Title: Last abodes of relic species in Uttara Kannada ...wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/energy/lake2010/Theme 2/T2_Oral_02_PPT.pdf · (1998) define ‘sacred groves’ as segments of landscape

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Title: Last abodes of relic species in Uttara Kannada-Sacred groves and their silent

extinction.

G.R.Rao*., Krishnakumar.G+., M.D.Subash Chandran*., Ramachandra T.V.*

*Center for Ecological sciences

Indian Institute of Science

Bangalore+Department of Applied botany

Mangalore University

Mangalore

Lake-2010:Wetland Biodiversity and Climate change

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Introduction

Hughes and Subhash Chandran (1998) define ‘sacred groves’ as segments of landscape containing trees and other forms of life and geographical features, that are delimited and protected by human societies believing that preserving such a patch of vegetation in a relatively undisturbed state is necessary for expressing one’s

relation to the divine or to nature.

Can you embrace it? Lophopetalum wightianum in Kathlekan


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• Sacred places have long and diverse histories in human cultures and demonstrate ancient links between peoples and their environments.

• They are a universal phenomenon not associated with any specific religion or world view, but they have a strong religious context and are influenced by traditional local beliefs.

• So these remain as isolated patches of forests in the midst of agricultural landscapes.


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Sacredness of sacred grove

• These groves harbor rich biodiversity and play a significant role in the conservation of biodiversity.

• The biological resources make indirect contributions to the welfare and stability of the local environment.

• Their plant wealth and conservation potential were impressive enough to acknowledge them as ‘mini biosphere reserves’.

Huge Dipteocarpus indicus trees in Karikan


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Objectives

To study

• the floristic composition in sacred groves and other protected forests.

• the forest status in terms of tree diversity, dominance, IVI etc., in sacred groves and other protected forests in comparison with that of surrounding forests.

• the threats on sacred groves and their conservation strategies.

White apple!…Syzygium zeylanicum in Kan


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Study area


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Forest type

Uttara Kannada and Shimoga

district harbors following important type of forests.

• Evergreen forests

• Semievergreen forests

• Moist deciduous forests

• Dry deciduous forests

• Scrub-Savannah and thorny forests


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Studied localities

Sl Relic or Sacred forests District

1 Ambepal-2 Uttara Kannada

2 Attigodu-2 Shimoga

3 Hessige-2 Shimoga

4 Karikan-lower slope Uttara Kannada

5 Karini Shimoga

6 Kathalekan-G8-swp with S.trav Uttara Kannada

7 Kathalekan-obove settlement Uttara Kannada

8 Niluvase Shimoga

9 Hadgeri-1 Uttara Kannada

10 Yadanal Shimoga

Sl Surrounding forests (Non-Relic)

District

1 Atvadi Shimoga

2 Belamakki Shimoga

3 Chikmathur Shimoga

4 Gundbala Uttara Kannada

5 Halki-2 Shimoga

6 Hongodu Shimoga

7 Joginmath-1-sidapur Uttara Kannada

8 Kagarasu-mugimane Shimoga

9 Salkodu-5 Shimoga

10 Talekere-Sidapur Uttara Kannada


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Materials and Method

• For this study, transect with a total length of 180 m with 5 quadrats each consisting of alternate 20 x 20 m quadrats was used.

• In each quadrat all the trees at or above 10 cms DBH (>30 cms GBH) were enumerated at 1.3 m height.

Hopea parviflora


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Results and Discussion

Floristic composition

• A total of 108 tree species from 32 families were noted from relic transects and 101 species from 42 families were noted from Non-relic forests.

• Families with highest species number in relic forests were Lauraceae with 10 species followed by Euphorbiaceae, and Ebenaceae, with 9 species each.


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Family species richness

Relic transects family species no.

23

3

3

34

4

5

66

6

77

9

9

10

Celastraceae

Annonaceae

Dipterocarpaceae

Flacourtiaceae

Sterculiaceae

Meliaceae

Sapotaceae

Myristicaceae

Clusiaceae

Moraceae

Rubiaceae

Anacardiaceae

Myrtaceae

Ebenaceae

Euphorbiaceae

Lauraceae

Non-relic transects family species no.

