Status,
threats and conservation strategies for orchids of western Himalaya, India
Jeewan Singh Jalal
Botanical
Survey of India, Western Regional Centre, 7 KoregaonRoad, Pune, Maharashtra 411001, India
Email: jeewansinghjalal@rediffmail.com
Date of publication (online):
26 December 2012
Date of publication (print): 26
December 2012
ISSN 0974-7907 (online) |
0974-7893 (print)
Editor: Pankaj Kumar
Manuscript details:
Ms # o3062
Received 09 January 2012
Final received 08 August 2012
Finally accepted 29 October
2012
Citation: Jalal, J.S. (2012). Status, threats and
conservation strategies for orchids of western Himalaya, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(15): 3401–3409.
Copyright: © Jeewan Singh Jalal 2012. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 UnportedLicense. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this
article in any medium for non-profit purposes, reproduction and distribution by
providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Acknowledgements:The author is thankful to Dr. Paramjith Singh,
Director, Botanical Survey of India for encouragement
and facilities. Thanks to Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of
India and Department of Science and Technology, Government of India for
financial support to carry out this work.
Abstract:The present study is an attempt to give an account of the current
status of orchids based on recent surveys since 2002 to 2010 in various parts
of western Himalaya. Based on
rarity Index of species, orchids are categorised in
four groups,—very rare,
sparse, occasional and common. Results show that 40% of orchid species are very rare, 26% are sparse,
19% are occasional and 15% are common in western Himalaya. For the conservation of orchids, two
orchid conservation areas are identified in GoriValley and Mandal Valley.
Keywords: Conservation, GoriValley, Mandal Valley, orchids, Western Himalaya.
For
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The International Union for Conservation
of Nature (IUCN) has played a major role in focusing global concern on the loss
or extinction of species and is now the accepted authority on such
matters. The first Red Data Book
was launched by IUCN in 1966. Now,
it is revised annually and called the IUCN Red List, which is available in its
electronic version since 2000. Threats to orchid species in the Indian region were first
documented by Pradhan (1971, 1975a,b) and Pradhan (1975). Pradhan (1978) contributed the first red data
sheet on Indian orchids to the IUCN Plant Red Data Book, which served as a
model for the production of Red Data Book of Indian Plants. Nayar & Sastry (1987, 1988, 1990), listed
58 species threatened in India. It
also included 13 orchid species of western Himalaya. In 1984, under the banner of IUCN, the
Orchid Specialist Group (OSG) was established for orchid conservation. It has many regional groups;
ISROSG—Indian Subcontinent Regional Orchid Specialist Group covers the
Indian subcontinental region. In the international scenario, several
treaties have been formulated for the protection of biodiversity as a whole, which
encompasses the protection of wild orchids also. The Convention of International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), ratified by India, places
all species of Orchidaceae under Appendix II, meaning
thereby that their trade will be only through export permits.
Orchids are one such group of plants which grow in a variety of habitats throughout the
globe, but they are very sensitive to habitat change. A number of species are rare and
threatened throughout the world, including western Himalaya, owing to habitat
degradation and fragmentation as a result of various anthropogenic influences
such as land development activities, building of dams, constructions of roads,
commercial exploitation of the species, overgrazing and frequent forest
fires. Some orchid species require
unique habitat and microhabitats so they are confined to particular elevations
and forest types. Some are
naturally rare; others are so because of geographic distribution, narrow
habitat requirements, and low-density populations. Several species that have been reported
earlier from the region have not been recollected, thus indicating their
possible disappearance due to habitat changes. As most of the orchids are insect
pollinated, the depletion in the population of insect pollinators may also lead
to the depletion in the population of particular orchid species. The present study is an attempt to give
an account of the present status of orchids based on recent surveys.
Material and Methods
Study
area: The study was conducted in western
Himalaya of India that lies between 28045’– 36020’N
& 73026’–80024’E (Image 1). The landmass encompasses three states
viz., Uttarakhand (UK), Himachal Pradesh (HP) and
Jammu & Kashmir (JK), occupies roughly 331,402km² area, which is
approximately 10.08% of India’s total geographic area. Altitude varies from
300–7800 m.
