Type: Species

Three medicinal plant species found in the Himalayas have made it to IUCN Red List of Threatened Species following a recent assessment.

Species assessed-

1. Meizotropis pellita : ‘Critically Endangered’
2. Fritilloria cirrhosa : ‘Vulnerable’
3. Dactylorhiza hatagirea : ‘Endangered’

(1) Meizotropis pellita

• Commonly known as Patwa, is a perennial shrub with restricted distribution that is endemic to Uttarakhand.
• The species is listed as ‘critically endangered’ based on its limited area of occupancy (less than 10 sq. km)
• The species is threatened by deforestation, habitat fragmentation and forest fires.
• The essential oil extracted from the leaves of the species possesses strong antioxidants and can be a promising natural substitute for synthetic antioxidants in pharmaceutical industries.

(2) Fritillaria cirrhosa

• Also called, Himalayan fritillary, it is a perennial bulbous herb.
• It is reasonable to conclude a decline of at least 30% of its population over the assessment period (22 to 26 years).
• Considering the rate of decline, long generation length, poor germination potential, high trade value, extensive harvesting pressure and illegal trade, the species is listed as ‘vulnerable’.
• In China, the species is used for the treatment of bronchial disorders and pneumonia.
• The plant is also a strong cough suppressant and source of expectorant drugs in traditional Chinese medicine.

(3) Dactylorhiza hatagirea

• Known as Salampanja, it is threatened by habitat loss, livestock grazing, deforestation, and climate change.
• It is extensively used in Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and other alternative systems of medicine to cure dysentery, gastritis, chronic fever, cough and stomach aches.
• It is a perennial tuberous species endemic to the Hindu Kush and Himalayan ranges of Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan.

Back2Basics: IUCN Red List

• The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species founded in 1964, has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species.
• It uses a set of criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of thousands of all species and subspecies.
• A series of Regional Red Lists are produced by countries or organizations, which assess the risk of extinction to species within a political management unit.
• The IUCN aims to have the category of every species re-evaluated every five years if possible, or at least every ten years.
• For plants, the 1997 Red List is the most important source.
• The formally stated goals of the Red List are-

1. to provide scientifically based information on the status of species and subspecies at a global level,
2. to draw attention to the magnitude and importance of threatened biodiversity,
3. to influence national and international policy and decision-making, and
4. to provide information to guide actions to conserve biological diversity.

Red List Categories of IUCN

Species are classified by the IUCN Red List into nine groups specified through criteria such as rate of decline, population size, area of geographic distribution, and degree of population and distribution fragmentation. They are:

• Extinct (EX) – beyond reasonable doubt that the species is no longer extant.
• Extinct in the wild (EW) – survives only in captivity, cultivation and/or outside native range, as presumed after exhaustive surveys.
• Critically endangered (CR) – in a particularly and extremely critical state.
• Endangered (EN) – very high risk of extinction in the wild, meets any of criteria A to E for Endangered.
• Vulnerable (VU) – meets one of the 5 red list criteria and thus considered to be at high risk of unnatural (human-caused) extinction without further human intervention.
• Near threatened (NT) – close to being at high risk of extinction in the near future.
• Least concern (LC) – unlikely to become extinct in the near future.
• Data deficient (DD)
• Not evaluated (NE)

Click and get your FREE Copy of CURRENT AFFAIRS Micro Notes

(Click) FREE 1-to-1 on-call Mentorship by IAS-IPS officers | Discuss doubts, strategy, sources, and more

The Amur falcons have begun to arrive in Manipur after travelling over 20,000 km.

Amur Falcon

• The Amur falcon (Falco amurensis) is a small raptor of the falcon family.
• It breeds in south-eastern Siberia and Northern China before migrating in large flocks across India and over the Arabian Sea to winter in Southern and East Africa.

How it migrates?

• Locally known as Akhuipuina, the bird arrives mainly in Manipur and Nagaland on its southbound migration from breeding grounds in North China, Eastern Mongolia and far-east Russia.
• They travel to Manipur en-route to its wintering grounds in South Africa.
• The one-way journey via India is about 20,000 km long and the birds do this twice a year.
• They spend three-four weeks in many parts of Manipur to build fat reserves by preying on termites that emerge around this time.

Conservation status

• It is protected under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and included under its Schedule IV.
• It is listed in the IUCN Red list as Least Concern.
• Hunting of the birds or possessing its meat is punishable with imprisonment up to three years or a fine up to Rs 5,000.
• In 2018, the forest department started a conservation programme by radio-tagging the birds to study their migratory route.

Click and get your FREE copy of Current Affairs micro notes

Dolphins have started coming back to the Ganga with improvement in the quality of the river water made possible by the Namami Gange Programme.

About Gangetic Dolphin

• The Gangetic river system is home to a vast variety of aquatic life, including the Gangetic dolphin (Platanista gangetica).
• It is one of five species of river dolphin found around the world.
• It is found mainly in the Indian subcontinent, particularly in Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems.
• An adult dolphin could weigh between 70 kg and 90 kg. The breeding season of the Gangetic dolphin extends from January to June.
• They feed on several species of fishes, invertebrates etc.

Threats to Gangetic dolphins

• The construction of dams and barrages and increasing pollution has led to a decline in the population of aquatic animals in the rivers in general and of dolphins in particular.
• Aquatic life is an indicator of the health of river ecosystems.
• As the Gangetic dolphin is at the top of the food chain, protecting the species and its habitat will ensure

How are they conserved?