2

2

3

3

3

3

4

4

4

4

5

6

6

7

8

Apocynaceae

Bignoniaceae

Combretaceae

Meliaceae

Sapotaceae

Sterculiaceae

Clusiaceae

Flacourtiaceae

Myristicaceae

Rubiaceae

Moraceae

Ebenaceae

Lauraceae

Anacardiaceae

Euphorbiaceae


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Species richness

Only 3 localities Karini, Nilvase and Yadanal from relic transects had significant more species compared to other

surrounding forest.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Sp

ecie

s n

o.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Transects

Species diversityTot.spp (Relic)

Tot.spp (Non-Relic)


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Forest canopy height

• Canopy height was more in the relic forests compared to that of their surrounding forests and in Diptero dominated forests such as Hadgeri (21.90) and Ambephal (19.62) was due to large emergents like Dipterocarpus indicus andSyzygium gardnerii.

• In Non-relic forests such as Talekere the average height was as low as 10.6 indicating the secondary nature of the forest.

Canopy height

0

5

10

15

20

25

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Transects

He

igh

t

Aver.height(m) (Relic)

Aver.height(m) (Non-Relic)


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Important value index

• Dipterocarpus indicus a endangered,

emergent trees growing to height of 40 m or more dominated many transects such as Karikan (117.61), Kathlekan (40.82), Ambepal (21.70), and Attigodu (18.06).

• Other notable relic endemics dominating the relic transects include poeciloneuron indicum in Karni (71.96) and Yadanal (27.47), Vateria indica in Nilvase (68.26), Syzygium travancoricum (33.51) in Kathlekan, Myristica fatua in Kathlekan-swp (15.18). Lophopetalum wightianum with smaller Myristica fatua

trees.


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Other notable species

• Other notable trees with high IVI in relic transects were Canarium strictum, Aglaia anamalayana, Hopea ponga, Garcinia talbotii, Syzygium gardeneri, Knema attenuate, Pallaquium ellipticum, Myristica dactyloides etc.

• Non-relic transects had Olea dioca with higher IVI occurring in 6 out of 10 transects indicating the secondary nature of the forests. Other trees with higher IVI include Knema attenuate, Holigarna arnottiana, Hopea ponga, Symplocos racemosa.

Fruits- Gymnacranthera canarica


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Basal area

• Relic forest had the highest basal areas with 85.41 recorded for Karikan with huge Diptero trees, followed by Vateria indica for Niluvase (47.47).

• Most of the other relic forests had also higher basal area contributed by relic species.

• Non-relic transects though some like Atvadi had higher basal areas contributed by species such as Diospyros crumenata were mostly secondary as all of them lacked rarer endemics and endangered species which highly contributed in the relic transects.

Per hectare basal area

10.12

23.52

25.69

29.05

29.87

31.39

31.48

46.03

47.47

76.13

27.70

35.87

38.42

41.24

41.29

48.80

48.87

53.61

53.69

85.41

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Tra

ns

ec

ts

Per.hec basa.area(Non-Relic)

Per.hec basa.area(Relic)


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Evergreen percentage

• Evergreen percentage was highest for relic localities with 90 and above.

• The non relic forests had 4 transects below 90 having mixture of other deciduous species such as Terminalia sps, Lagerstroemia microcarpa, Glochidion sps, etc., which shows the past opening up of forest canopy.

Evergreenness

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Transects

Everg

ren

ness p

erc

en

tag

e

%Evg (Relic)

%Evg (Non Relic)


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Shannon diversity

• Highest diversity was found in relic forests with Yadanal having 3.15 shannon value.

• Non-relic forests also had higher Shannon diversity which were also contributed by other deciduous species.

• Only in Talekere the Shannon value was low with 1.5 due to Hopea pongadominance.

Shannon diversity

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Transects

Sh

an

no

n v

alu

e

Shannon (Relic)

Shannon (Non Relic)


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Endemic percentage

• Endemic percentage was highest for all the relic transects with highest being for Karikan sacred grove (75.53).

• Though many of the Non relic transects such as Talekere showed higher endemism than other relic-transects, these endemic species were mostly commoner endemics such as Hopea ponga, Knema attenuate which were found throughout the Western Ghats.

