Aurva - From the Natural World

Saving Forests the "F" Way

2008-11-21T10:35:00.011+05:30

I came across this website about 4 years ago when members of this group had sexual intercourse on stage during a rock concert, had even blogged about it then, giving it my complete support, to then allow it to fade into obscurity. But this is a very interesting, and perhaps, a very "innovative" way to raise money that might help save the world's remaining forests.

Fuck for Forest is a non-profit organization dedicated to saving the world's remaining rainforests and "exposing" to the world the unnatural exploits of humans through what is perhaps the most popular way of gaining someone's attention. Pornography, or as the creators of FFF call it, Eco Porn. Self-proclaimed idealists, they seem to be able to garner enough funds (the seed money to set up was provided by the Norwegian government) to organize rock concerts and other rallies where members and the general public are encouraged into nudity and sexual expression of any form.

In the first year of it's existence, FFF was able to raise $100,000 after deducting legal costs, which was available to any organization/individual whose aim was to save the rainforests. Sadly, the money went to waste as collection was "questionable" and "controversial". Many organizations, including the WWF, refused the money as it was a result of "immoral" propoganda.

If the world is dominated by prudes, then easy money, like what FFF can provide, is an absolute waste. If there is an organization that is dedicated to conserving nature then why should it matter where the money is coming from. It is a legitimate organization more than willing to support good work, then what is the problem? In a world where sex sells, why cannot this form of self-expression be a part of the help that is so badly needed. Mullah, no matter where it comes from, is good mullah.

FFF, you have my support in the work you do, though I may not subscribe to public nudity for myself!

Technorati tags: conservation, controversial, sexual intercourse, nudity, rainforest, Fuck for Forest

The Last of the Asiatic Lions

2007-04-06T19:11:00.000+05:30

First it was the tigers in Rajasthan, and now its the turn of what's left of the Asiatic lion, a subspecies of the once upon a time was found from Greece to Central India. The lions in India began to disappear way in the the early 1900s. Hunting was, of course, rampant. But the bulk of the population suffered due to a backlash of a severe drought that hit the western part of the country. So severe was the problem that the lions took to hunting humans and that brought them in direct fire. It is said that the census counts for 1910 was a few dozen lions, though that could be a complete underestimation.

The last refuge for the Asiatic lion is the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park that covers about 1000 sq.km. and the number of lions is estimated at about 300 individuals.

The first incident was a small report in the Times of India onthe 1st of April about the death of an adult lion and a cub. Though the deaths were put down as "natural causes", there is room for doubt. After all, I don't think the government would be too keen on extending the true cause for death. The next day another report told the public about an arrest of a poacher, and the news of the 3rd of April was the arrest of another 3.

Poaching of the lions began more than a month ago, but it came under the limelight only when the arrests were made. About 9 lions have died since early February this year. Considering the numbers of lions is so low, this could pronounce the doom for this subspecies, the only surviving population being in the little pocket of Gir.

The boundaries of Gir have no protection, and it has taken the death of a lot of wildlife in the area for the Gujarat government to wake up. Though arrests have been made and the extra forces deployed, it could be expected that it would take the unwarranted death of a few more lions and other wildlife for someone with the power to do something to wake up and smell the possible disappearance of another animal from this country.

Technorati tags: Asiatic lion, critically endangered species, poaching

The World As We Know It

2007-04-03T18:08:00.000+05:30

There are quite a few people around the world who are actively trying to do something for the planet. Most television channels broadcast advertisements whose theme is “Save the Planet, She is Home”. Many magazines and journals publish articles about the status of the environment or of wildlife. They make interesting reading but sometimes that is all they do. It seems to me that the vast majority of the public is aware of all environmental and/or ecological issues – deforestation throughout the globe, poaching, global warming and climate change, etc. – but what exactly is the reaction of the masses, one has to keep guessing. Yes, the slaughtering of stray dogs in and around Bangalore is unwarranted, but at the same time their spread has to be controlled. That story saw the public go up in arms, literally!

But what about the tigers that disappeared from Rajasthan, and the 5 lions that have been poached in the last month in the forests of Gir? Will the public do something about that too?

The conservationists and the environmental activists are striving to save what is left of the planet for the future generations and also for the current generation to enjoy nature as much as they can before it all is destroyed. They want people to experience nature’s hold on us, to see all the many sights and hear all the sounds of the world before they all disappear. But how many people actually feel the same way nature lovers do?

Then again, there is the debate about the term “nature lovers”. A lot of people love to go to hill stations and venture into nature reserves to “enjoy” nature. What needs to be seen is to what extent they enjoy nature. All said and done greenery is definitely enjoyable, but would your own garden be as enjoyable as acres and acres of forest cover, grassland or water bodies with millions of birds flittering about? That is, there is no comparison between a beautiful garden and the pristine beauty of a forest. Many folks venture into the Western Ghats, South India, to spend their holidays among some of nature’s wonders…. but these wonders (the Indian tropical rainforests) are now fragmented by plantations of tea, coffee, teak and eucalyptus in many places. The tea plantations in the Himalayas and in the southern hills do have an aesthetic effect. The flat bushes are compared to billiard tables and many a person has stood and admired them. But is that really what nature is all about? All ecologists will agree with me that that is not a naturalist would look for. And yet it satisfies the layman. After all, it is quiet and tranquil, a perfect holiday from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Wildlife tourism is a roaring business, providing for a large part of the national income in many African and Asian countries. It is always wonderful to see wild animals in their natural habitats, to see the things they do. But how many people really see what is around them, actually SEE and experience the openness and primeval existence of life. It is hard to explain to the layman about life, as it exists, other than human existence, that it is more than self-centered existence.

People around the world are fighting to save the remaining forests, but from personal experience I know that the layman, or rather the majority of people, would not do much about it. Education and media has the masses know that there is not much left of the original forest cover, but the response is passive. It has been noticed that unless and until the consequences of environmental/ecological disasters directly affect the people, they would not do anything about it actively. And by directly, I mean the direct economic effect or deterioration of health conditions that can be directly blamed on environmental conditions. Everyone talks of pollution, but not many would blame their lifestyle to it, and this is just a small example!

It is hard to explain what exactly I am trying to say, but to sum it up in just a few words – people would open their eyes to the “natural” problems of the world only when they come directly under the onslaught, but by then it would be too late.

How many schools tell the children that they can study and make a career out of the environment, and how many parents would encourage that. It still remains to be seen how well countries can handle the changes and yet come to amicable deals that would suit every nation involved.

There is no one easy solution to this problem, but there has to be efforts made to change that. So we come full circle again to the question of how to get the masses directly involved in keeping what is left of the natural world.

Technorati tags:
natural world, pollution, poaching, global warming, environmental issues, public participation

Another Look at the Man-Animal Conflict

2007-03-03T17:19:00.000+05:30

Sifting through headlines on BBC that were published in December 2005, I came across a report stating that about 800 species of plants and animals are now threatened with extinction, unless something is done soon. And this report came at the wake of the discovery of a new species in Borneo, the civet-cat. Most of these species have been identified to be from the tropics, the most diversity-rich part of the globe, and in some places, the report says, it would cost less that $1,000 per year to save them. If the cost of saving our wildlife was so low, then how is it that we came to lose so much in the first place?

