Me Sahyadri 062014

As the economic development has taken the center stage, the balance between the environmental sustenance and socio economic development will be under the scanner. As most experts with balanced views have proclaimed, Indian wildlife and ecological system sustenance will be under threat, unless precautions are taken with the help of appropriate research and long term national interests. As we encounter the economic development, many habitats which indirectly or directly help sustainable development will be damaged. The awareness to gauge the success by sustainable development and not by year to year growth is a distant dream any environmentalist will assume in current scenario.
Western ghats, or Sahyadri as we all call it as, is a treasure trove of spectacular landscapes, biodiversity, flora, fauna, some amazing geological wonders and man made monuments. With the increasing pressure from human encroachment, all these elements are under stress and in turn are under depletion. Western ghats should be left untouched by human beings, to protect their future generations from getting short of resources, such as water, energy and clean air. The important elements of western ghats, which need protection are highlighted in the new version of Photo journal, Me Sahyadri Magazine.

The significance of the butterflies or insects often is overlooked. The insects lead to the harvesting of nature. Insects help the pollination of the plants. Insects, wind, are the main contributors to the plant pollination. If we disturb the insects, due to pollution of food and water they feed upon (such as use of insecticides which may kill useful insects), eventually it will lead to the lower productivity of the agricultural produce.

Human activities such as destruction of habitats, hunting, and the pollution of land and water have driven extinction rate to 1000 times faster than the natural rate. The species have been categorized in to various levels by IUCN based on the level of threat. The species with the least threat are categorized as Least Concern. However recent trends around urban areas indicate that even the species which we consider as least concerned are getting wiped out of the urban regions as their habitats are being destroyed at alarming level around human habitations. Most species live outside protected zones. Little research is done on these species outside the protected zones. It will not be a surprise, if the species with least concern tag quickly appear in threatened species list tomorrow. The protection to natural habitat is key to the protection of species, irrespective of the threat status of the species.

The term amphibia is derived from Greek meaning “leading a double life”. Amphibians are cold blooded vertebrates typically breeding in water and living on the land. Frogs, toads, caecilians are included under the class of amphibia. The amphibians are the animals which live in terrestrial (on the ground), fossorial (underground) , arboreal (on trees) or freshwater aquatic ecosystems. The amphibians are ectotherm. Ectotherm means the ones who are hot from outside but have little mechanism to control the temperature from inside. They rely on environmental heat sources. Due to this these animals can hibernate and operate at very low metabolic rate. As these amphibians are under hibernation most of the time, they are invisible to the common man. Let us understand about these invisible amphibians.

Let us understand what the Sahyadri frogs mean from Amphibian enthusiast Ninad Gosavi,
"Sahyadri , a land of forest , rich in biodiversity. This land has , mysterious variety of frogs. More than 50% species of frog of India are found in Sahyadri hill range. Lots of frogs are still unknown and scientists are working on it. Frogs are the super animals, they can live on land , under water and some species live on trees also. Frogs are one of the important stage in food chain. They eat pest of cultivation and help to control it. Their call is said to be the indicator of rain in most of the villages of Konkan. After first rain of monsoon , some of them gather around small pond and start music concert with their unique call. Scientists are now working on documentation of these calls in western ghats. After breeding , female lay eggs according to habit of species. Some deposit eggs in water , some on land under rocks , some deposit on large leaves and some make nest by folding leaf. But now a days we are loosing these beautiful creatures . Lots of reasons are behind it. Loss of habitat is one of the main threat faced by frogs. Loss of water ponds , marshes , grass lands , forest causes vanishing of these little life. Frogs are very sensitive to their environment , they show change in their body according to the vital changes in their niche. Dermal fungal infection on frogs is also affecting on the population of frogs in Sahyadri. Frogs are beautiful , amazing. We know very little about it. Sahyadri has lots of unknown frogs. We should not loose them. "

On our planet there are about 6780 species of amphibians. Out of these frogs account for 5970 species. Out of 5970 species of Frogs on earth, India has about 310 known species of frogs. Out of 310 almost half the species are restricted to western ghats. Out of about 140+ species of frogs of western ghats, 112 are endemic species. Endemic to western ghats means the species which are not seen anywhere on except in western ghats. These species are classified in various families and genera.

