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Subject: Biodiversity

1. Ecology & Ecosystems
2. Indian Biodiversity

  • Species in news: Golden Langurs

    Primatologists have observed that the Gee’s golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) induce stillbirth of babies killed inside the womb of females, besides practising infanticide.

    Try this question from CSP 2013:

    Q. In which of the following States is lion-tailed macaque found in its natural habitat?

    1. Tamil Nadu
    2. Kerala
    3. Karnataka
    4. Andhra Pradesh

    Select the correct answer using the codes given below.

    a) 1, 2 and 3 only

    b) 2 only

    c) 1, 3 and 4 only

    d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

    Golden Langurs

    IUCN status: Endangered

    • It is an Old World monkey found in a small region of western Assam, and in the neighbouring foothills of the Black Mountains of Bhutan.
    • Long considered sacred by many Himalayan people, the golden langur was first brought to the attention of the western world by the naturalist E. P. Gee in the 1950s.
    • Their habitat lies in the region, south of the Brahmaputra River, on the east by the Manas River, on the west by the Sankosh River, all in Assam, India, and on the north by the Black Mountains of Bhutan
    • Chakrashila WLS in Assam is India’s first wildlife sanctuary with golden langur as the primary species.
    • They are listed in Appendix I of CITES and Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

  • Species in news: Hilsa Fish

    Fishermen in West Bengal are in for a pleasant surprise amid the COVID-19 gloom as they have exuded hope of a bumper yield of Hilsa, known as “maacher rani” (queen of fish).

    Try this question from CSP 2019:

    Q. Consider the following pairs:

    Wildlife Naturally found in
    1. Blue-finned Mahseer Cauvery River
    2. Irrawaddy Dolphin Chambal River
    3. Rusty-spotted Cat Eastern Ghats

    Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched?

    a) 1 and 2 only

    b) 2 and 3 only

    c) 1 and 3 only

    d) 1, 2 and 3

    Hilsa Fish

    IUCN status: Least Concerned

    • The Hilsa is a species of fish related to the herring, in the family Clupeidae.
    • It is a very popular and sought-after food fish in the Indian Subcontinent.
    • It is the national fish of Bangladesh and state symbol in the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura.
    • The fish contributes about 12% of the total fish production and about 1.15% of GDP in Bangladesh.

    What’s so special about Hilsa?

    • Hilsa has a history of migrating to Allahabad in the Ganga river system from Bangladesh.
    • Though it’s a saltwater fish, it migrates to sweet waters of the Ganges from the Bay of Bengal.
    • It travels upstream of the river during the mating seasons and returns to its natural abode after spawning.

  • “Healthy and Energy Efficient Buildings” Initiative

    The Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has launched the “Healthy and Energy Efficient Buildings” initiative that will pioneer ways to make workplaces healthier and greener.

    Possible prelims question:

    Q. The MAITREE programme recently seen in news is related to: Trade/Energy Efficiency/Climate Change/ Strategic Relations

    About the Initiative

    • The initiative has been launched by EESL in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) MAITREE program.
    • As part of this initiative, EESL has taken the leadership by being the first to implement this framework in its own offices.
    • This initiative addresses the challenges of retrofitting existing buildings and air conditioning systems so that they are both healthy and energy-efficient.
    • It will pave the way for other buildings to take appropriate steps to be healthy and energy-efficient.

    What is the MAITREE program,?

    • The Market Integration and Transformation Program for Energy Efficiency (MAITREE) is a part of the US-India bilateral Partnership between the Ministry of Power and USAID.
    • It is aimed at accelerating the adoption of cost-effective energy efficiency as a standard practice within buildings and specifically focuses on cooling.

    Significance of the initiative

    • Poor air quality has been a concern in India for quite some time and has become more important in light of the COVID pandemic.
    • As people return to their offices and public spaces, maintaining good indoor air quality is essential for occupant comfort, well-being, productivity and the overall public health.
    • Most buildings in India are not equipped to establish and maintain healthy indoor air quality and need to be upgraded.
    • The EESL office pilot will address this problem by developing specifications for future use in other buildings throughout the country.
    • It will aid in evaluating the effectiveness and cost benefits of various technologies and their short and long-term impacts on air quality, comfort, and energy use.