All the 595 sites that were identified is situated in what the West (and we) call the Third World countries. What it would cost the common man to spend his life in these places is way more than $1000. Man-animal conflict. That's what we ecologists call it and till date we cannot come up with any solution that would eradicate this problem once and for all. Community involvement and education, sustainable management and all that jazz. It has done something to reduce the pressure, yet the problem exists, the solution far from reality. We sit at our desks and analyze the problem, but we don't live with the problem.

Technorati tags: man-animal conflict, animal extinctions

Weather and Ecosystem Changes

2007-03-03T16:59:00.000+05:30

Weather patterns everywhere are changing. The El Nino effect is not what it used to be. The tsunami seems to have changed microclimates in some places. There are numerous reports and studies on global warming and how it is taking its toll. Every now and then animal census reports from around the world mention species whose numbers are falling.

Global warming will reduce Bangladesh's landmass by almost 17%, thats a large area of mangrove forests and all the life that they support, including human dependence on the mangrove ecosystem. The phenomenon is causing large scale extinction of several species of frogs. Global warming seems to be triggering off epidemics that have already taking away almost half the known species of frogs in the world. Frog skin is thin, that exposes them to even minor changes in temperature and humidity, even excessive rainfall can be fatal. High temperatures usually are effective in keeping a check on the diseases, but now with temperature cycles being moderate, that does not seem to help any more.

And yet, inspite of the rates of extinction increasing due to pollution and climatic changes across the globe, new species get added every now and then. Like the civet-like animal that was discovered in Borneo recently. For these animals to survive should not the weater patterns be stable? The rise in temperature in the Artics is helping the natural comeback of some species of mussels in the Arctic Ocean. But then again, this will not bode well for the Arctic ecosystem as we know it today. It will definitely be disrupted if their growth is not checked.

Could this be the beginning of a new cycle? We are headed to the next ice age, that cycle will continue. Weather patterns have oscillated over the last 150,000 years and ecosystems have sustained themselves through the changing conditions. When dinosaurs flourished, mammals were a minor part of the world. In this current age of mammals, a large number of them will go extinct as weather patterns continue to change. With these changes new species will develop. Speciation will result in animals that we may not be able to imagine today. Some scientists have made predictions as to what the future animals and plants will be like, and the represenations of those are scenes straight out of a sci-fi movie.

The change is inevitable. If the human race survives the next cycle, then who knows, our decendents would be digging up fossils of the animals we know so well today.

Technorati tags: weather, global warming, speciation, ecosystem changes,

Grass Hills, Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary

2007-02-14T18:53:00.000+05:30

I can't boast of being an avid traveler, there are certian restrains as to where I could go and what I could see. Work took me to some of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen, but one stands out and beckons to me every time I look at my old pictures.

The Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary situated in the Anamalai Hills of Tamil Nadu has some of the most varied terrain in the Western Ghats, including deciduous forest, wet evergreen and high elevation grasslands or "shola" forests. I spent about 4 months in this sanctuary and had an opportunity to visit the one section of the protected area that is now out of bounds for almost everybody.

Every year, the state forest departments organize a large mammal census in the protected areas, giving them some idea as to the health of the wildlife. The day the Nilgiri tahr census was announced in the Anamalais in March 2001, I jumped at it. It was my chance to see the one place I was itching to get up to and the one place in the area that even researchers needed special permits to go visit. Grass Hills. The most beautiful place that I have ever laid my eyes on, better than a picture postcard!

A 10km walk through rainforest and grassland awaited before we could get to the pitstop. The walk started along an old jeep track, through a tunnel of trees. The walls of soft rock at one side still oozed, long after the rains had stopped, forming trickles of water along the path. The biggest fear....elephants! In those parts, it could be hard to spot a herd in at close range. But for that day there no close encounters of the large, grey kinds. As the rainforest gives way to clearings, the first glimpse of Grass Hills left me in awe.

Before me stretched miles and miles, and hill after rolling hill of grass. All that I could see was grass, brown....being the dry season. The wind howled and whistled in my ear, at an elevation above 2000msl. Picture in your mind the sand dunes of the Thar or the Sahara (or any such place) with tiny patches of green thrown randomly among the dunes. That would be the best way I can describe it. In the horizon I saw some hills that were still covered in a blanket of green, but all around me, the brown grass danced to the music of the whistling wind. The patches of green? Well, montane rainforests. At that elevation, they are stunted and clumped into small fragments called the Shola forests. There was grass everywhere, undulating hills of only swishing grassheads! The wind was loud, almost eerie sometimes. You can actually hear the light whistles bounce of the cliff faces or the smooth hill side.

After a gruelling walk through tough terrain along animal trails (a definite "should not do" for the faint heated or anyone with the fear of heights), the forest closes in again. Another few minutes walk through a pine plantation and the vista opens out again. This time there's a house in the middle of nowhere. A tiny cottage, with a tiny garden! I've imagined myself living out in the countryside in small little cottage, with a brook bubbling nearby, a small garden and birds and flowers.....the romantic that I am. But never in my wildest dream did I think that the picture-perfect scene could ever exist. But it does. An image straight out of a story book.

Konlar Bunglow..."bunglow"? Wrong word, its a three room cottage....but that's what it's called. There flowers in the garden. There was a small brook running nearby, with a small, crudely built bamboo bridge across it. A little house nestled in the lap of the ancient overseers! The perfect, idyllic setting. That night the moon and the stars were the brightest I had ever seen. In the darkness, the hills looked formidable...a sobering experience.

Akkamalai, the highest peak in the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary. It sticks out like a huge rock among grassy hills. I had wanted to climb to the top of the peak. But as I approached it, I realized what a foolhardy task that would be. Smooth, conical rock, sticking out like a sore thumb among beautifully manicured fingers of grassy hills. I had to satisfy myself with having lunch on the next hill, looking at the peak for about 20 minutes before moving on to "grassier" pastures.

Walking through knee high grass is no joke. But the work makes it worth the while. The objective of the day's outing was to record every single sighting of Nilgiri Tahr as was possible. Locally these animals seem abundant, but through the Ghats, they are an endangered species. The most rewarding sight for a wildlife biologist is to be able to get a close of view of the animal one is pursuing. That day my team sighted about 250 individuals, which included adults of both sexes and the young ones. Other teams in different sections of Grass Hills had better luck, telling us that in that area the population was on an increase and doing well.

Indirect evidence of other animals was also recorded for personal interest. There was evidence of jackals and gaur, and troops of Nilgiri langurs were sighted, one enjoying time in the grass, suggesting that threat from predators is not as high as would be thought.

Once that area boasted of a tiger population, though now lone individuals may pass through. Leopards were the biggest predator that we saw evidence of. But sadly it has become a poacher's domain. The area is too large for the handful of forest guards to patrol and the entire region stretches across state borders. Fires are set sometimes and the forest departments have cleared circles of grass around the forest patches to keep them from burning down.

It would be a shame if unique ecosystems such as Grass Hills were lost. It was rumored that telecom towers were to be established on one of the peaks, though it has not yet become a reality. There are remnants of electric posts near the pine plantations, but none functional.

Technorati tags: Grass Hills, India, Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sancuary, unique ecosystem, Nilgiri tahr

Leopards Clubbed to Death

2007-01-18T22:45:00.000+05:30

Not too long ago I blogged about man-animal conflict, but it had not prepared me for what I saw on the news telecast today. NDTV reported the killing of two leopards in separate incidents today. A video shot of one of the incidents was available, it showed a group of men clubbing a leopard (apparently to death). Here is what happened.

