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the canopies above. The goat-like
endangered Nilgiri tahr trot through
the open grasslands, unaware that soon
they may not have much open space
left to roam.W
ITH PEAKS AND PLATEAUS
ranging from 1,700 to 2,600
meters above sea level, the Nilgiri
massif, which connects the two
mountain ranges on either side of the
Indian peninsula — the Western Ghats
and the Eastern Ghats — is among
the highest mountains in southern
India. Over 5,000 square kilometers
of the Nilgiris and its surrounding
environments were declared a UNESCO
Biosphere Reserve in 1986. Several
Indigenous communities call the region
home.
The plateau’s high altitude limits
tree growth, making the native grass-
land-shola mosaic possible. Typically,
these shola forest clusters have an over-
story of small trees, including a variety
of threatened and endangered species
endemic to the Western Ghats, such
as kattu shanbagam (Magnolia nilagirica),
and kaatu karruwa (Cinnamomum wightii).
The understory is frequently thick with
endemic mosses, shrubs, and ferns,
several of which are also endangered,
such as the shrub Strobilanthes lanata.
Grasses such as Andropogon polyptychus
and Eriochrysis rangacharii spring from
the open terrain that washes around
the sholas, and their existence, too, is
in peril.
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upon these ancient grasslands in
the 1800s, they mistakenly believed
Indigenous communities had destroyed
what were once forests by burning,
TWOOQVO IVL J]ٺITWOZIbQVO PMa
spent a century trying to “reforest”
the area with exotic tree species such
as eucalyptus, pine, and acacia (black
wattle) that they hoped to use fortimber. The colonists also set up vast tea
bush plantations on the higher slopes
of the mountains. After independence,
the government of India continued
with commercial tree-planting, adding
more acres of eucalyptus, acacia, and
pine. These non-native trees have since
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of grassland in the Nilgiris and similar
nearby ecosystems — 23 percent just
from 1973 to 2017, according to a 2019
study published in Biological Conservation
— endangering what little grass
remains in this mosaic of montaneforest and open terrain. Invasive trees
now threaten many endemic plants and
animals that rely on these grasslands.
They’re also eroding a watershed
that feeds several South Indian rivers,
including the Kaveri, on which millions
in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Chennai, and
other cities rely for drinking water, and
on which farmers depend for irrigation.
In the Nilgiris, acacia has proven
especially voracious, and is likely to
become more so. According to a study
by three ecologists from the Bengaluru-
based National Centre for Biological
Sciences that was published in the
Journal of Ecology last year, acacia is
poised to sprout even faster as the
world warms.
This ecological threat at the inter-
section of climate change and lingering
colonial ineptitude is just one such
danger that could take a huge toll on
India’s ecosystems as temperaturesclimb. Non-native shrubs like scotch
broom (Cytisus scoparius) and lantana
(Lantana camara ̧ I ÆW_MZQVO [PZ]J
the British brought to India in 1807 —
have grown so thick in parts of South
India’s montane grasslands and wood-
land savannas, respectively, that they
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Lantana, in fact, has already begun
to creep as far north as the warming
Himalayas.
In the Nilgiris, foresters and
ecologists have tried to rebalance the
TIVL[KIXM NWZ LMKILM[ J]\ KWVÆQK\QVOideas about how this should be done,
and the complexities of the ecosystem
itself, have hampered much of the
MٺWZ\]\)T2W[PQKWI]\PWZWN\PMJournal
of Ecology paper, says there’s still no
clear way to control acacia. One of the
only things that’s certain — as another
of the paper’s coauthors, Jayashree
Ratnam, says — is that beating back
these trees won’t be enough.
“We know grassland restoration is
not as simple as removing the invaders,”
she says.B
EYOND THE MARBLED ARCH
that marks the entrance to the
National Centre for Biological Sciences
campus, one comes upon what appears
to be a forest left to run wild in the city.
The trees are tall and thick enough that
a visitor might be forgiven for squinting
at Google Maps while driving up,
thinking maybe he had accidentallyIn India’s Nilgiri Mountains, ecologists
are working against time to undo
colonial forestry practices that have
damaged this unique landscape.