Cold spell worries for Eravikulam park

Giji K. Raman, Idukki
The Hindu, January, 13, 2019 

The cold wave that began on January 1 has not only affected tea plantations in Munnar but also the grasslands of the Eravikulam National Park (ENP), the natural habitat of the Nilgiri tahr.
The upper reaches of Munnar have been experiencing temperatures below 00 C since the start of the month, which is unusual, and mercury dropped to -40 C after a decade in the region. Munnar Wildlife Warden Lakshmi R. told The Hindu on Saturday that vast areas of grasslands in the ENP had dried up.
She said it was a matter of concern as the area would turn fire-prone well before the drought season. She said Pampadumchola was experiencing sub-zero temperature continuously and mercury dropped to -40 C there.

Widespread damage

“Normally, temperature will rise after one or two days and the damage to the flora will be limited. However, this time the damage is widespread,” she said adding a field study would be conducted to analyse the effect of climate change in the region. Rajamala, one of the main areas where neelakurinji blossomed last year after 12 years, was inside the ENP. The August floods had damaged buds and flowers and its effect would also be studied, she added.
The germination period of neelakurinji had just started and it was being analysed to learn the effect of the floods on the flora. The changes in climate conditions were clearly evident in the Western Ghats as its eastern side formed part of rain shadow areas.
Ms. Lakshmi said controlled burning had already been done on 600 hectares of grasslands and new tender grass appeared with the winter season. It might not immediately cause any shortage of fodder for the fauna, including the Nilgiri tahr, she said. However, a drought situation much before the advent of the summer season raised concerns of wildfires. If the situation continued, fodder could be in short supply too, she added.
The changes in the climatic conditions and its effect on the flora and fauna would be studied and recorded for management purposes, she added.

 

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Counting Munnar’s winged beauties

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor
Pathanamthitta, 
The Hindu, September 23, 2015

The Kerala Forest and Wildlife Department is to launch the first-ever comprehensive and scientific survey of butterflies in the Munnar landscape soon. The three-day survey will commence on Thursday, according to G. Prasad, wildlife warden at Munnar.

Mr. Prasad says the area is characterised by a wide variety of habitat, starting from the low-lying dry scrub jungles of the Chinnar wildlife sanctuary to the ascending peaks with shola forests in the four adjoining shola national parks and the Eravikulam National Park with vast spreads of grasslands.

There is also a wide gradient of altitude, temperature, and vegetation, which all put a lepidopteran enthusiast in great excitement.

The survey

As many as 60 butterfly enthusiasts, including Kalesh Sadasivan of the Travancore Natural History Society and B. Sreekumar and Toms Augastine of the Kottayam Nature Society, will be participating in the butterfly survey, says Mr. Prasad.

E. Kunhikrishnan, senior wildlife biologist, will be the programme coordinator and Mr. Prasad will lead the survey to be held at the Chinnar wildlife sanctuary as well as the four national parks of Mathikettan shola, Pampadum shola, Anamudy shola, and the Kurinjimala wildlife sanctuary. All the four shola national parks and the Chinnar wildlife sanctuary will be systematically surveyed by establishing 14 strategic base-camps covering all the elevations and habitats. The data will be gathered using structured checklists and data sheets and critically analysed with GPS readings, says Mr. Prasad.

Butterfly calendar

For the first time in the world, the Wildlife division at Munnar has made attempts to prepare a butterfly calendar for the Chinnar wildlife sanctuary this year, he says. So far, as many as 208 butterfly species, including 58 new species, have been identified in the Chinnar wildlife sanctuary alone, he says.

Nilgiri Clouded Yellow, Nilgiri Fritillary, Palni Four-ring — all rare and endemic to the Western Ghats, Davisons Bush Brown and Red Disk Bush Brown, which are endemic to the Southern Ghats, are a few of the rare butterfly species identified in Chinnar.

The survey results are expected to be published during the Wildlife Week celebrations to be held from October 2 to 8.

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Nilgiri tahr population in new pockets

K.S. Sudhi, KOCHI,  
The Hindu, September 4, 2015

Nilgiri tahr populations have been recorded from 17 hitherto unrecorded pockets across Kerala and Tamil Nadu, according to a non-governmental organisation. This is the only species of mountain ungulates that exists in southern India.

It was during a four-year-long survey, organised by the WWF and forest officials, that its presence in new and small pockets was identified. The mountain goats, endemic to the Western Ghats regions of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, numbering 131 individuals, were counted, according to the WWF.

In Kerala, the populations were confirmed at nine locations, including Pathrakadavu, Atumudi, Koomban, Madumudi, and Chokramudi. The eight locations in Tamil Nadu included Nagamalai, Marakkal Malai, and Vasakku Malai.

The total population of the species in the region was estimated at 3,122. The single largest population of the species is in the Eravikulam National Park in Kerala. Though many unknown populations were believed to exist in small pockets throughout its range, they had not been surveyed due to the rugged and inaccessible terrain. Inclement weather also limited the understanding of the status and the distribution of the tahr across its range, according to the report.

The population status and distribution of the tahr across its entire distribution range were observed for four years from 2008The population of the species is believed to be declining due to “uncontrolled hunting, conflict with livestock grazing, and habitat loss,” according to the report, which will be released shortly.

The field surveys were carried out by Paul Peter Predit and Varun Prasath.

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Eravikulam grasslands at risk from invasive plants

Giji K. Raman
KATTAPPANA,  
The Hindu, November 8, 2014 

The grasslands of the Eravikulam National Park are under threat from two invasive alien plants.