Technorati tags: animal-human conflict, leopards

Human Display at a Zoo

2007-01-09T20:05:00.000+05:30

This bit of news is brilliant. The latest from Reuters science news - Humans put on display at an Australian zoo

A month long stay in an orangutan enclosure at a zoo in Australia doesn't really sound like a dream vacation, but apparently there are people who jumped at the chance to be Australia's latest zoo exhibit.

Considering this is the most novel idea I have come across to raise conservation awareness, I am at a loss of words to comment on this. The idea, though it might sound preposterous to some, unethical perharps, seems to me to be a brilliant way to catch the attention of people who look at a display in a museum or a zoo and walk away without so much as a second glance, a thought or any turning of the mind's wheels. The larger part of the population that visit zoos do so as a way to keep the kids happy, but now with this is one initiative, not only with the children question the adults more, its bound to be a thought-provoking display. The way I see it, this display should be a permanent one, and not just in one zoo, but at most of them.

If one wants the world to know more about primate conservation, what better way to do so than to put the one primate on display who's been responsible for the disappearance of the other primate species.

Technorati tags: primate conservation, human display, conservation awareness

Of Wild Horses and Black Bucks

2007-01-09T17:31:00.000+05:30

The heat is blistering, rising up from the ground creating a mirage, the image reflecting off the salt encrusted ground. It's in the middle of February 2005, and the heat is searing. I'm there as a part of a group from an NGO based in Pondicherry to teach field techniques to a group of marin biology students from the US.

The place - Point Calimere.
Location - East coast of southern Tamil Nadu where the coastline takes a sharp turn to the west, with Sri Lanka about 43km to the south, across the Palk Strait.

An introduction to any place is exciting, its new and there's a sense of adventure in the air. But that soon evaporates due to the heat. Armed with dollops of sunblock and lots of bottles of drinking water, we set out to conquer the seaside sanctuary.

Its a beautiful place, as any place in its natural, pristine self is. Its also very small for a sanctuary, barely 30sq.km. The beauty of the place lies in its vegetation. One half of the sanctuary is open grassland (with loads of Prosopis, an invasive plant) and the other half is the largest section of tropical dry-evergreen forest in South Asia (and the thickest that I have ever seen). Making this unusual place a home are spotted deer (which, by the way, do not belong there....they were introduced into the area years ago), black buck, the only population of wild horses in the Subcontinent, wild boar, jackals, a myriad of birdlife (migratory as well as residential), and of course, the almost feral cattle blissfully grazing on the salt encrusted grass.

We visited Point Calimere a couple of months after the tsunami. The entire grassland area was covered with a thick layer of algae and salt, rendering the surface extremely slippery. Along the beach lay a few scattered bones of the unfortunate casualties of the tsunami, washed ashore from other places in South Asia. The local authorities had cleaned up as much as was possible by them, burying most of the bodies. The animals found higher ground (the highest being barely 4msl), but human life suffered.

The forest section was....wow! To get to some of the places we needed to, we had to do the army crawl, and not one of us were left without torn clothes or torn skin....its a miracle that our measuring tape (used to measure girth of vegetation) suffered no damage from the deadly thorns! Crawling along on all fours also meant that some of us had to deal with fire ants too....not a very pleasant experience. But the forest was our only respite from the incessant heat.

And then there were the tidal swamps to deal with. Accessability to certain parts of the sanctuary meant having to wade through slimy, algal pools. Our sneakers weren't really enjoying the experience....whoever thought about inventing the water-shoe is a genius (but they don't come in my size). But it sure was a whole load of fun.

Walk northward to the shore and there stands the perfect little lighthouse. Its a scene straight out of Enid Blyton! Red and white, completely made of iron. It was set up by the British, but lies unused now. Climb up to the top and the view is breath-taking. Thats when you realize why the place is called a "Point". The triangular piece of land jutting out into the sea (look up a map, if you need clarification!). The narrow stretch of beach visible for miles and the beginning of the Palk Strait, the mirky, narrow and shallow body of water that separates Sri Lanka from the Indian mainland.

A century old lighthouse erected by the Chola dynasty, now stands as a stump....made smaller by the force of the tsunami.

Wait a while and you might be lucky enough to see dolphins, and maybe even turtles during the nesting season. The local forest department has set up a small artificial hatchery for the turtle eggs, as feral dogs and jackals posed a constant threat.

Flamigoes, pelicans, herons, terns and a variety of ducks can be seen across the road where the salt marches provide excellent habitat for them. The beach along the lenght of the sanctuary though narrow, boasts of some of the most beautiful shells that I've ever seen. A quaint fishing village (rendered not so quaint by smuggling across borders) provides an almsot perfect backdrop to the scene. Ignore the effects of the tsunami and its the perfect seaside sanctuary for anyone, human or animal.

Technorati tags: Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary, tsunami, wild horses, black bucks, tropical dry evergreen forest

Ranthambore Tiger Reserve

2007-01-09T11:18:00.000+05:30

Situated where the Aravalli and the Vindhya hill ranges meet, Ranthambore was one of the most celebrated hunting grounds of the Rajputs, the maharajas of Mewar and then the Mughals. With the backdrop of the the Ranthambore Fort, this wildlife sanctuary makes an impressive setting. Dotted with a few natural springs that sustain the wildlife through the year, it is home to some of India's most famous tigers. Filmed for a multitude of documentaries, the tigers here were the some of the most well-documented and studied.

Though Ranthambore lies in one of the drier parts of the country with some of the most severe summers, the animals here have learnt to survive through the long dry months. The permanent natural springs provide succor for the tiger and their prey, boars wallow in the drying pools to cool off, while the deer collect at the waterholes despite the threat from the few crocodiles that call some of these pools home. The park boasts of a large population of spotted deer or chital, hanuman langurs, rhesus macaques, sambar and a myriad of bird life.

Ranthambore is a land of contrasts. Summer brings in the heat that leaves the land parched. Trees shed their leaves and the yellowing grass provides ample camouflage for the tiger to stalk its prey. The sight that meets the eye during the summer months is that of parched desperation. But once the monsoons set in, the park is a splendid green.

