Microhabitat Diversity in a Lateritic Hillock of Northern Kerala, India

Ka, Sreejith; Prashob, P.; Sreekumar, V. B.; Hp, Manjunatha; Mp, Prejith

doi:10.5958/2229-4473.2016.00074.4

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…We found that habitats with more complexity, like mixed vegetation with ephemeral pools, laterite rocks, and paddy fields, support a greater number of species (Fig. 5), as already shown by previous studies (Van Buskirk 2005;Wanger et al 2010;Skelly et al 2014;Sreejith et al 2016). A study by Thorpe et al (2018) on the laterite plateaus of the northern Western Ghats showed that amphibians are particularly dependent on the availability of microhabitats (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Microhabitats at each of the sampling sites are according to Sreejith et al (2016) and Thorpe et al (2018), and species presence in the sites is shown in Table 2 and Figures 5 and 6. Along with the citizen scientists, we found 10 malformed individuals (Table 3; Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lekhak and Yadav 2012;Watve 2013). The rate of species discovery and endemicity on these plateaus is high (Katwate et al 2013;Watve 2013;Rahangdale and Rahangdale 2014;Thorpe and Watve 2016;Seshadri et al 2016), possibly due to the presence of several microhabitats such as shallow perennial streams, rocky crevices, and soil-filled depressions (Sreejith et al 2016;Thorpe et al 2018). Recently described frog species, such as Microhyla kodial Vineeth, Radhakrishna, Godwin, Anwesha, Rajashekhar & Aravind, 2018, Microhyla laterite Seshadri, Singal, Priti, Ravikanth, Vidisha, Saurabh, Pratik & Gururaja, 2016 and Euphlyctis karaavali Priti, Naik, Seshadri, Singal, Vidisha, Ravikanth & Gururaja, 2016 have been discovered from the Karnataka Plateau in the last five years (Priti et al 2016;Seshadri et al 2016;Vineeth et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Annotated list of anurans from the lateritic plateau of western India with notes on malformations

Mudke¹,

Gururaja²,

Aravind³

et al. 2020

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Lateritic plateaus of India are geographically and ecologically complex plateaus that support endemic flora and fauna. However, despite their uniqueness they are termed as “wastelands”. The plateaus’ overall treeless structure makes them susceptible to developmental activities like infrastructure growth, waste dumping, and urbanization. This paper presents a list of anurans compiled from surveys carried out in the years between 2016 and 2018 in the town of Manipal, a predominant lateritic landscape on the west coast of India. The list comprises of 19 species belonging to five different families, includes notes on microhabitat structure and associated species. We also present descriptions of malformed frogs recorded during the surveys. The growing demands for urbanization, presence of malformed frogs, and habitat complexities that support species densities highlight the need to re-evaluate our understanding towards these plateaus. We express our concern towards the need for conservation of these lesser known amphibian habitats.  

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Annotated list of anurans from the lateritic plateau of western India with notes on malformations

Mudke¹,

Gururaja²,

Aravind³

et al. 2020

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“…to mining and extraction of more lateritic hills and the soil from the mining are used to fill wetland and paddy field which again utilized for building and infrastructure development. This series of events in turn seriously affected the natural environment of the lateritic biotopes in northern Kerala (Sreejith et al 2016). The indiscriminate mining for laterite & soil and demolishing the hillocks have severely threatened the very existence of the biota, culture, and the water availability in most areas (Balakrishnan et al 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A checklist of angiosperm flora of low elevation lateritic hills of northern Kerala, India

et al. 2020

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An inventory to prepare the checklist of angiosperm species in the lateritic hillocks of northern Kerala was conducted in five sampling sites during April 2013–March 2015. In total, we recorded 364 genera with 535 species, of which 334 are native and 201 are non-native. Native species were represented in 102 families, namely, Poaceae (28), Fabaceae (25), Acanthaceae (22), Rubiaceae (17) Euphorbiaceae (14), Commelinaceae (11), Phyllanthaceae (7), etc., whereas, non-native species were represented in 99 families. Among the native species herbs are the predominant habit with 147 species (44%). Out of the 72 endemic species, three taxa namely, Syzygium travancoricum, Santalum album and Hopea ponga are red listed species documented from the study area. Twenty-seven invasive species were also recorded and major threats to the laterite ecosystems are by Lantana camara, Mikania micrantha, Pennisetum polystachyon, Ipomoea spp., and Senna spp. Most part of the laterite has been converted to plantations, building sites and mining sites. The indiscriminate mining for laterite, soil and demolishing the hillocks have severely threatened the very existence of the flora.

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“…The nomenclature validation was carried out using IPNI (www.ipni.org), The Plant List (www.theplantlist.org) databases and Flowering Plants of Kerala (Sasidharan 2014). The plant diversity in different microhabitats during the wet phase were identified (Sreejith et al 2016), documented and seasonal vegetation shift was observed. The threat assessment of the taxa was based on IUCN (2019) guidelines.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal vegetation shift and wetland dynamics in vulnerable granitic rocky outcrops of Palghat Gap of southern Western Ghats, Kerala, India

Arabhi

Nair

2019

J. Threat. Taxa

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Low altitude granitic hillock systems prevalent in Palghat (Palakkad) Gap region of southern Western Ghats were analyzed for seasonal dynamics in wetland taxa associated with marshy ephemeral flush vegetation, small ephemeral pools and deep rock pools. Due to characteristic habitat features, such systems harbor a unique pattern of microhabitats and associated floristic components. Wet phase in rocky outcrops in the monsoon season establishes a hydro-geomorphic habitat that supports establishment of wetland taxa like Eriocaulon, Drosera, Utricularia, Dopatrium, and Rotala. Seasonal shift in the floral associations was evident in tune with wetland dynamics. Wet rocks support ephemeral flush vegetation which display some unique plant associations of species of Eriocaulon, Utricularia, Drosera, Cyanotis, Murdannia, and Lindernia. Small ephemeral pools displayed taxa like Rotala malampuzhensis R.V. Nair, Dopatrium junceum (Roxb.) Buch.-Ham. ex Benth., D. nudicaule (Willd.) Benth., Monochoria vaginalis (Burm.f.) C. Presl, and Cyperus iria L. Rocky pools are the habitats of aquatic angiosperms like Nymphaea nouchali Burm. f., Ludwigia adscendens (L.) H. Hara, Utricularia aurea Lour. and Hydrilla verticillata (L.f.) Royle. The study documented 121 plant taxa from 37 families during a wet phase from rocky outcrops of the study area. Gradual shift in vegetation is evident as water recedes from granitic hillocks. During the period from December to March, the rocky pools dry up which results in a shift in the vegetation pattern where Poaceae members form the dominant elements. As most of the rocky outcrops are exposed to extreme temperature and acute water shortage, the taxa inhabiting such ecosystems tend to evolve much faster than in other habitats. Moreover, the vicinity of these hillocks in the Palghat Gap region to human settlements, face threats like fire, grazing, quarrying, dumping of wastes etc. which may cause considerable loss to the very sensitive plant communities which are not yet fully documented.

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Microhabitat Diversity in a Lateritic Hillock of Northern Kerala, India

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Annotated list of anurans from the lateritic plateau of western India with notes on malformations

Annotated list of anurans from the lateritic plateau of western India with notes on malformations

A checklist of angiosperm flora of low elevation lateritic hills of northern Kerala, India

Seasonal vegetation shift and wetland dynamics in vulnerable granitic rocky outcrops of Palghat Gap of southern Western Ghats, Kerala, India

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