Data
collection: Data was
collected from three different sources:
(i) Herbaria:
The Botanical Survey of India, Northern Circle (BSD), Forest Research Institute
(DD), Wildlife Institute of India (WII), KumaunUniversity Nainital (NTL), H.N.B GarhwalUniversity, Srinagar (GUH) and Punjab University Herbarium (PAN) were visited
and data on habitat, locality, altitude and flowering were gathered. Based on this information past
localities from where the species were collected were also visited, to know the
present status and changes in population-size.
(ii) Review of literature: Significant
literature, namely, Collett (1902), Duthie (1906), Raizada et al.
(1981), Vij et al. (1982, 1983), Chowdhery& Wadhwa (1984), Deva & Naithani(1986), Pangtey et al. (1991) and various
research papers published in national and international journals were used.
(iii) Field survey: Extensive field
surveys conducted from 2002 to 2010 in different seasons and various localities
covering altitudes from 300–4800 m. Various parameters such as habit, altitude, forest types and associate
species were recorded. The
elevation zone was divided into nine 500m intervals between 300m and 4800m (the
higher limit of the orchids in western Himalaya is 4800m), with the starting
zone <500m and the final >4000m. Eighteen habitat types were identified for orchids, based on species
presence in each habitat.
No assessment has been done for the conservation
status of orchids in the past for this region hence assigning IUCN categories
is somewhat impractical here. In
most of the cases, information is missing even when they were not collected for
more than 100 years. These species
were kept in doubtful categories and are not included in the analysis (Table
1).
Data
analysis: A formula was developed for convenience
to assign a status at local level to each species. Six quantification
parameters were taken for assessing orchids (Table 2). For getting the rarity value (R) (on the
scale of rarity index; 1–5), the sum of all six
parameters were divided by six. The species with the least number were ranked rarerin comparison with those with greater values. All the data were entered in an Excel
spreadsheet and summarized using descriptive statistics.
h1+s1+a1+wh1+p1+p2
R
= ____________________________
6
where h1—number of habitats,
s1—number of sites, a1—altitudinal
distribution, wh1—distribution in western Himalaya, p1—phytogeographical distribution within the Indian
subcontinent, p2—phytogeographicaldistribution globally.
Rarity ranking (very rare: 1–2,
sparse: 2.1–3, occasional: 3.1–4, common: 4.1–5).
Results and Discussion
Status
of orchids: It is very difficult to make an accurate
account of orchid species of western Himalaya, with its vast size, remoteness
and varied topographic conditions. The study reveals that 40% (88) of orchid species are very rare, 26% are
sparse, 19% are occasional and 15% are common in western Himalaya (Fig. 1;
Appendix 1).
Threats
to orchids: Orchids are a highly specialized group of plants and have
modified themselves in such a way that they occur in almost every
ecosystem. They have a peculiar
habit of interdependence on mycorrhiza for
germination and nutrition. Any
imbalance in the habitat can cease the regeneration and growth of orchids. Thus, they are more vulnerable to the
destruction of habitat. Orchids are
usually threatened due to habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation. These
can be caused by natural threats, anthropogenic pressures and threats posed by
invasive species.
1.
Natural threats: Due to the undulating topography and the
varying geological set up of western Himalaya, several areas have been
identified that are prone to landslides, floods etc., which affect the natural
population of many terrestrial and epiphytic orchids leading to their
extinction. Many host trees growing
along the river banks at lower and mid altitudes are
swept away by floods, thus removing several orchids. In many areas, landsides were seen to
carry away the hill-slopes with them during the rainy season. The terrestrial orchids carried down by
landslides are dumped into soil, thus destroyed. The global climatic variation brings a
lot of variation in the local climate. The local rainfall patterns are changing and most of the terrestrial
orchids are affected by this change. They show active growth at the beginning of rainfall. If the rain is
delayed, it hampers the life cycle of most of the rain dependent orchids like Nervilia spp. Most of the orchids
are pollinated by insects, which may be specific for orchids. Lack of pollinators in nature can affect
the survival of orchids.
2.