For a land that is dry, Ranthambore is a haven for all living things. I have seen it in the dry weather and I have seen it right after the monsoons. For the life that it sustains (should I now say "sustained"?) it is no suprise that it became one of India's most famous tiger reserves. Of course, the sighting of a tiger there is always a matter of chance. But not any more. The sighting of a tiger is a matter of history. It was Sariska first. Reports started pouring in that tigers were disappearing. Noone seemed to know why. But it seemed evident. Large cats like that don't disappear into thin air. Common sense said they were poached. Every single one of them. The lucky ones are somewhere in the vicinity. Only time and indirect evidence will tell if there are any "lucky ones". Its almost the same story in Ranthambore. I have had friends who participated in the tiger census in 1999-2000 in the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve. The numbers that were shared with me then by my friends did not tally with the numbers the Forest Department released, the official reports always had about 10-12 extra tigers. And then the tigers began to disappear last year. A handful remain, a population that may not sustain itself without human intervention. Animals have been poached ever since hunting was banned all over the world. The authorities in every country know about this and yet it cannot be stopped. The mafia is too strong and the authorities too few. The forest department is never on the priority list of any government, so money does not flow to support anti-poaching units. Salaries are so low that some officials would rather help than prevent. Money has always been more important. But what about the conservationists? Valmik Thapar always had a lot to say. For that matter Fateh Singh Rathore always claimed to be a hard-working field director of Ranthambore Tiger Reserve. Then why is it that the places where either had a role to play are the ones that seem to be losing tigers? I could be wrong, then am I one of the few that sees a connection? Rathore was accused of illegally occupying land around the sanctuary. The last time that I visited Ranthambore, he was still showing tourists around, running a private eco-tourism company. A little more than a week ago, the government passed an order to demolish the hotel that his son ran just outside the park. The reason? It was within 500m of the park boundry, a strip of land kept as a buffer. By the time the stay order was obtained from Jaipur, the 5 year old building was a pile of rubble. The Ministry of Environment and Forests had ordered independent probes into the disappearing tigers case. Soon we shall have concrete reasons as to what happened, or so I hope. But cannot the government do more? A lot more? That remains to be seen, after all our wildlife makes only a very small part of our economy.

Technorati tags: Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, spotted deer, hanuman langurs, sambar, poaching, tiger census

The Man-Animal Conflict

2006-12-17T18:31:00.000+05:30

It is now a very common occurence. Every protected area around the globe has stories to tell about the conflict for space and resources between man and animal. The ever growing population of people around forested areas has come in direct confrontation with what the local fauna require. Encroachments and harvesting of forest products has not left too much for the survival of the animals.

An on-going struggle in the southern forests of India, there are confrontations between man and animal almost every day. For years the monkeys in the forests of the Kodagu district (popularly known as Coorg) in Karnataka raided the crops in the villages and plantations around their home ranges. It finally led to the hunting and poisoning of many of these monkeys, such that the population of some species is locally very low. Areas that came under cultivation increased gradually and diminished the natural food supply, and provided an easy larder laden with good food. The same problem occured with wild elephants in the area.

The elephant conflict is extremely common, not only in India, but in Sri Lanka and Africa as well. Electric fences are now built around the cultivated areas to safe guard the crops, but leading instead to injuries to the animals that walk into them, either in search of food, or in the process of moving from one area to another.

The threat to wildlife not only occurs through direct contact with humans, through hunting or poisoning, or structures built to keep them away. A huge danger that hangs over these areas is the growing numbers in domestic cattle. Diseases carried by cattle are easily transmitted to the local wildlife and can spread like wildfire through the wild population wiping out large numbers of wild fauna. Areas in Africa have already fallen victim to this threat.

In the southern Indian state of Karnataka, the areas around Bandipur and Nagarhole Wildlife Sanctuaries, the man-animal conflict has hit the headlines ever so often. Large populations of Indian bison or Gaur (Bos gaurus) were wiped out due to the spread of foot-and-mouth disease through the jungles. Recently, it was feared that rabies would completely wipe out what was left of the gaur population.

Leopards have been a threat to villagers around the Sanjay Gandhi National Park near Mumbai, about a dozen people were known to have been mauled. It has been estimated that more than 45 people have been mauled or killed by leopards across the country. A documentary by Sir David Attenborough showed a female leopard regularly visiting a village in Rajasthan at night to hunt for easy prey.

A paragraph from an article published in the Hindu in 2004 gives some idea as to the extent of the problem:
"In the densely forested Madhya Pradesh, on an average 30-35 cases of loss of human life, 700-800 injuries to people and 250-300 cases of killing of domestic animals and cattle are reported every year. Acute drought is also an important reason for wild animals wandering into the farmlands in Tamil Nadu. In the past 5 years, 100 people were killed and 52 seriously injured and 781 hectares of crop damaged. An amount of Rs. 61.50 lakhs was paid as compensation to the affected. Studies show that the changing land use pattern in the peripheries of protected areas due to demographic changes is affecting wildlife habitats. These pressures influence the movement pattern, habitat utilisation and behaviour leading to regular increase in the race for survival between man and animals."

During a 4 month stay at the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary during 2000-2001, I personally saw at least a few dozen cases of man-animal conflict around the forests and estates in the area. A gaur was killed using a home-made explosive kept neatly hidden amongst the foliage. The tribals in the area were blamed, though it could also have been the estate labor looking for an easy and cheap sourse of meat. Elephants were a constant threat, raiding bananas and small garden patches. The ghat roads criss-crossing through the hills have resulted in a multitude of road kills, primarily of primate species, civets and deer.

Entries on another blog lists out encounters with elephants across Africa and Asia. A comprehensive research article by Elisa Distefano on various case studies is an eye-opener, and can be found here. It discusses the threat to widlife from various aspects as well as lists the threat to some of the world's most endangered mammals, such as the snow leopard, Asiatic lion, Sumatran tiger and the red colobus monkey.

There doesn't seem to be any viable solution to this problem. The areas around the globe that have this problem are categorized as the Third World countries. Economics plays a very strong role in any decision that is taken. No government is able to take a stand and ask people to leave the wildlife alone. In places where the community has been asked to protect the local wildlife in a way that the people may financially benefit, it has reduced the conflict to a large extent. But the same solution does not work in every place. Changing crop patterns to keep animals away was an experiment that worked for a while, but was in no way a permenant solution. This will be a long hard struggle, where the local people, the wildlife protectors and the governments are going to be at loggerheads with each other to figure what can be done. Sadly there is no Dr. Dolittle to understand what it would be like for the animals or ask them what it is that they would want.

Technorati tags: man-animal conflict, crop raids, leopard kills, Indian bison, demographic changes, human-elephant conflict

Primate Extinction Rates

2006-11-24T13:12:00.000+05:30

While I was working on my PhD program, the editor of Green Talk (the newsletter for Oikos, the nature club run by the students of our Ecology dept.) asked me to contribute an article on primates. The best contribution that I could make to a newsletter that was read by students other than with an ecology background was to get the latest status report for monkeys around the world. I knew numbers were declining, and I knew they were declining fast.....and yet, every new status report that I look up left me wondering if there was any hope for saving some of the most critically endangered ones. The lastest numbers for the orangutan is very grim. Wildfires across their habitat has wioed out most of them. Another decade is the time given for the remaining population to go extinct in the wild. This is the article that was published in the newsletter Oikos about a year ago.

Almost 90% of nonhuman primate species occur in the tropical forests of Asia, Africa, South and Central America. According to the figures published in the 2004 IUCN Red List, there are about 650 different species of nonhuman primates in the world (there would have been more several years ago). Of these, 204 taxa (or about one-third) are considered critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable. Of these, 103 taxa (16.6%) are listed as critically endangered or endangered. The main reasons for the rapid decline in primate populations across the globe are habitat destruction, and overharvesting for food and trade.

In the 1980s, it was estimated that the tropical forests of Asia, Africa and South America were disappearing at the rate of 10 million to 20 million hectares per year. In 2000, the forest cover reduced by a factor of -0.1 in Asia, -0.8 in Africa and -0.4 in South America. With such a decline in forest cover, habitat destruction is by far the major factor contributing to the decline of wild primate populations. The continuous growth of human population and its increasing demands on resources has led to the destruction and/or modification of natural primate habitats. And the range of most primates falls into the Third World countries, leading to conflict between human and animal needs.