Eagle fern and goatweed, native to California and Brazil, respectively, have spread across the grasslands, damaging the park’s flora and posing a threat to herbivores, especially the Nilgiri tahr, say recent studies.

The studies are a prelude to documenting the main aggressive plants of the State.

Eagle fern ( Pteridium aquilinum ), also known as bracken, is a large fern that grows to over three ft and readily colonises areas, hampering the growth of grasses and other plants. On the underside of the leaves is sori, which produces spores that, like seed, travel in the wind and create new colonies.

Goatweed ( Ageratum conyzoides ), known as Murianpacha locally, is a flowering plant that grows up to 80 cm.

“Both the plants are unpalatable to herbivores and make colonies, are highly invasive, and prevent the growth of grasses and other plants,” says T.V. Sajeev, Head, Department of Entomology, Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi.

He says these plants have spread wide and could be hindering the growth of fodder for wild animals, especially the Nilgiri tahr.

Eagle fern is allelopathic, that is it lets out chemicals that keep other plants from growing. Because of the chemical effect, animals do not feed on its leaves.

The plant contains carcinogenic agents, and is a threat to human beings and animals.

K.G. Ashok Kumar, who led a team to document the two plants as part of the Save Biodiversity Campaign, told The Hindu that eagle fern was heavily distributed in the low-lying areas of the park and posed a bigger threat than expected.

The plant could replace natural vegetation, and once it spread was difficult to control.

He said the dry leaves of the eagle fern caught fire readily, and the ashes facilitated the growth of the plant.

Mr. Ashok Kumar said the two plants were dangerous to animals and human beings, and it would be a huge challenge for the authorities to control them.

Murianpacha, he said, was also found in parts of Kottayam, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Palakkad, and Wayanad districts, and could grow in different soil types.

 

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Nilgiri tahr population on the rise at Eravikulam

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor
PATHANAMTHITTA,  
The Hindu, August 11, 2014 

The population of Nilgiri tahr, the only mountain goat in south India, at the Eravikulam national park in Munnar is on the rise.

G. Harikumar, Chief Wildlife Warden, and G. Prasad, Wildlife Warden in Munnar, told The Hindu that the annual census conducted by the department, along with certain non-governmental organisations, from April 21 to 28 had put Eravikulam’s tahr population at 894. The figure was 879 last year.

Mr. Prasad said the census was carried out by the Munnar Wildlife Division of the Forest Department. The counting was done using Bounded Counts, a statistic tool developed in 1984 by Rajan Varghese, chief co-ordinator of the census. This method necessitated simultaneous scanning and survey of 13 blocks, based on identified tahr home ranges, repeatedly for five days by various teams comprising volunteers, forest officials, and expert Muduvan trackers, said Mr. Prasad.

The NGOs that participated in the census include Munnar Environment and Wildlife Society, Green Cap Nature Club at Chalakudy, National Green Corps, UPASI Tea Research Institute, and the High Range Wildlife and Environment Preservation Association in Munnar.

Besides Mr. Prasad, P.O. Nameer attached to the Department of Wildlife at the College of Forestry; Mohan Alambath and James Zacharias, both former Wildlife Wardens at Munnar, and Mohan Varghese, general manager of Kannan Devan Hill Products in Munnar, trained volunteers and investigators of the tahr census.

Geographical Positioning System (GPS) was used for the first time in data collection, eliminating error to a great extent. Mr. Rajan Varghese, and M.P. Sanjayan, assistant wildlife warden at the Eravikulam national park, checked the data provided by various census teams.

Mr. Prasad said separate teams were deployed in five new locations of Meeshappuli-Mala, Kundala, Edalimottappara, Kambakkallu and Mangappara to enumerate tahr population there.

He said future efforts for the tahr census would be made under the guidance of the Chief Wildlife Warden in Thiruvananthapuram, the Field Director (Project Tiger) in Kottayam, and the Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Olavakode.

 

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Conservation drones for Nilgiri tahr count

K.S. Sudhi
The Hindu, KOCHI, August 5, 2014 

Conservation drones will soon hover over the Eravikulam National Park clicking pictures of the Nilgiri tahr.

The Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, is drawing up a plan to introduce the unmanned aircraft for population estimation and tracking the movement of the endangered mountain goats. The drones will be equipped with high-resolution mapping cameras that can click pictures for a pre-set period. The images can be stitched to obtain a picture series of the animals, K. Ramesh, scientist at the institute, said.

This will be the first time that the drones are engaged in the State for conservation of wildlife. Researchers expect to fly the drones over the park in three months.

The drones will be introduced in 10 bio-geographic zones in the country, including the Sundarbans and the Himalayas. Three of the four drones will be deployed in the Western Ghats region. The population estimation of the tahr using conservation drones will replace the more than a quarter-century-old ‘block count’ method.

The habitat of the animals is divided into 13 blocks, and the population is estimated based on direct sightings. In this method, the same animals can be sighted by different groups leading to duplication of data, P.O. Nameer, a wildlife expert, said. Conservation drones would help in arriving at scientific population figures for the animals, he said. The tahr population at Eravikulam is estimated to be 870.

Mohan Alampat, former wildlife warden of the park, said the present technique of the tahr count could be affected by poor weather conditions that may hamper the visual search of animals. Conservation drones would evolve as the preferred tool for census in areas like Eravikulam in another five years.

  

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