Conservation Services of Sacred Groves Debal Deb Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies Barrackpore www.cintdis.org
20/12/10 Ancient Sacred Groves: Last Bastions of Biodiversity
Destruction of Sacred Groves: Wood Theft & State Forestry Operation
Once Upon A Time... There was A Grove in This Sacred Site!
Gaps in SG Literature No records of mosses, fungi & lichens. No inventory of fauna. No assessment of conservation status of taxa Consequently, information about regional distribution and abundance of a huge portion of biodiversity is yet unavailable.
Inventory of Sacred Groves and Floral Compositions MAYURESWAR-I SONAMUKHI BISHNUPUR SANTURI NETURIA 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 No. of SGs No. of Spp.
Area of Groves 120 NETURIA 100 SANTURI BISHNUPUR No. of SGs 80 60 MAYURESWAR I SONAMUKHI 40 20 0 <1 12 1-2 24 2-4 46 4-6 68 6-8 >8 SG Area (in thousand sq.m.)
Species-Area Relationship (Bankura District) 100 S = 1.23 A 0.31 R 2 = 032 0.32 No. of Sp pp. 10 1 1 10 100 1000 10000 SG Area (sq.m.)
Tree Community Size and No. of SGs 4000 BNP 3000 No o. of Trees 2000 SNM MYR 1000 SNR NTR 0 0 50 100 150 No. of SG
A Fragmented Sacred Grove at Chhandar, Housing a Rare & Endangered Tree
Vitex glabrata, a Critically Endangered Tree Discovered from a Fragmented Sacred Grove in Bankura
Casearia varica, a Rare Tree from a Sacred Grove in Bengal
Ventilago madras-patala, a Rare Liana in a Sacred Grove, Bankura
Larger and older SGs are more likely to function as the last habitats of rare taxa, which might have disappeared elsewhere. However, small and derelict SGs may also serve as the last bastions of several Rare and Endangered organisms with limited distribution ranges.
A 700-Year Old Sacred Grove in Bankura with > 40 Angiosperms
Findings from Research in Fauna of Sacred Groves Reports Location Author ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New species/ record Philautus sanctisilvaticus Amarkantak SG, Madhya Pradesh Das & Chanda (1997) Leptololax khasiorum Mawphlong, Meghalaya Das et al. (2010) Preferred habitat of fauna 4 resident birds Medinipur district, West Bengal Deb et al. (1997); Spadoni & Deb (2005) Rare fauna Poecilobdella masiliensis Madana than SG, West Bengal Deb & Bersier (in press) 20/12/10
Limitations & Constraints Failed to identify many invertebrates (e.g. caddis flies, nematodes, mites) due to the unavailability of taxonomic expertise Enlisting services of taxonomists for identifying specimens of even the common taxa like fungi and nematodes was prohibited by Financial i constraints t Collection of spcies abundance data for birds and butterflies in most of the SGs was incomplete owing to Resource constraint
Tasks for Future Concerted SG Research Enlist the Services of Endangered Specialists the Taxonomists. Expand the research focus to encompass Poorly Understood Taxa (e.g. Lichens, Nematodes) Inventory Representative Fauna (e.g. Lepidoptera and Vertebrates) Financial Support for Taxonomic Inventory of SG Inhabitants 20/12/10
References Das, I. & S K Chanda 1997. Philautus sanctisilvaticus (Anura: Rhacophoridae), a new frog from the sacred grove of Amarkantak, central India. Hamadryad 22: 21-27. Das, I, R L Tron, D Rangad & R N K Hooroo 2010. A new species of Leptololax (Anura: Megophryidae) from the sacred groves of Mawphlong, Meghalaya, north-eastern India. Zootaxa 2339: 44-56 56. Deb, D., K Deuti & K C Malhotra 1997. Sacred grove relics as bird refugia. Curr. Sci. 73: 815-817. Deb, D. & L-F. Bersier (in press). Instances of fauna conserved in two sacred habitats of West Bengal. Soc. Nat. Res. Spadoni, M & D. Deb 2005. Ethnoecology of sacred grovesin West Bengal, India. In: Himalaya: Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development. Cooperazione Italiana/ Zoological Museum. Rome, pp. 143-160. Lake 2010 DD