Hunting of primates in most areas is prohibited by law, but the enforcement of such legislation is almost nonexistent in remote areas. Hunting primates for food is a threat in the Amazon region, West and Central Africa. Where hunting for food is not a practice, primates are the source of medicinal products. The meat of the Nilgiri langur and the Lion-tailed macaque is considered an aphrodisiac in some parts of South India. The liver of the Nilgiri langur is said to have other powerful medicinal properties. The blood of the Phayre’s leaf monkey in Thailand is thought to confer vigor to the drinker, especially when mixed with the local whiskey. The skins and other body parts are used for ornamentation; the skin of the Black-and-white colobus monkey is highly valued. And then there is live capture of the animals for illegal trade.

Of the 202 taxa of primates found in the Neotropics, 69 are classified as Threatened and 34 Critically endangered; of the 190 species of primates in Africa, 40 are Threatened while 29 are Critically endangered; 35 out the 51 species in Madagascar are Threatened and 17 Critically endangered; and among the 176 taxa found in Asia, 60 are Threatened, and most of the others are critically endangered or endangered.

For those of us striving to save the world's wildlife, it seems to be a losing battle. It's not just the monkeys I'm wondering about, but every single species that has come into consideration for being enlisted into the danger list. There are definitely species that have not been discovered yet, but may not, considering the pace at which our forests are disappearing. And yet.....we keep trying.

Techorati tags: primates, extinction rates, IUCN Red List, critically endangered species, endangered species, threatened species

Politics and Conservation

2006-11-23T19:28:00.000+05:30

Sifting through headlines on BBC about a year ago, I came across a report stating that about 800 species of plants and animals are under the threatened of extinction, unless something is done soon. And this report came at the wake of the discovery of a new species in Borneo. Most of these species were identified to be from the tropics, the most diversity-rich part of the globe, and in some places, the report said, it would cost less that $1,000 per year to save them. If the cost of saving our wildlife was so low, then how is it that we came to lose so much in the first place? And still losing at a very alarming rate.

All the 595 sites that were identified is situated in what the West (and we) call the Third World countries. What it would cost the common man to spend his life in these places is way more than $1000. Man-animal conflict. That's what we ecologists call it and till date we cannot come up with any solution that would eradicate this problem once and for all. Community involvement and education, sustainable management and all that jazz. It has done something to reduce the pressure, yet the problem exists, the solution far from reality. We sit at our desks and analyze the problem, but we don't live with the problem.

The latest amendment to India's Wildlife Protection Act allows for people to settle within the limits of protected areas. This came about after the huge loss of the tiger population from Rajasthan. Though I haven't seen the amendment yet, reports say that people will now not be asked to relocate from threatened areas to enable the protection of the animals the areas are meant to protect. The way I see it, India has yet to make advances in its infrastructure as far as the forest and wildlife protection goes. There is not enough money-power and man power to save wildlife. Allowing the local people to settle in the protected areas will only increase the threat.

Lets be practical here, the people who settle in these areas (other than the tribals who have been dependent on the forest for eons) are agriculturists, people still living under the poverty line. Encouraging them to involve themselves in the protection of the forest assets is a dream that will blow up in our faces. They will need the forest products to sustain themselves and then comes the threat of poaching. The main reason that the tigers disappeared was because the local people were invloved. Poachers pay them for the help rendered. Money is an excellent lure for the people who barely have enough to feed their families. Conversationists and activists are now trying to get the government not to pass the act, but it remains to be seen who the winner will be in this situation. Frankly, no matter what we try, there doesn't seem to be a scenario where wildlife comes out the winner.

Technorati tags: extinction, new species, protected areas, Wildlife Protection Act, conservation

Biodiversity Hotspots

2006-10-19T12:08:00.000+05:30

The term "biodiversity hotspots" has become a fad in ecological vocabulary; when talking about conservation or research, there is always an emphasis on the hotspots. The concept isn't all that old either, it came into existence when Norman Myers coined the term in 1988. According to Conservation International (CI), the term ecological hotspots means areas with the richest and most threatened reservoirs of plant and animal life, including endemic species. In 2000, there were 25 hotspots that were identified (the list available here), today Conservation International has demarked 34 ecoregions around the globe as areas that have lost more than 70% of their diversity, classifying them as biodiversity hotspots. These regions were recognized so that they would receive priority in conservation strategies, to be able to monitor extinction rates in the areas and to save as much of the original biodiverstiy as possible. (Details about the hotspots here and the map showing all hotspots is available in PDF format here)

Huge amounts of funds are available for anyone interested in conservation work in these regions. CI set up CEPF, the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, that provides grants to researchers interested in working to save the biodiversity in 25 of the 34 ecological hotplates. Another of the biggest players handling funds for these areas is the MacArthur Foundation. More than 750 million US dollars has been invested in the last 15 years.

The concept of hotspots, though brilliant and allowing the easy classification of areas according to priority, it sparked off a debate that took into account the fact that not all species were given equal importance, nor were all environmental and socio-economic factors taken into consideration during the demarkation of the hotspots. The debate began with the mere definition, Myers wanted to target areas so that the maximum number of species could be saved. But is many areas there are some species that are locally abundant and on an individual basis they receive less attention. Moreover, when the hotspots receive the bulk of the attention, other areas that are also diversity rich go completely or partially ignored, or cannot be sustained for the lack of funds. Even limited resources and time were not enough to pacify some of the critics. Conserving diversity in some of the hotspots was very successful, one example would be the success story of Madagascar, where the president Marc Ravalomanana pledged in 2003 that he would triple the island's protected area network. Since then more than 36 million US dollars has been raised to save the island's plants and animals, most of which are endemic. But Southeast Asia's Sundaland hotspot—which includes the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo—has deteriorated rapidly in the face of unabated commercial logging and agriculture expansion. According to some scientists the hotspot approach failed to take into consideration ecosystem services that are essential to human survival, it should include concepts such as carbon storage, fisheries, clean water supply and agricultural systems. In an article published in a 2001 issue of Global Ecology and Biogeography, the authors, Paul Jepson and Susan Canney, argue that the concept of conservation is based on human intentions, "a social movement working to develop and maintain values in society concerning the human-nature relationship". They take the society's approach to the debate. According to them, although nature reserves prove to be valuable, society tends to have a more eclectic view. The hotspot approach, they say, has a very limited ability aethetically and ethically to protect diversity spatially and that this will not provide a 'blueprint' for future strategies. It is the difference in the cultures of the peoples of the various hotspots that will not allow this holistic approach to nature conservation.

Failure to protect even a few of the hotspots would, in all probability, reduce the world's biodiversity by more than 50%. The statistics of 2003 are grave. Extinction rates are on the climb, despite all efforts to save the earth's biodiversity. The World Conservation Union's Red List assessed 40,000 species worldwide, of which 12,000 faced extinction. These included one in 8 birds, a quarter of all mammals and 13% of the world's flowering plants. Hotspots will enable the conservation of a number of species locally, but there doesn't seem to be enough to monitor extinction rates in other areas.

For more on the hotspots see Nature Conservancy's "Last Great Places" at www.nature.org
More on Indian hotspots on this blog soon.