Anthropogenic threats:
Habitat
fragmentation: Habitat destruction is identified as the
main threat to orchid diversity. It
is often a cause of species becoming threatened. The main habitats for orchids are sal forests, riverine forests and oak forests in western
Himalaya. Increasing demands of the
local people and their dependency on the forests are identified as the main
threats to the orchid habitats. Both terrestrial and epiphytic orchids are affected by habitat
fragmentation. Many orchids, especially mycoheterotrophicorchids require dense forest cover. Little canopy exposure can wipe out the population. Epiphytic orchids are mainly inhabitants
of the riverine forests. These
forests provide a suitable climate and humidity for the growth of epiphytic
orchids.
Deforestation activities coupled with the
lopping of host plants for fodder, fuel and timber causes the riverine forests
to change rapidly. Lopping and
cutting of the host trees for fodder and fuel are a regular phenomenon in the
hills. Therefore, the occurrence
and growth of most of the epiphytic orchids are adversely affected. Epiphytic orchids growing on fodder
trees have been removed due to the excessive and unscientific ways of
lopping. In western Himalaya, oak
forests are predominant. Among the
oaks, Quercus leucotrichophora has been identified as an excellent tree host particularly in many
epiphytic orchid dominated areas and it supports fairly large numbers of orchid
species. But this tree is a good
source of fodder and fuel too. Branches along with leaves are lopped to a great extent making the trees
almost naked. Therefore lopping of banj-oak and other fodder species that support a high
number of epiphytic orchids have reduced the abundance of these epiphytic
orchids.
Developmental
activities: New roads, dams, mines, buildings and
other developments strongly contribute to habitat loss in this region, not only
directly by damaging forests but also indirectly by displacing them. A typical example is the Snow Orchid Diplomeris hirsuta which was reported from Dogaon nearNainital and this was the only locality in
western Himalaya where it was found at the time. This locality is very close to the
National Highway 87. Naturally,
this species is confined to fragile sand stone rocks in the foothills of the
area. In 1996, the state government
took a decision to widen National Highway 87, the rocks where the species were
growing were destroyed and the only remaining population of the species
vanished from the area. Recent surveys
show only a small remaining population ca. 110 individualsof this species growing in a nearby locality. Another example of developmental
activities is Tehri Dam (Uttarakhand). It is one of the largest dams in Asia
with a submerge area of 44km2. This submerge stretch was entirely covered by many small patches of
riverine forests which were an ideal habitat for many epiphytic orchids.
Over
exploitation: Although very few orchid species are
medicinally important in the study area, over exploitation of these species
coupled with a lack of awareness, has resulted in their becoming very rare and
endangered in natural population and they are bound to become extinct in the
near future. Terrestrial
orchids such as Crepidium acuminatum, Malaxis muscifera, Platanthera edgworthii, Eulophia dabia and Dactylorhiza hatagirea are used in the preparation of various
medicines by pharmaceutical companies. They have been subjected to ruthless
collection from their natural habitats.
Overgrazing: The high altitude grasslands, pastures and meadows are very
important habitats for many alpine orchids. These habitats are facing threats due to
overgrazing practices by many pastoral communities. The foothills of the study area are inhabited
by small groups of nomadic pastoral communities such as Gujjarsin Siwalik zone, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu, and Bokshasand Tharus in the eastern Taraizone. They are forest dwelling,
semi-nomadic and pastoral indigenous communities. They own large herds of cattle and use forest land for grazing. The cattle were often found to be eating
not only young flowering buds but also whole orchid plants.
Forest
fires: Forest fires are another cause of the
destruction of orchid host trees and of the thick layer of humus as well as of
the pollinators. The forest is
often set on fire by the local communities during the summer season to get a
good growth of grass following the rains. Sometimes it spreads and destroys vast tracts of valuable forests. During the study, many orchid rich
localities were found to be affected by fire. For epiphytic orchids, fires at any time
of the year can cause a drastic change in plant abundance. They are mainly
affected by burning of plants, degrading or removal of the support substrate
and alteration of the microclimate resulting from fragmentation of the canopy. In many places, which were affected by
previous fires, this phenomenon was observed, but this has hardly affected the
terrestrial orchids such as Nervilia spp.,
which were seen in good abundance.
