a single drainage system. Because of their highly restricted distribution and fragile habitat, this radiation of
nine species is judged to be endangered
Changes in genetic diversity parameters in unimproved and improved populations of teak (Tectona grandis L.f.) in Karnataka state, India
Get PDFTeak (Tectona grandis L. f.; family Verbanaceae) is an important plantation tree species in the tropics and in India one of the first species to be prioritized for improvement. Improvement efforts for the last 50 years have essentially concentrated on augmenting quality seed production by establishing seed production areas (SPA) and clonal seed orchards (CSO). Presently, these two form the main sources of quality planting material for teak throughout the country. However, there is no information on the genetic quality of such sources nor information on the progeny used in plantation programmes. Reports of studies based on coniferous and tropical species provide conflicting results on the impact of domestication
on the genetic diversity of populations (Chaisurisri and El Kassaby 1994; Rajora 1999; Moran et al. 2000; Godt et al. 2001; Icgen et al. 2006). Also the impact of domestication on the genetic diversity of progeny populations is poorly understood (Stoehr and El-Kassaby 1997; Schmitdtling and Hiplins 1998). Such studies become pertinent not only for gauging the impact of selection on reforestation stock, but also for effective genetic conservation of existing breeding populations. We therefore address two issues in the present study: (i) the change in genetic diversity with increasing levels of improvement, and (ii) the impact of the above change on genetic diversity of progeny populations
Eastern Ghats tragedy: If the mines don’t get them… the dams will
Get PDF“We hunt the leopard. I can show you how we track them too,” said the Konda Reddi tribal villager. We were at Villarthi village, in a remote forested stretch between the towns of Upper Sileru and Donkarayi in the northern Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam district. Across the border lay Odisha. Historically this region supported a rich floral diversity, but in recent decades the Eastern Ghats have largely been ignored in favour of other hill regions across India. The rediscovery of the Indian golden gecko Calodactylodes aureus and the Jeypore ground gecko Geckoella jeyporensis, earlier presumed
locally extinct has caused some resurgence of public interest, but not enough to make a significant difference. Several researchers have begun to study the faunal diversity of this incredible region, but the hazards confronting this landscape seem almost insurmountable
Indian monsoons shape dispersal phenology of plants
Get PDFThe Indian monsoons are a major seasonal climatic event over the Indian subcontinent, heralding the arrival of the wet season. Many features of life, biological and cultural, are intimately synchronized to this seasonality. In this paper, we show that the Indian monsoons might have played an
important role in shaping the fruiting time and hence dispersal phenology of plant species in the subcontinent