Technorati tags: biodiveristy, biodiveristy hotspots, conservation, Conservation International, conservation funds, extinction rates

Animal Homosexuality

2006-10-13T21:47:00.000+05:30

Homosexual behavior in humans has been a controversial topic for eons together, the Church being its formost opponent. Elsewhere I had written about the evolution of homosexuality, wondering why there was such a hue and cry about a person's sexual orientation. Is it really such a big deal? I talked about homosexual behavior within the animal kingdom, and now I'm going to add to that discussion.

But first, what is more intriguing, I think, is the concept of masturbation. It sure is common amongst us humans (a concept that too was debated over), but is it prevalent in the animal kingdom too? If evolution had its way, then it should be, at least to some extent. Looked it up on Wiki and it linked me to a video clip showing a kangaroo masturbating. Apparently female porcupines employ the use of vibrators, too! (Wiki is examples galore here)

Homosexual behavior is known to occur in about 450 different species of animals, ranging from the birds, bees, to higher animals like the mountain goat, cat and the elephant. Till a few years ago, scientists researching animal sexual behavior in the wild would mask their findings on homosexuality as some other form of social behavior. I found this written in another article on animal homosexuality:

A female ape wraps her legs around another female, "rubbing her own clitoris against her partner's while emitting screams of enjoyment." The resercher explains - its a form of greeting behavior. Or reconciliation. Possibly food exchange behavior. Its certainly not sex, not lesbian sex.
Six bighorn rams cluster, rubbing, nuzling and mounting each other. "Aggressosexual behavior" the biologist explains. A way of establishing dominance.

Of course, today that outlook doesn't allow for good research. What you see is what gets documented. Bruce Bagemihl spent 10 years researching the 'forbidden' topic of animal homosexuality. His extensive research culminated in his book Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity.

Here is Wiki's list of animals that indulge in homosexual, transgender behavior.

The latest from the world of homosexuality is that the Oslo Natural History Museum states for a fact that homosexuality is natural. They are hosting the world's first exhibit on animal homosexuality, which started on Thursday. Some of the exhibits seem to be very interesting, indeed!

Technorati tags: animal homosexuality, sexual behavior, masturbation, Olso Natural History Museum, animal homosexuality exhibition

Tropical Diversity

2006-10-10T12:09:00.000+05:30

I have talked about the diversity of species in the tropics in a previous post...this morning I read an interesting article that tells of how the tropics are the cradle of diversity as well as a museum.....any harm to tropical diversity will affect the biodiversity of the entire globe.

Technorati tags: tropical diversity

The Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation

2006-10-06T18:47:00.000+05:30

It was founded as the Association for Tropical Biology (ATB) in 1963. Today, known as the ATBC, it is one of the most popular organizations in the ecological world. It brings together researchers from all over the world to share, discuss, review and present the projects that has kept them busy in tropical ecosystems.

The Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) organizes symposia in to provide a forum for the researchers and students to come together to present their work. Recently, the Asia chapter was convened and an inaugural conference is being organized in Mahaballipuram, India, in the month of March, 2007. It will call out to some of the biggest names in tropical ecology. Presentations made at this symposium will be very interesting and worth following.

Updates on the symposium will be posted here later.

Brochure for the ATBC-Asia chapter symposium here and for more on the Mexico conference, the details are provided here

Technorati tags: Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, symposium, tropical ecology, ATBC - Asia chapter

Wildfires in India

2006-10-06T18:27:00.000+05:30

The extent and intensity of forest fires across the globe in the last few years has kept fire ecology in the limelight. The media has repeatedly talked about the impact of the haze on wildlife in Indonesia and the aftermaths of the fires in North America and Australia. The concept has grown in popularity with ecologists in India where this was one aspect of the profession that had taken a back seat till very recently. Very minimal research has been done in the norther regions of the country, and not even a fraction of that is known in the case of the Western Ghats.

Wildfires are a common phenomenon in India, excpet that they aren't very well documented. Most of the information available lies with the State Forest Departments. The above image shows fires in a period of 48 hours around the 14th of March, 2006. Wildfires are hardly a natural phenomenon in the Indian context, the weather conditions do not allow for widespread damage due to natural forest fires. From time in memorial, or rather for as long as people have been dependent on the land, fires have been set in many parts of the country. Fires have been set for human use, collection of fodder and other forest products, as well as for shifting cultivation. Accidental fires are a common feature in the dry season. The current fire regime has a major role to play in the spatial distribution of trees, their recruitment and growth.

Statistically, the data available for the fire regime in India is very weak, but it has been estimated that the damage done to the forests ranges between 30% to 90%, depending on the region the fire has affected and the fire season usually ranges between February and June.

In southern India, deciduous forests catch fire annually, coinciding with the summer months when the leaves of this typw of flora begin to shed. This is a very common feature in Mudumalai, Bandipur and Wayanad wildlife sanctuaries, and has now been incorporated into the ecology of floral and some faunal species in these areas. But, not only does it enable the germination of floral species, it creates large gaps in the forest canopy (and in some cases may cause fragmentation) allowing invasive foreign species to establish in the area. One of the most common examples of this type of invasion is that of the growth of Lantana camara in large areas. With large tracts if forest land now under agriculture (including tea, coffee, eucalyptus and cardamom plantations) - almost 40% of the original forests of the Ghats was lost between 1920 and 1990 - the fragment size seems to have increased 4 fourfold. This makes the remaining forest fragments increasingly vulnerable to escaped agricultural fires.

The forests of the Western Ghats are not ecologically prone to fires, and the minimal research that has been done has shown that the wetter regions are highly prone to damage by fire, altering their demography, species recruitment and accelerating the process of deforestation. The high-elevation montane grasslands are the only ones that have been recorded to be a "fire-maintained" ecosystem.

With research on forest fires gaining in popularity, it will be easier to understand the processes involved in succession of forest types due to fire. This will also make it much easier to manage protected areas and allow for the control of forest fires.

Details for this article were obtained with the help of friends working in the area of fire ecology and from published material
Kodandapani et al. (2004): Conservation Threat of Increasing Fire Frequencies in the Western Ghats, India. Conservation Biology, 18(6), p1553-1561.

Technorati tags: fire ecology, Western Ghats, forest fires, deciduous forests, species recruitment, forest fragmentation

Reintroduction of Animals in the Wild

2006-10-05T12:08:00.000+05:30

The latest gossip from the ecologists dinner table is all about (re)introducing megafauna, including predators, to North America. They call it "Pleistocene re-wilding". The talks started last year, and the upcoming November issue of the American Naturalist will publish the findings of the study that hopes to make North America another Africa.

13,000 years ago the ecology of any land would be completely different. The time span is long enough for any ecosystem to adapt to the change in climatic conditions and other environment factors that would determine the ecology of the area. North America may have had animals like the lion and the elephant inhabiting the plains during the Pleistocene, but conditions as of today are very different from what they used to be then. The current ecosystem may be able to support the introduction of what has become alien species to the continent, but then what happens to the wildlife that has adapted to the present ecosystem? The introduction of predators will harm the herbivore population inhabiting the plains of North America. Their defence system has become adapted to predators that currently share their habitat. Addition of new predators may drive the population of hares, rabbits, rodents, deer, etc. to extinction. Feeding habits of the predators cannot be controlled, so what chance does the existing wildlife have against established predators that currently inhabit other continents?

