G. R. Rao , M. D. Subhashchandran , T. V. Ramachandra

Abstract

Sharavathi river basin (upper catchment) falls in one of the megacentres of endemism (Shimoga-Kanara) harbouring diverse kinds of flora and fauna, which are adapted to various kinds of habitats. Study was carried out to know the habitat preferences of the endemic species particularly of herhs, shrubs, orchids, and climbers excluding the trees. Field survey covered 21 micro- and macro-habitats and the results show that the macrohabitats (such as grasslands, evergreen-semi evergreen forests and marshy areas) have higher species richness and endemism. To prioritise habitats for conservation, micro and macro habitats were ranked according to their richness in species and endemism. The result reveals that grasslands, evergreen-semi evergreen forests and marshy areas deserve higher conservation priorities. Micro-habitats such as wet tree trunks, wet-rocks etc., have distinctive species very much different from other habitats. All these habitats also harboured economically useful species including medicinal plants vital for human survival.

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D. Mahesh Babu , G. R. Rao , Diwakar Mesta , M. D. Subashchandran , T. V. Ramachandra

Abstract

The INFORMATION SYSTEM with user friendly GUI's (Graphical User Interface) is developed to maintain the flora data and generate reports for Sharavathi River Basin. The database consists of the information related to trees, herbs, shrubs and climbers. The data is based on the primary field survey and the information available in flora of Shimoga, Karnataka and Hassan flora. User friendly query options based on dichotomous keys are provided to help user to retrieve the data while data entry options aid in updating and editing the database at family genus and species levels.

Keywords

Information system, Graphical User Interface (GUI), Flora data, Sharavathi River Basin, Karnataka

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

Abstract

Changes in vegetation are taking place due to anthropogenic activities since the colonization of the evergreen forest zone of Western Ghats. The forests of the Western Ghats were contiguous and uniformly rich in endemism within each climatic and physiographic regime. The region continues to be one of the biodiversity hot spots of the world. However, unplanned developmental activities are altering the balance of the ecosystem. This study focuses on the floristic structure, composition and diversity of forests with varying degree of human disturbances. Based on the investigations, various strategies for conservation and sustainable utilization of forest resources were proposed.

Keywords

Plant Diversity. Sharavathi River Basin, Sustainable Utilization of Forest Resources, Western Ghats, Karnataka

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Rajasri Ray , M. D. Subhas Chandran , T. V. Ramachandra

Abstract

The impact of protection on the ecology and ecosystem services of a fragmented sacred grove of Karnataka in agricultural landscape was studied. Comparative assessment of two time scale data revealed positive influence of protection on vegetation in term of species richness, diversity, endemism and basal area. An increment in above ground biomass indicates groves potential for carbon sequestration. Species level study on carbon storage finds the contribution of young individuals in recent time period.

Keywords

Ecology of Sacred Grove, Western Ghats Karnataka, Protection Measure, Conservation

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T. V. Ramachandra ¹, N. V. Joshi ¹, G. R. Rao ¹, G. Dhanpal ¹, K. V. Gururaja ¹, Amit S. Yadav ¹

Affiliations
1 Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560 012

Abstract

Ecological status of a particular region is determined by assessing its biodiversity, prevailing conditions of the environment and their interactions. Biodiversity assessments in micro watershed across altitudinal gradients of Western Himalaya reveal that phytodiversity includes a total of 2276 individuals from 75 woody species belonging to 38 families. Among the three micro watersheds, Mandhala was species rich with 43 species followed by Moolbari (39) and MeGad (9). In Mandhala most of the species are thorny shrubs and rarely attain tree forms due to severe anthropogenic disturbances, which also yielded very low basal area. Moolbari had the highest basal area, which had dominant species Quercus leucotricophora and Q. glauca. MeGad, a high altitude area was mostly dominated by Abies pindrow, Picea smithiana and Pinus wallichiana. Faunal investigations enumerated 115 butterfly species, 14 amphibian and 136 bird species. Butterflies in the region were oriental and palaearctic in origin representing nine families. Similarly, 14 species amphibians belonging to 5 families were sighted during the field investigations. Paa minica is vulnerable and Amolops chakrataensis is data deficient according to IUCN status and these two are endemics of Himalayan foot hills. Among the three watersheds, Mandhala, lying in Shivaliks has higher faunal diversity followed by Moolbari. Amphibians were not encountered in MeGad microwatershed during Aug-Sept 07. In total 136 bird species were recorded from three watersheds, the maximum number of bird species occurred in Mandhala region (104) followed by Moolbari (57) and Me Gad (35).

Keywords

Biodiversity, Ecological Status, Floral And Faunal Diversity, Watershed, Altitudinal Gradients, Western Himalaya

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