• On the other hand all the relic transects had endemic and rare or endangered species such as Syzygium travancoricum, Vateria indica, Dipterocarpus indica, Pallaquium ellipticum, etc., contributing more to the endemic percentage.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Pe

rce

nta

ge e

nd

em

ism

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Transects

Percentage endemism%W Ghats (Relic)

%W Ghats (Non-Relic)


Lake-2010:Biodiversity and Climate change

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Relic species presence in sampled localities

Locality dipind poeind palell myrfat gymcan semkat syztra vatind madbur Status

Ambepal-2 + − − − − − − − − Relic

attigodu-2 + − − − − − − − − Relic

Hadgeri-1 + − − − − − − − − Relic

Hessige-2 − − + − − − − − − Relic

Karikan-lower slope + − − − − − − − − Relic

Karini − + + − − − − − − Relic

Kathalekan-G4-obovesettlement -slope + − + − − − − − − Relic

Kathalekan-G8-swp withS.trav + − + + + + + − + Relic

Niluvase − − − − − − − + − Relic

Yadanal − + − − − − − − − Relic

Atvadi − − − − − − − − − Non-Relic

Belamakki − − − − − − − − − Non-Relic

Chikmathur − − − − − − − − − Non-Relic

Gundabala − − − − − − − − − Non-Relic

Halki-2 − − − − − − − − − Non-Relic

Hongodu − − − − − − − − − Non-Relic

Joginmath-1-sidapur − − − − − − − − − Non-Relic

Kagarasu-mugimane − − − − − − − − − Non-Relic

Salkodu-5 − − − − − − − − − Non-Relic

Talekere-sidapur − − − − − − − − − Non-Relic

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Discussion

• Overall, Non-relic forests were less in aspects of diversity, evergreenness and endemism compared to Relic forests.

• Relic forests had a total of 47 endemic species compared to only 26 species in Non-relic transects.

• But the real factor of importance for sacred forests emerge in the number of critically endangered, and rarer endemics (termed as ‘Relic species’) it harbor, and are the last abodes of habitats for these species.

Lone Dipterocarpus indicus tree


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Sacredness of Sacred grove

• Most of the secondary evergreen forests lack these relic species and have commoner endemics found throughout the Western Ghats.

• Even as Uttara Kannada is the northern most boundaries for most of these relic species, they hardly occur further north.

• Also the rainfall and the number of dry period months also restrict most of the relic species moving further north.

• Most of these primary relic forests also have numerous perennial springs and smaller streams, compared to dry stream courses in surrounding forests thought they were evergreen to semievergreen forests.

• Hence these forests are critical for water shed management and loss of these areas would be a death blow to the perenniality of the main river itself.

Pascal map of south India (Courtesy: Endemic atlas of south India-Pascal)


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Silent extinction

• Most of these relic forest are now in state of stress due to various anthropogenic factors such as logging, land encroachment for Areca and other crop cultivation, fire, small and large developmental projects, etc.

• Many sacred groves are left with only single tree species, and one would hardly be surprised such Diptero forest existed before.

Paradise lost..forever? Halsolli Swamp


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Silent Extinction

• All the sacred groves surveyed had high vulnerability for extinction due to encroachment.

• Many areas have been burnt and many tree saplings are covered with weeds such as Eupatorium, and other invasive weeds and climbers.

Gasping for last breath..Myristica fatuacovered with weeds in Kathlekan


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Silent Extinction

High and Dry… Water diverted in Kan swamp Burning the roots… Swamp trees burnt for Areca cultivation



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Recommendations

• To clearly recognize and demarcate the importance of relic evergreen forests from Non-relic evergreen forests.

• Maximum priority to be given to these relic forests as these harbor sensitive endangered and uncommon endemics and once lost are lost for ever.

• To prohibit any kind of human disturbance including litter collection inside the groves.

• To declare Kans and other relic forests such as Karikan, Kathlekan etc., as heritage sites for their complete water shed protection and restoration.

• To encourage and appeal local resident peoples inside the relic forests to relocate to outside suitable places by providing appropriate money or land and opportunity.

• Even small fragments of one or two relic trees present should be declared for protection as they may be the last remaining populations of these areas.


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Thanks..

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Karnataka forest department and staff, Uttara Kannada and Shimoga division, for all their assistance in carrying out the project. Thanks to, Dr. Divakar K Mesta, Mr. Sameer Ali, Dr. Rajashree Ray, Mr. Vishnu D Mukri and Mr. Srikanth Naik for making this field work a successful and memorable event. Finally we thank all those forest dwellers, and other peoples directly or indirectly assisted in carrying out this project.

Millions of years work lost… This swamp has now become lush green Areca mono plantation

Documents

Title: Last abodes of relic species in Uttara Kannada ...wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/energy/lake2010/Theme 2/T2_Oral_02_PPT.pdf · (1998) define ‘sacred groves’ as segments of landscape