Another consideration has to be whether the megafauna can survive in what is Norh America today. Animals like the elephant (Asian and African), lion, cheetah, wild ass and camel are not used to living in cold conditions. Survival in a strange ecosystem becomes a struggle. In all probability the (re)introduced species will die out.

The team that is investigating the reintroduction has taken into account public acceptance, change in disease ecology, human health risks, and other ecological and sociopolitical consequences. This may not be enough. A project this large can seem very feasible on paper, but to let loose a large number of alien species into a completely different ecosystem is a large risk.

While at university I remember discussing the issue of reintroducing cheetahs into the Indian wilderness. A natural inhabitant of the land, the last one was hunted down in 1954. There was talk about either trying to clone cheetahs from the Middle East or from Africa, or to reintroduce individuals from either or both places. Considering the cheetahs were a natural part of the Indian terrain, there would not have been too much of a problem there, the introduced individuals would very easily adapt to conditions prevelant. But if memory serves me right, the plans were dropped. There was too much risk involved. The previous generation of humans in the area of introduction had all but forgotten what it was like to cohabit with cheetahs. There would be the risk of new diseases within the wild and domestic population of animals. There would be too much pressure on the already low prey population. Tigers and other predators would have to compete with a new predator and one can never tell which side the scale will tip. The bills would run into millions perhaps.

Large projects like the reintroduction of megafauna into the North American continent seems like a brilliant idea, but I'm sceptical as to the success of this project. There may be science involved in every step, but its not an easy task, Herculean, too, does not seem to do justice to what the team plans to do. But I will wish them the very best!

Technorati tags: animal reintroduction, megafauna, cheetah reintroduction

The Lion's Mane

2006-09-26T22:01:00.000+05:30

The moment someone mentions a lion, the mind conjures up an image of a magnificent beast whose most prominent mark of identification is it's mane. Charles Darwin theorized that the lion's mane existed to dampen the blows received from attacks by conspecifics. He was also the first to categorize them as a social trait, considering that lions are the only cats with manes and the only social cat. It has remained a status symbol to most people, but for years it was thought to enhance the chances of mating - a sexual trait - a thick mane signifying the male's fighting ability and nutritional status. The thicker and darker the mane, the overall fitness of the male would be advertised well to opponents as well as to potential mates.

If the lion's mane evolved to protect the neck area from injury during fights with opponents, it would be a consistent trait among all populations of lions throughout their range. Lions found in some areas are known to have scanty or thin manes. Studies conducted by the Lion Research Centre, University of Minnesota, have found that there is no evidence to suggest the neck is the prime area of attack, hence evolution would not necessarily have confined a think mane to the neck region, and if it did then there would be a similar adaptation in the case of juveniles and females, as they too are involved in occassional bouts of ill-temper. Of course, their experiments to prove that the mane is a sexual trait were successful. It was found that females did prefer males with darker, thicker manes and the males with such manes had higher levels of testosterone. But it still did not explain the lack of manes in males found in other regions.

The thickness of the mane has one very serious drawback. In warm climates such as in the tropical sanctuary of Gir in India and in the lower elevation habitats for lions in Africa, the males would suffer from heat stress. Evolution then stepped in to take control. Lions in the lower elevation, warmer climes have very scanty manes, similar to those of the males found in India.

An ingenious study conducted on zoo animals throughout the United States showed that the thickness of the lion's mane is directly related to the temperature that it lives in. Colder the temperature, thicker the mane, luckier the male will be with the ladies. The study suggests that the condition of the mane has no relationship with social or sexual factors, or with genetics. Zoo animals in warmer climates lost their manes to avoid overheating their bodies. There is a theory that states that if global temperatures keep inceasing, then the males with luxurious, thick, black manes that one would image a lion as would become a thing of the past.

In a similar study across the African wilderness, it was found that lions developed manes according to the climatic conditions of the area. Lions in equatorial East Africa have varied mane thicknesses depending on the elevation of their habitat. The most beautiful, thick manes occurred in higher elevations and the condition of "manelessness" was found in populations inhabiting the lower elevations such as areas around Tsavo.

But there was a hitch. Paradoxically, some males in the Tsavo population who were not supposed to sport good manes were found to do so. In fact it was reported that the mane variation in this region crossed the entire spectrum, from almost no manes to the most luxurious manes. The latest study shows that the lion's mane continues to develop way after the individual has crossed it's sexual prime. Young lions were found to have lesser manes than the older ones, the mane continued to grow as the individual grew older. Lions in the age group of 3-7 years, the ones in their prime were found to have marginal manes, while the older classes possessed enviable manes. This can be theorized as being related to the temperature again. Young lions require all their potential to mate, they cannot afford any loss of energy through heat stress, hence the lesser manes. But as they grow and cannot compete in the sexual arena, the manes grow.

This topic was first discussed in 1833 by Capt. W. Smee - “On the maneless lion of Gujerat,” Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London; part 1, page 140, 1833.

This is still a debatable issue. On the one hand there is ample evidence that suggests the mane is more a sexual trait, while on the other groundbreaking research suggests a link to age. This cannot be concluded unless the condition of the lion's mane is studied throughout the range, including all subpopulations in Africa as well as in India. Scientists have also tried to link the lack of manes in some males to the baldness gene carried only by the males.

Technorati tags: lion's mane, sexual trait, genetic adaptation, heat stress, manelessness, age related

The Evolutionary Arms Race

2006-09-25T20:14:00.000+05:30

We all know that crickets "sing" to enable them to locate their mates, their wings being their "singing" apparatus. Male crickets are provided with minute "teeth", like that in a comb, on the edge of their wings which when rubbed together make the familiar chirps. Each species, of course, has a different chirp, the species-specific song required so that the females of each species of cricket finds its corresponding mate, and not mate with that of another species. The result of this interspecific mating could be an infertile offspring. Evolution does not allow for the progress of a species in that respect, infertile offspring will essentially lead to the demise of the species itself over time.

What is very interesting is that on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, a particular species of field cricket (Teleogryllus oceanicus) has lost the ability to chirp. This is the latest news from the evolutionary front. It has been discovered by a group of scientists from the University of California, Riverside, that this species of cricket underwent a mutation, a heritable change in the genetic structure, only about 20 generations ago, which produced offspring with wings similar to that of the females (flat wings). 20 generations means the change took place approximately a decade ago, or maybe even less, depending on the life span of this species. This mutation occurred to ensure the males are not attacked by the parasitic fly that deposits its egg on the body of the cricket.

The lack of a chirp would mean that the cricket is unable to mate, the females would not be able to locate the males without the chirp, a trait that would essentially be evolutionarily harmful to the reproductive success of the species. But it has been ascertained that this species is mating successfully, suggesting that there is some change in their behavior that allows the females to locate the males, thus ensuring evolutionary success. The males have developed female-like wings and this is the case only on the island of Kauai, elsewhere the males of the same species have normal wings. It has been suggested that the "flatwing" males congregate near the few males that can call and manage to copulate. It is very suprising that a mutation which is evolutionarily harmful has spread so quickly through the population on the island.

But essentially this is how the evolutionary arms race works. One species develops a trait to escape from another and the second finds another to counter it. Given time, the parasitic fly might develop a trait that will help it detect the silent males. And so it will continue. If not the fly population on the island will be extinct, or the maggots would feed on the remaining males and the cricket population would disappear.

