While the removal of invasive species of plants such as lantana and parthenium remained an important aspect of biodiversity conservation, they need to be removed in a phased manner, so that the consequences of such a removal can be studied and rectified if necessary, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Project Director, Tamil Nadu Biodiversity and Greening Project, T.P. Raghunath, told The Hindu here on Monday.
Mr. Raghunath was at the Theppakadu Elephant Camp to address mahouts of temple elephants who are undergoing a training programme on maintaining and managing the jumbos.
Plants such as parthenium and lantana cover around 70 per cent of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), thereby preventing the growth of other species of flora, which in turn could lead to herbivores not having enough food to consume. Invasive species such as blue gum, wattle and pine are also making inroads into the forests in upper Nilgiris.
However, removing the plants from the forests quickly and completely could lead to more problems in the long term. Mr. Raghunath said that if the weeds were completely cleared, the number of herbivores in the park would increase, which in turn would also lead to more prey for carnivores such as tigers and lead to a spike in their numbers as well.
“MTR already has 52 tigers on 321 sq km of forest. It is one of the most densely populated tiger reserves in the country with more than 15 tigers populating every 100 sq km of forest,” explained Srinivas R. Reddy, Field Director of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. “If the number of carnivores increase suddenly, offsetting the current balance, there will be territorial disputes between the animals, and they would stray into human habitations, causing more man-animal conflicts,” warned Mr. Raghunath. “So, we need to gradually remove the weeds from the reserve, keeping in mind the impact that the removal of exotics would have on the balance of the current ecosystem,” he added.
