Home  /  Daily Current Affairs  /  15-03-2021 / Bamboo Flowering as a Threat

Bamboo Flowering as a Threat

Posted on March 15, 2021 by admin1  59

In News

The gregarious flowering of bamboo inside the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala poses a potential threat to wildlife in the Nilgiri biosphere, a major tiger and elephant habitat.

About Bamboo Flowering

  • Thorny bamboo (Bamboosa Bambos) is a monocarpic (flowering only once) plant.
  • It belongs to the Poaceae family (grass family) and its flowering cycle varies from 40 to 60 years.
  • They grow in more than 500 hectares of the 344.44 sq.km. of the sanctuary and are the mainstay of herbivores during summer.
  • They have fully bloomed, a phenomenon said to occur once in the life cycle of bamboo plants.
  • With the advent of the season and shortage of fodder and water, migration of wild animals starts from the adjacent sanctuaries in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to Wayanad.
  • Impact of Flowering
    • It may adversely affect migration, especially by elephants, wild gaur, and other lower herbivores owing to the mass destruction of bamboo groves after the flowering.
    • Farmers living near the sanctuary fear that the destruction of bamboo groves may worsen the increasing man-animal conflict.
    • Threat to wildlife as well as the ecology, it is reported that over 25% of bamboo groves have bloomed since 2010, and the phenomenon is continuing.
  • Profuse natural regeneration occurs from seeds after gregarious flowering. Seeds have no dormancy, and it helps germination under favourable conditions soon after seed fall.
    • Protection from forest-fires and grazing is essential for proper establishment of seedlings.

 

Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary

 

  • It was set up in 1973 and is ranked 8th in the list of the World’s Biodiversity Hotspots.
  • The sanctuary is a component of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (5,520 km2) and of the Elephant Reserve No. 7 of South India.
  • Location
    • It covers the Wayanad Plateau situated at the confluence of three biologically distinct and diverse regions
      • the main Western Ghat Mountains.
      • the Nilgiri Hills.
      • the Deccan Plateau.
    • The plateau area is mostly located in Kerala, with small parts in the neighbouring states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
  • Topography
    • The landscape usually consists of hilly terrains interspersed with dense valleys, which have helped build its reputation as one among the most picturesque natural sites in the whole world.
  • Climate
    • The area is known for its rainfall, with both the southwest and northeast monsoon contributing to the downpour.
    • The monthly maximum and minimum temperatures range from 31.2°C and 15.0°C respectively.
  • Flora
    • Its flora is characteristic of the Western Ghats and plantation crops flourish in the cooler temperatures here.
    • The moist deciduous forest consists of Maruthi, karimaruthi, rosewood, venteak, vengal, chadachi, mazhukanjiram, bamboos etc. while the semi-evergreen patches comprise of vateria indica and Lagerstroemia.
  • Fauna
    • Of the 45 species of mammals here, 6 are endemic to the Western Ghats. The avian population (203 species) also boasts of 10 endemic, 6 ranges restricted and 5 globally threatened species. Thirteen of these are listed in the schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
    • The area is said to be a favourite of the largest venomous snake in the world, the King Cobra. Of the 45 reptile species documented here till now, of which 8 are endemic.
    • It is home to the last of the surviving vultures in the state.  Also, the cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus) or Eurasian black vulture, can be rarely seen as well.
    • The four-horned antelope (Tetracerus quadricornis), or chousingha, known as ‘ullaman‘ in Malayalam, has also been sighted here.
      • It is included in Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and categorized as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List.
  • Tribes: Kurumar, Paniyar, Kattunayakan, Urali, Kurichiar, Adiyar and Wayanadan Kadar.

 

(Image Courtesy: IWC)

 

Source: TH


Other News of the Day

                       Facts in News AEG12 Mosquito Protein According to scientists at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), a mosquito protein, called AEG12, strongly inhibits the family of viruses that cause yellow fever, dengue, West Nile, and Zika, and also weakly inhibits coronaviruses. It is...
Read More

In News The UK launched the Turing scheme to enable UK students to study abroad after leaving the European Union’s flagship Erasmus scholarship programme. About Turing Scheme It is named after the celebrated English mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing. The scheme will enable schools, colleges and universities in the UK to apply for government funding....
Read More

In News Recently, the Supreme Court (SC) has asked the Centre to respond to a plea challenging the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. Background The plea challenged various provisions of the Act. Section 2, 3, 4 not only offend the right to pray, practice and propagate religion (Article 25), the right to manage,...
Read More

In News The Centre has reconstituted an advisory committee to prepare a plan for studying the mythical Saraswati river for the next two years, earlier the panel's term ended in 2019. Background The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on March 10 issued a notification for “reconstitution of the Advisory Committee for the Multidisciplinary Study of...
Read More

In News The Centre will allow residents to fill columns in the National Population Register (NPR) forms on their own through online mode. Key Points The demographic and other particulars of each family and individual are to be collected/ updated during the updation exercise of NPR. No documents or biometrics would be collected during the...
Read More

In News The Central government’s Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and its Adjoining Areas has been shut down within five months of its constitution. About Background The Centre dissolved it after five months as the ordinance lapsed after failing to become an act. The erstwhile Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control)...
Read More