As can be seen in this chart the western ghat frogs can be classified based on their IUCN status. IUCN has ranked the species based on the threat to the species. It is interesting to see here that large number of species are classified as data deficient. It means we do not have sufficient data about the species, particularly about their distribution, numbers, threat data etc. This means there is a huge scope of Research in this field. Also the large pie of frogs are threatened and endangered. Few are least concern species. Most of the non endemic species are least concern species.

As shown in the chart the most of the species seen in western ghats are endemic. 112 out of 140+ species are endemic. The most of the endemic species are threatened species with some data deficient. The recent discovery of Nasikabatrachus frog, which lives underground has connection with frogs from southern hemisphere. The discovery promotes the theory that India once part of Gondwana super continent got split, isolated and then rammed in to Asia forming Himalaya.

But what is the use of frogs to mankind ?. Frogs are considered as the ecological indicators due to their sensitive permeable skin which can detect changes in land, water and air. Where they live. Amphibians play crucial role in the food web as prey and predator. They help us in controlling epidemic diseases such as malaria by feeding on mosquito larvae. Frogs are used in research in medicine field.

The small reptiles with legs can be roughly be classified as Lizards and Agamas, Geckos, skinks. The other reptiles include snakes, shieldtails, crocodiles, and turtles. India has about 79 species of Geckos, 59 species of lizards, 56 species of skinks. The image shows the Geckoella Deccanensis species seen in western ghats.

The lord Hanuman sculpture at Fort Ratangad. In Hindu tradition the monkeys, Langoors are treated as the form of God and hence are treated with care. Though they are not directly threatened, indirectly the habitat is slowly being tempered by human beings.

The north western ghats once had large number of Indian wild dogs even in the Pune district. Col. Sykes notes show that he had captured and analysed the wild dog from the Bhimashankar forest. Today the wild dogs are seen in Sahyadri and Chandoli parks and further southwards. There are no recent accounts of wild dogs from Pune district and north of it in western ghats. In Marathi these are called as Kolsun. They are in pack and are very aggressive when it comes to hunting.

The plastic pollution seen in Urban areas have created the menace in rural and forested regions due to lack of mechanisms to clear the pollution. Often the famous tourist locations, religious or eco-sensitive or both, are polluted due to human activities. Often the lack of funds is the reason why the pollution prevention and control is missing. A local mechanism of generating funds and taking actions both preventive and post-pollution are important. Recent actions taken by Maharashtra state forest department at some locations such as Bhimashankar Wild life Sanctuary has shown visible improvement in reducing plastic pollution there. Strict regulations, laws and control mechanisms is a way ahead to tackle this issue. Education and awareness of locals and tourists though is a long-term proposition, government actions can resolve the pollution issue in a short duration.

One of the important endemic birds of western ghats, Nilgiri wood pigeon is categorized as Threatened bird species as per IUCN list. It is a large sized bird (30 cm). The large trees in evergreen forest and its canopy is its habitat. These birds are good indicators of dense evergreen forest.

The Indian black bulbul is seen in evergreen forest canopies in western ghats. The birds are seen in groups and seldom come down the canopy.

The Amba-Ambika caves have ancient carvings which are considered to be Jain caves. The godess in the caves is worshipped by locals. The caves are located in Manmodi hills near Junnar in Pune district.

The mysterious Bhut caves are located in a hill south of Junnar. These caves are left unfinished due to the rock defect in the caves, which probably lead to the water leakage. The entrance of the caves has this beautiful sculpture above the main entrance opening.

These small scally breasted Munias are seen busy carrying grass to build their nests in early monsoon season. They pick up the grass and fly, giving an impression that the grass is flying. These birds feed on grass seeds. They almost live with grass.