Wikipedia defines the evolutionary arms race as "an evolutionary struggle between competing sets of co-evolving genes that develop adaptations and counter-adaptations against each other". The most common examples come the predator-prey relationships, a cycle that tries to outdo one another, the prey trying to outdo the predator and vice-versa. Examples can be cited from the ancient trilobites, extinct segmented arthropods from the Cambrian period. They developed a hard outer exoskeleton when the marine habitats were getting increasingly dangerous and inhospitable. The exoskeleton protected them from the large number of predators that were roaming the seas then. Their cousins who lacked the hard outer shell failed to survive the Cambrian.

From more familiar examples, the story of the cuckoo and the wren is very popular. The cuckoo is a brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of other birds, allowing them to nourish the chick. The smaller bird fails to recognize a large food-guzzling chick in their nest as an outsider. But it has been discovered that there is a bird that can do so. A recent development in the "arms race". The superb fairy-wren in New South Wales, Australia, has developed the ability to recognize a cuckoo chick in it's nest and reject it. The cuckoo had developed the ability to mimic the egg of the wren, and the little bird learnt to counter that too. The suspicion starts when the wrens find only one large chick in the nest as it ejects all other natural inhabitants. What clinches the matter is the food call of the larger chick which is slightly different from that of the wrens'. Of course, after mimicking the egg of the cuckoo, the parasitic chick can develop the ability to mimic the begging call of the young wrens.

A lot of nature documentaries on television showcasing rainforest life tell of insects dependent on plants for food and shelter. In most cases, this dependence is harmful to the physical well-being of the plant. So plants that develop a chemical to counter the insect attack is favored by evolution. But this in turn stimulates the insect population to produce defence mechansims against that of the plant's, and the cycle will continue. Marine animals like some molluscs have developed hard shells and spines to protect them from predators such as crabs, but the predators themselves have claws and pincers to get to the flesh.

There will be no end to the evolutionary arms race, there will always be a struggle between species for the upper hand in survival. Survival of the toughest. Even between the members of the same species is there conflict, a tough competition for mates. The arms race comes into play during mate selection, too. The male (and in some cases the female) with the strongest traits will be selected by evolution, the weaker ones are eliminated. So as generations go by only the stronger individuals will survive the competition, the lesser ones will not see the origin of better and harder individuals that may ultimately evolve into a completely new species.

Technorati tags: evolution, evolutionary arms race, crickets, cricket chirps, mating, extinction, mutation, trilobites, brood parasite, plant-insect interaction

The Discovery of New Species

2006-09-20T15:43:00.000+05:30

It is a known fact that the tropical ecosystems around the globe are the most diversity rich areas, be it on land or under the sea. Coral reefs and tropical rainforests hide the maximum number of species of plants and animals, most of which are yet to be discovered. Every year sees the discovery of new species from the Neoptropical forests, including primates, bats and insects. In an example cited by Bruce Patterson, the checklist of animals from around the world published in 1992, shows an average of 8 new species being discovered annually, in addition to one new genus per year. [article] If this be the rate of discovery from one ecoregion, then taking all into consideration every other ecoregion around the globe, the rate of discovery will be a phenomenal number.

Since a large number of mammals fall under the category of "megafauna", the media advertises their discovery, especially if they are found in areas that are threatened habitats. Take, for example, the new civet-like animal that was found in the heart of Borneo in December 2005. It received much media coverage considering it was a previously unknown species and that the area where it was first photographed is currently under threat. What goes unnoticed by the public are the discoveries made in small pools, or in rivers, where there are crustaceans waiting to be discovered, species of moths and butterflies in lesser known forests around the world, even fungi and algae in remote corners or in hard to access places. Large number of bacteria are being discovered in places that is inhospitable to most lifeforms. Even the discovery of fossil remains of some ancient species new to science goes unnoticed by the common people. Such discoveries find mention in research papers published by scientific publications, finding no room in popular media.

The significance of each of these discoveries lies in its evolutionary relationship with related species. When the fossil remains of the Archeoptryx was discovered it proved to be a huge leap in evolutionary science, finally was there an evolutionary link between the birds and the reptiles. Darwinism ruled. Earlier this year, the fossil remains of a new species of fish was found in northern Canada that was dubbed a "tetrapod fish", apparently the skeletal remains showed that it had jointed fins, and a ribcage that could support the body while it was being dragged on land, filling a part of the evolutionary gap between fish and land animals. This discovery was popularised in the US, the New York Times and the Washington Post wrote about it.

But coming back to the tropics. The density of diversity of plants and animals is mind-blowing and what is far more interesting than the numbers would be the number of species that are being discovered ever so often. The Tibetan macaque (Macaca thibetana) was discovered in 2003-2004 in Arunachal Pradesh by a team led by Dr. Anindya Sinha. December 2005 saw the discovery of the civet-like animal in Borneo, followed by a the discovery of a new species of honeyeater along with butterflies, frogs, palms and a large rhododendron in Indonesia. [article]

A few days ago, Indonesia was again in the headlines with 50 new species being discovered in an underwater Eden, amongst them is a shark that can "walk" or stand on its fins. [article] This could have a some significance when it comes to evoultion of the tetrapod. Another link between the fishes and land animals. The same day saw another Arunachal discovery, a new bird called Bugun Liocichla, a very colorful little bird, could be some sort of a babbler.

From predictions made through the years, these discoveries may just be the tip of the iceberg. Not only will the tropics call for more attention, but other ecosystems as well will have to be explored - dark abysses below the sea, hot springs and geothermal vents, spores lying dormant under polar ice, and even bacteria lying undiscovered in the stomach of a carcass-feeder. There is no limit to what this blue planet has to offer in terms of new species. Its the taxonomists who seem to have their work cut out for them. With each new discovery comes the task of placing the species in the right taxa or classifying them under new taxa if the need arises. This also means there will always be changes in the taxonomy of existing species. Biology has always been a science of changes and exceptions, and the natural world provides enough and more suprises.

Technorati tags: ecology, evolution, darwinism, new species, discovery, walking shark, Bugun Liocichla, Macaca thibetana

Aurva

2006-09-20T14:50:00.000+05:30

I have always wondered about the pioneers of ecological sciences. Till maybe a decade ago this science was almost unheard of, but picked up on the popularity index quite fast with a lot of attention being given to it because of the deterioration to the environment. These pioneers had no academic training in ecology or environmental sciences, the bulk of them were engineers, if not from any other profession. Wildlife was a hobby, and they made a profession out of it. And their contribution to this science is tremendous.

There has been a lot of talk on the changes in human lifestyle, leading to global warming, climate change, illegal logging and destruction of forests and endangered species. But does the common man know enough to be interested in the environment? Considering that there are still a large number of people out there who are interested in wildlife and the ecological sciences as a hobby, but not as a profession, this seems to be a good place to start discussing the natural world. More and more youngsters are thinking out of the box and opting for academic degrees in this science.

Taking into account this surge of interest in wildlife biology and the environment, and equipped with an academic background in ecology, here will be published my take on what is happening in the field of ecology and wildlife. Not specifically for the professionals, but for anyone who remotely might find these issues interesting reading or worth discussing. I start this blog so that the lay person can read and hopefully understand, so that it may capture more people into the the community that wants the rest of the world to realize that its not all about research journals that are not available to the public, but that exclusive news and research too can reach the masses.

'Aurva', meaning related to the Earth!