Forest department to conserve heronries in North Kerala

The Forest Department will soon launch a programme to conserve heronries, communal nesting places of large water birds, in four districts in North Kerala.

It plans to enlist public support to protect 15 “resident and breeding” water bird species, which are vulnerable to poaching and loss of habitat, in Kannur, Malappuram, Palakkad and Wayanad districts.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Raja Raja Varma, is finalising the scheme in consultation with ornithologist C. Sashikumar, who is the principal investigator of the department’s ongoing Malabar Ornithological Survey 2010-11.

The investigators had surveyed 102 sites and counted 8,677 nests of 12 species of water birds in August. They recorded their habits, documented the nesting trees (34 different species including bamboo clumps, mangroves and some exotic varieties planted as avenue trees) and mapped nearby wetlands. They also assessed the threats to the sites and problems such habitats posed to local populations.

The surveyors found that Kannur had the highest number of heronries (28) and nests (3917). In Wayanad, 766 water birds of nine different species nested in three heronries. More than 93 per cent of the heronries were on Government land, mostly on trees near roadsides, markets, bus stops, police stations, hospitals and riverbanks.

The Indian Pond Heron and the Little Cormorant were the most common species and shared 71 per cent of the heronries in the region.

Oriental White Ibis, classified as “near threatened” by the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN), was perhaps among the rarest of the resident water birds and nested “only” at Panmaram in Wayanad. In the South, the Ibis nested at Kumarakam in Kottayam district.

The surveyors, arguably for the first time, found that the Darter (Snake Bird), another “near” threatened species, nested in North Kerala in a heronry near Nanniyoor on the banks of Valapattanam River.

Local people often viewed such habitats as a nuisance owing to the excess of bird droppings, dead chicks and half eaten frogs and fish that litter the ground beneath nesting sites. The birds were most vulnerable during their breeding season, which coincided with the south west monsoon.

The Forest department will rope in students, bird watchers and ornithologists to sensitize the public on the importance of water birds to the vast wetland and agricultural eco-systems in North Kerala.

Source: The Hindu 21-09-2011

Willingdon, the greenest area in Kochi

Willingdon Island is the greenest area in the city.

The North and South divisions of the Island together have 413 trees. It is followed by Ernakulam South (291), Thamannam (235), and Gandhi Nagar (229).

The status of the green cover for Kochi was revealed in a tree census that was carried out recently.

The Kochi city region has 6,443 trees located in public places, according to the census carried out by the Rajagiri outREACH of the Rajagiri School of Social Sciences, Kalamassery, for the Kochi Corporation.

Trees located in private holdings were not counted.

The other greenest divisions in the city are Panampilly Nagar (213), Fort Kochi (211), Elamkulam (194), Karukapally (183) and Padivattom (179).

Concrete jungle has invaded Ponekkara the most. It is the division with the least tree cover in the city with just 15 trees followed by Kaloor North (18 trees).

“The Town Planning Standing committee of the corporation decided to carry out the census as part of its green campaign. Studies had revealed that the green cover of Kochi was quite inadequate,” said E.M. Sunilkumar, chairman of the committee.

The census will serve as the basis for future greening programmes to be implemented in the city. The committee has initiated a campaign to plant around 1 lakh saplings to improve the green cover of Kochi, Mr. Sunilkumar said.

Predictably, coconut trees formed the major chunk of the trees in the city and the surveys have located 538 of them. Surveyors counted 235 banyan trees and 203 Indian Badam trees.

The survey was carried out simultaneously in all the divisions of the corporation on a single day. The team members were guided by a team of experts. The students of the Rajagiri institutions, who carried out the survey, were also given a picture catalogue for identifying the trees.

During the survey, it was found that there were 2,086 large trees, 1,953 medium-sized ones and 1,761 small trees. The surveyors also spotted 542 saplings in public places.

Nearly half of the number of trees in Kochi are naturally grown ones. The greening efforts have succeeded in growing up 2,777 trees. The tree count has also identified the threats faced by the city trees. The report will be released on Thursday.