     Back2Basics: EESL

    • Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), under the administration of Ministry of Power, is working towards mainstreaming energy efficiency.
    • It is implementing the world’s largest energy efficiency portfolio in the country.
    • EESL aims to create market access for efficient and future-ready transformative solutions that create a win-win situation for every stakeholder.
    • About USAID: USAID is the world’s premier international development agency and a catalytic actor driving development results.

  • Species in news: Band-tail Scorpionfish

    A rare band-tail scorpionfish was recently found in the Gulf of Mannar.

    A stand-alone species being mentioned in the news for the first time (and that too from Southern India) find their way into the prelims. Make special note here. Usually, note the species and its habitat location (IUCN status if available), in the purview of a generic prelims question.

    Band-tail scorpionfish

    • The band-tail scorpionfish (Scorpaenospsis neglecta) camouflages within the seagrass meadows.
    • It is well-known for its stinging venomous spines and ability to change colour.
    • The fish has the ability to change colour and blend with its surrounding environment to escape from predators and while preying.
    • The fish is called ‘scorpionfish’ because its spines contain neurotoxic venom.

  • Species in news: Amaltas or Indian Laburnum

    The Amaltas or Indian laburnum has begun blooming this summer.

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2018:

    Q. Why is a plant called Prosopis juliflora often mentioned in news?

    (a) Its extract is widely used in cosmetics.

    (b) It tends to reduce the biodiversity in the area in which it grows

    (c) Its extract is used in the pesticides.

    (d) None of the above

    Amaltas Tree

    • The Amaltas (Cassia fistula linn), native to South-East Asia is one of the most widespread trees in India and South-East Asia, with their presence both in cities as well as in moist and dry forests.
    • It has drooping clusters of bright fragrant yellow flowers with five petals and characteristic cylindrical fruits.
    • The Amaltas is known by so many names — Indian Laburnum, Golden Shower, Purging Fistula, Pudding-pipe tree, Girmala, Rajbrikh, Alash, Kiar, Kirwara, Ali — showing us how common and loved it is.
    • It is both the national tree and the national flower of Thailand and is also the state flower of Kerala.

    Features of Amaltas

    • This middle-sized deciduous tree is leafless only for a brief time, between March and May.
    • The new leaves are glossy, a trait that they lose on maturing, and are mostly bright green, though sometimes a rich copper too.
    • It flowers from April to June, partly alongside the emergence of new leaves, but it’s not uncommon to find the Amaltas in flower as late as September.
    • The bark is yellowish at first, slowly coarsens with age and turning dark grey.

    Significance

    • The tree is mostly known to be ornamental and few know of its benefits as a medicinal plant, and one that’s loved by some mammals, bees, and butterflies.
    • The bark is used to make dye and the pulp in the fruit pod also serves as a strong purgative agent, which also helps animals that feed on it.
    • A medicinal preparation with the roots of the tree is used to cure leprosy and skin diseases and the leaves are used to get rid ulcers, in traditional medicine.

  • Species in news: Cicadas

    A brood of periodical cicadas, noisy insects that breed underground for as long as 13-17 years are expected to emerge into some states of the US this year.

    A stand-alone species being mentioned in the news for the first time may find their way into the prelims. Make special note here.

    What are Cicadas?

    • Cicadas are insects that spend most of their lives underground and emerge from the soil mainly to mate.
    • Once out of the ground, their life span is fairly short, somewhere between two-four weeks.
    • At present, there are about 15 active broods of these cicadas as some have gone extinct.
    • The insects are found in America’s as well as New Zealand and Australia.
    • The name 13 and 17 year refers to the number of years that cicada nymphs take to reach adulthood.
    • It is not clear why their development period is so long, researchers suspect that it may be linked to avoiding predators above the soil.

    How are the fed?

    • During this time underground the nymphs feed on sap from plant roots.
    • After this developmental period, the cicada nymphs construct a “cicada hut” and burrow their way out from the soil and climb onto any nearby tree or vegetation.

  • Species in news: Puntius Sanctus fish

    Velankanni in Tamil Nadu has thrown up a new species of small freshwater fish.

    Last year one species from our newscard: Species in news: Hump-backed Mahseer made it into the CSP 2019.  The ‘Puntius Sanctus’ fish in the newscard creates such a vibe yet again.

    A stand-alone species being mentioned in the news for the first time (and that too from Southern India) find their way into the prelims. Make special note here.

