Land-Use Changes Put Rocky Addresses Of Animals Under Stress In Maharashtra’s Sahyadri Plateau

Relevance: GS 3 - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environment Biodiversity

(Source: The Hindu, 07/31/23)

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Why in the news?

• A recent research study conducted by the Nature Conservation Foundation-India (NCF), Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG), and the Reliance Foundation in Ahmedabad has been published in the peer-reviewed international journal Global Ecology and Conservation.
• The study examines the effects of monoculture plantations of mango and cashew on elusive amphibians, insects, and reptiles that inhabit the areas under loose rocks in the Sahyadri plateaus of Maharashtra.
• The research focused on white-striped viper gecko, Seshachari’s caecilian, saw-scaled viper, ants, spiders, and scorpions.

How have land-use changes impacted animals in Maharashtra’s Sahyadri Plateau?

• Threat to habitat: The animals seek refuge under loose rocks on the rocky plateaus of Maharashtra, protecting them from the scorching heat of summer and the heavy monsoon rains.
• Many of these animals are unique, and sensitive to the changes on the plateaus, even removing a rock can have cascading impacts on biodiversity.
• Adaptability: The changing land-use patterns like abandoning traditional local grain cultivation, and establishing monoculture plantations of mango and cashew pose a challenge to their adaptability.
• The rapid expansion of mango orchards has resulted in the conversion of more than 25,000 hectares of lateritic plateaus.
• The increasing number of orchards poses a threat to the rare and vulnerable animals living under the rocks.

Way forward

• Given their rarity and vulnerability to change due to ever-increasing orchards, representative plateau habitats need to be preserved in partnership with local communities and could help conserve the plateaus as biodiversity heritage sites

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