Source: The Hindu, 8-9-2010

Call to protect threatened medicinal plants of Western Ghats

KATTAPPANA: An effective strategy to conserve the threatened species of medicinal plants and an active monitoring of their population are needed in the Western Ghats, which is a highly-sensitive hot spot in terms of diversity of plants, C. Kunhikannan, scientist, biodiversity division,Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore, has said.Delivering the keynote address on ‘Conservation of threatened medicinal plants—challenges and strategies,' at a two-day national seminar on biodiversity protection at Newman's College, Thodupuzha, on Thursday, Mr. Kunhikannan said that the Red Data Book provided the national, regional and local lists of threatened plants.He said that these plants were either localised within the restricted geographical areas or were thinly scattered over a more extensive range. The country, he said, is gifted with a great bio-diversity of herbal plants and more than 8,000 species of plants are used in nearly 10,000 herbal formulations. About 90 percent of the crude drug requirement for these formulations is obtained from forests. However, he said, due to overexploitation, most of the life-saving medicinal plants are on the verge of extinction.“Though extinction of species is a component of evolution, the rate at which the extinction occurs due to man-made threats and avoidable factors is alarming,'' he said.In the overexploited category, medicinal plant species like podophyllum, coptis, aconitum, saraca, rauvolfia, cloriosa and horticultural plants like orchids and rhododendrons are top on the list, he said.According to Mr. Kunhikannan, the Red Data Book has categorised the plants in the Western Ghats in Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable lists. He said that for conservation of plants in the Western Ghats, the lists of endemic species—both State-wise and region-wise—should be prepared along with the map of their geographical distribution. The list of narrowly endemic and the extent of their occurrence are to be collected before preparing an effective strategy for preservation.He said that thousands of species of medicinal plants in the country were facing various degrees of threat. According to Mr. Kunhikannan, the gene bank for plants is quite expensive to create and maintain. The keynote address was followed by presentation of papers on ‘Bio-diversity and medicinal plants protection,' by Prathipal Singh of the Delhi University and the ‘Planting and protection of medicinal plants that face extinction threat,' by Gracy Mathew of Medicinal Plants Research Centre, Odakkali, Ernakulam district.The research papers submitted by Subramanya Prasad K. of Kannur University; Mercy Sachin R. of St. Xavier's College, Palayamkotta; and Bincy M.P. of Kerala Ayurveda Ltd, Aluva; were selected the best three papers, said a release here.

Source :The Hindu, 4-9-2010

State ideal habitat for bird

KATTAPPANA: An increasing presence of Lesser whistling teal or Indian whistling teal (Dendrocygna Javanica) has been reported from the State recently, thanks to the favourable breeding conditions. A common Indian bird, the Lesser whistling teal, was identified by Dr. Salim Ali way back in 1931.

Shrinkage of favourable breeding conditions, habitat loss and human interference had led to a decrease in its number. R. Sugathan, ornithologist at the Thattekkad bird sanctuary and a disciple of Dr. Salim Ali, told The Hindu on Tuesday that some favourable factors in the State had led to a steady increase in its number over the past few years. He said that paddy fields, which had been remaining fallow for a few years, offered an ideal breeding spot for the bird. It often nests on palm or coconut trees, near to undisturbed paddy fields. Up to eight newborns will be there in a family and under favourable conditions, more birds will survive.

He said that recently over 2,000 Lesser whistling teal were identified in the Thattekkad sanctuary alone giving hope for its effective conservation in the region. This has also ruled out the misconception that the presence of Lesser Whistling Teal was confined to Palakkad area alone.

According to Mr. Sugathan, the teal is different from the duck species in terms of breeding, food-taking and behaviour. The Blue wing teal, a migratory species from Siberia, is quite different from the Lesser whistling teal and the former never nests in the country. Moreover, the Blue Wing Teal often damage paddy cultivation.

A pair of Lesser whistling teal with newborns, rescued from Kothakuthy, near Thodupuzha, by the members of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, led by president M.N. Jayachandran, and forest officials, were handed over to the Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary authorities recently. The birds were released to the sanctuary after a few days of care.

Source: The Hindu,11-8-2010