• Although efforts to save them were started in the mid-1980s, the estimates suggest the numbers have not risen as a result.
• The Gangetic dolphin remains listed as Endangered by the IUCN.
• After the launch of Ganga Action Plan in 1985, the government on November 24, 1986, included Gangetic dolphins in the First Schedule of the Indian Wildlife (Protection), Act 1972.
• This was aimed at checking hunting and providing conservation facilities such as wildlife sanctuaries.
• For instance, Vikramshila Ganges Dolphin Sanctuary was established in Bihar under this Act.
• It has been recognized as National Aquatic Animal of India.

Policy moves for conservation

• The government had prepared The Conservation Action Plan for the Ganges River Dolphin 2010-2020.
• The National Mission for Clean Ganga celebrates October 5 as National Ganga River Dolphin Day.
• There is also Project Dolphin on the lines of Project Tiger, which has helped increase the tiger population.

Try this PYQ:

Which one of the following is the national aquatic animal of India?

(a) Saltwater crocodile

(b) Olive ridley turtle

(c) Gangetic dolphin

(d) Gharial

 

Post your answers here.

Click and Get your FREE copy of Current Affairs Micro notes

The Chilika Lake, Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon, has 176 fishing cats, according to a census done by the Chilika Development Authority (CDA) in collaboration with the Fishing Cat Project (TFCP).

About Fishing Cats

• About twice the size of a typical house cat, the fishing cat is a feline with a powerful build and stocky legs.
• It is an adept swimmer and enters water frequently to prey on fish as its name suggests.
• It is known to even dive to catch fish.
• It is nocturnal and apart from fish also preys on frogs, crustaceans, snakes, birds, and scavenges on carcasses of larger animals.
• It is capable of breeding all year round but in India its peak breeding season is known to be between March and May.

Conservation status

• IUCN Red List: Endangered
• CITES: Appendix II
• Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I

Various threats

• One of the major threats facing the fishing cat is the destruction of wetlands, which is its preferred habitat.
• As a result of human settlement, drainage for agriculture, pollution, and wood-cutting most of the wetlands in India are under threat of destruction.
• Another threat to the fishing cat is the depletion of its main prey-fish due to unsustainable fishing practices.
• It is also occasionally poached for its skin.

Back2Basics: Chilika Lake

• Chilika Lake is a brackish water lagoon, spread over the Puri, Khurda and Ganjam districts of Odisha.
• It is located at the mouth of the Daya River, flowing into the Bay of Bengal, covering an area of over 1,100 km2.
• It is the largest coastal lagoon in India and the largest brackish water lagoon in the world after The New Caledonian barrier reef.
• It has been listed Ramsar Site as well as a tentative UNESCO World Heritage site.

Its formation

• The process of the formation of the Chilika might have begun in the latter part of the Pleistocene epoch, around 20,000 years ago.
• India’s peninsular river Mahanadi carried a heavy load of silt and dumped part of it at its delta.
• As the sediment-laden river met the Bay of Bengal, sand bars were formed near its mouth.
• These created a backflow of the seawater into the sluggish fresh water at the estuary, resulting in the huge brackish water lake.
• Marine archaeological studies on the Odisha coast clearly show that the Chilika once acted as a safe harbor for cargo ships bound for Southeast Asia and other parts of the world.

UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

The world’s largest plant has recently been discovered off the West Coast of Australia: a seagrass 180 km in length.

Posidonia australis

• The ribbon weed, or Posidonia australis, has been discovered in Shark Bay by a group of researchers from Flinders University and The University of Western Australia.
• These researchers have also found that the plant is 4,500 years old, is sterile, has double the number of chromosomes than other similar plants.
• It has managed to survive the volatile atmosphere of the shallow Shark Bay.

So how remarkable is this plant’s size?

• The ribbon weed covers an area of 20,000 hectares.
• The next on the podium, the second largest plant, is the clonal colony of a quaking Aspen tree in Utah, which covers 43.6 hectares.
• The largest tree in India, the Great Banyan in Howrah’s Botanical Garden, covers 1.41 hectares.

If it is so large, how come it has just been discovered?

• The existence of the seagrass was known, that it is one single plant was not.
• Researchers were interested in what they then thought was a meadow because they wanted to study its genetic diversity, and collect some parts for seagrass restoration.

How did it grow, and survive for, so long?

• Sometime in the Harappan era, a plant took root in the Shark Bay.
• Then it kept spreading through its rhizomes, overcoming everything in its way, and here we are today.
• Ribbon weed rhizomes can usually grow to around 35cm per year, which is how the scientists arrived at its lifespan of 4,5000 years.
• The researchers found that the ribbon weed cannot spread its seeds, something that helps plants overcome environmental threats.
• Also, Shark Bay sees fluctuations in temperature and salinity and gets a lot of light, conditions challenging for any plant.

Ecological significance

• Because seagrass performs a vital role in the environment, and if some of it is hardy, it is good news for everyone in a world threatened by climate change.
• In India, seagrass is found in many coastal areas, most notably in Gulf of Mannar and Palk Strait.
• Apart from being home to a variety of small organisms, seagrass trap sediments and prevent water from getting muddy, absorb carbon from the atmosphere, and prevent coastal erosion.

UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)