    Q. Consider the following pairs

    Wildlife Naturally found in
    1. Blue-finned Mahseer Cauvery River
    2. Irrawaddy Dolphin Chambal River
    3. Rusty-spotted Cat Eastern Ghats

    Which of the pairs given correctly matched? (CSP 2019)

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

    Puntius Sanctus

    • The silver-hued fish has been named Puntius Sanctus — ‘Sanctus’ is Latin for holy — after the popular pilgrim town.
    • Encountered in a small waterbody in Venlankanni, Puntius Sanctus is small, it grows to a length of 7 cm.
    • It found to use both as food and as an aquarium draw.
    • “The Puntius species are known locally as ‘Paral’ in Kerala and ‘Kende’ in Tamil Nadu.

  • Western Ghats yield 3 new plant species

    A team of scientists of the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) have reported the discovery of three new plant species from the evergreen forest patches of the southern end of the Western Ghats in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

    One may get carried away from the heavy botanical names. But UPSC is known for asking ruthless questions.

    Q. Recently, our scientists have discovered new and distinct spices of banana plant which attains a height of about 11 meters and has orange – colored form of pulp. In which part of India has been discovered? (CSP 2016)

    a) Andaman Islands

    b) Anaimalai Forests

    c) Maikala Hills

    d) Tropical rainforest of North-East

    Which are the new species?

    The three new species found are:

    1) Eugenia sphaerocarpa of the Myrtaceae or Rose apple family

    • A good population of Eugenia sphaerocarpa is growing in the Kakkayam area of the Malabar wildlife sanctuary in Kerala above 800 m.
    • The specific epithet ‘sphaerocarpa’ denotes to the large, showy lemon-yellow spherical fruit.
    • The fruits of Eugenia species are known for their palatability and many of them are harvested from the wild with some under cultivation.

    2) Goniothalamus sericeus of the Annonaceae family of custard apple

    • A small number of Goniothalamus sericeus plants has been found in the Kanyakumari wildlife sanctuary in Tamil Nadu.
    • Mature flowers with characteristic greenish-yellow to beige petals are fragrant while the fruits are very showy and an attractive golden yellow in colour.
    • The specific epithet ‘sericeus’ refers to the presence of dense silky hair on the petals.

    3) Memecylon nervosum of the Melastomataceae (Kayamboo or Kaasavu in local parlance) family

    • A small population of Memecylon nervosum was also found at the same sanctuary at an altitude between 700-900 m with more that than 10 sub-populations located along the banks of a perennial rivulet.
    • The species have showy purplish-blue flowers and mauve to purplish-red fruits.
    • The speciïŹc epithet ‘nervosum’ alludes to the presence of prominently raised lateral and intramarginal veins on the lower surface of the lamina.

  • Species in news: Pinanga Andamanensis

    A rare palm endemic to the South Andaman Island is finding a second home at Thiruvananthapuram-based Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI).

    Last year one  species from our newscard : Species in news: Hump-backed Mahseer made it into the CSP 2019.  The ‘Abutilon ranadei’ flower in the newscard creates such a vibe yet again.

    A stand-alone species being mentioned in the news for the first time often find their way into the prelims. Make a special note here.

    Pinanga Andamanensis

    • Pinanga andamanensis is an IUCN critically endangered species and one of the least known among the endemic palms of the Andaman Islands.
    • The name is derived from ‘Penang’, the modern-day Malaysian state.
    • Its entire population of some 600 specimens naturally occurs only in a tiny, evergreen forest pocket in South Andaman’s Mount Harriet National Park.
    • It was originally described by the Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari in 1934.
    • His description was based on an old herbarium specimen collected by E.H. Man, a late-19th century assistant superintendent in the Andaman administration.
    • After that first identification, it was thought to be extinct till 1992.

  • Species in news: Troglomyces twitteri

    A new species has just been identified on an old image on Twitter. It is named as Troglomyces twitteri.

    The species Troglomyces twitteri has something unique in its name. UPSC may ask a straight forward question like – The specie Troglomyces twitteri recently seen in news is a- (a) Algae (b) Fungi (c) Fish (d) Sea Grass …….

    Troglomyces twitteri

    • Troglomyces twitteri is a type of parasitic fungus.
    • It belongs to an order called Laboulbeniales — tiny fungal parasites that attack insects and millipedes.
    • These fungi live on the outside of host organisms; in this case, on the reproductive organs of millipedes.
    • Laboulbeniales were first discovered in the middle of the 19th century.