3. Threats
by invasive species:
It was observed during the study that
some invasive species were suppressing the growth of native flora including
orchids, in many important orchid habitats. A large tract of the foothills and upper
Himalayan range up to 2500m has been largely encroached by invasive species such
as Eupatorium adenophorum, Eupatorium odoratum, Eupatorium riparium,
Lantana camara, Parthenium hysterophorus and Ageratum conyzoides. Their multifaceted adaptability and fast
replicating characteristics have created a serious threat to the indigenous
flora including orchids. Several
terrestrial orchid species were found to be shockingly less in number in such
habitats. Orchids that face threats
by these alien species are Eulophia spp., Liparis deflexa, Nervilia spp., Goodyera procera, Habenaria marginata, H. plantaginea,
H. pubescens, Pachystoma pubescens, Peristylus constrictus, P. goodyeroides,
P. lawii etc. Various dead host species were seen
heavily loaded with epiphytic orchids in the study area particularly in
riverine belts. After death, the
bark of the tree gets loose and as the epiphytic orchids attach themselves
mainly on the surface of the bark, these epiphytic orchids often fall to the
ground due to their own weight and die.
Strategies for conservation
Conservation is “the maintenance of
essential ecological processes and life-support systems, the preservation of
genetic diversity and the sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems”
(Talbot 1980). Orchids are an
endangered plant group and protected by national or local laws in many
countries including India. International trade and collection of orchids from the wild is
banned. The wide range of
distribution and habitats of orchids makes it difficult to have a uniform code
for conservation. The western
Himalaya is such a vast landscape spread over a 331,402km² area and the
distribution of orchids is very patchy so it is very difficult to conserve each
and every forest patch. The question is: ‘Which area should be selected for
orchid conservation?’ the answer has to be given after a thorough evaluation of
many aspects.
Identifying Orchid Conservation Areas
(OCAs)
In order to conserve the orchids, it was
necessary to identify orchid conservation areas (OCA). Various parameters were used to select a
conservation area. First a region wise orchid Index was calculated (Table
3). That was calculated as the
ratio of the number of orchids in a particular region multiplied by 1000 (IUCN
1996). This helped to get a broad
region for selection. After getting
the orchid index value the focus moved to the region that indicated the maximum
value. Kumaunregion showed the maximum value at 9.69 followed by Garhwalregion at 5.33. Based on past and
present records, two areas were found to be suitable for OCAs. One is GoriValley in eastern Kumaun and the other is Mandal Valley in Chamoli District
of Garhwal.
Suggestive measures for conservation
As mentioned above, all the orchids are
threatened in the study area. For
their long term survival in nature, they need to be
protected through in situ and ex situ conservation. In situ orchid conservation
and habitat preservation is the first line of defense for safeguarding orchid
species for the future. The
following measures are suggested for the long termconservation of orchids in western Himalaya:
(i) 145
species, which are very rare and sparse in the study area, need immediate
action for conservation.
(ii) Banj-oak forests and riverine forests should be protected
region wise. Initiate ecological
restoration of degraded riverine forests and promote afforestation of suitable
host tree species such as Toona ciliata, Engelhadrtia spicata and Quercus leucotrichophora.
(iii) Endemic
and near endemic species need special attention. For example, Peristylus kumaonensisis an endemic orchid reported by Dr. J. Renz in 1983 from
a locality that is 5km from Nainital towards the
north, on the way to Ratighat at an altitude of 1800m
and it is restricted to this area alone. At that time, almost 130 individuals were counted in this particular
locality (Y.P.S. Pangtey pers. comm. August
2004). During the current survey a
drastic change in the whole area was observed due to anthropogenic pressures
and the population now remains around 30 individuals only.
(iv) Urgent
need to conduct a population monitoring program
together with orchid ecology so that we can use this information to design
orchid conservation plans for the intact regions of habitat where orchids still
thrive.
(v) Establishment
of orchid seed bank and germ plasm banks. The conservation of seeds is the most
effective means of genetic conservation.
(vi) Local people should be made aware of this
wealth by means of awareness programs. Orchid conservation areas can be developed for tourists and college
students so that they can visit these areas during their educational trips.
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