Sanctuary | People
I believe the key to conservation is keeping the common species common... while continuing to protect endangered
species. India’s lesser fauna must have species-specifi c conservation strategies outside Protected Areas.What about the more common
species? What is their fate?
I believe the key to conservation is
keeping the common species common...
while continuing to protect endangered
species. India’s lesser fauna must have
species-specifi c conservation strategies
outside Protected Areas. ‘Fortress
conservation’ has its place but is not
by far enough to protect small-ranging,
locally common, endemic species. Take
for example, many Micrixalus aka
the dancing frogs that have smallerdistributions outside Protected Areas.
For them habitat alterations, which
might be as seemingly insignifi cant
as a stream diversion or a mini-
hydel projects could pose a greater
threat than poaching. On the other
hand wide-ranging species such as
the Indian bull frog Hoplobatrachus
tigerinus may well face local extinction
on account of poaching when they
gather in large numbers in the breeding
season. So each species requires the
implementation of very diff erentand specifi c conservation strategies,
especially outside Protected Areas.And the impact of climate
change on birds’ ecology and
behaviour?
In 2014, I did a birding trip to Malaysia
and one of our target birds was the
Yellow-breasted Warbler at Fraser
Hills. Much to my disappointment we
failed to fi nd this bird but did fi nd Little
Spiderhunters all over at mid-elevations
(this is a low elevation species) – a
clear case of climate change-triggered
altitudinal movement. Low elevation
species are adapting to elevated
temperatures by expanding their ranges
to higher elevations. Similar range
shifts are taking place away from the
equator towards the poles. But what
happens to species that already inhabit
the poles, or the highest elevations of
their region? Quite simply they have no
place to go and could be the fi rst ones
to go extinct. The changing climate
also has strong physiological eff ects
on animals. If temperatures oscillate
over their thermal tolerance limits, their
metabolism and behaviour will
be impacted and eventually so will
their survival.Could you distil your
Masters Thesis on the ‘Role of
Brahmaputra and hill ranges
as a biogeographic barrier for
avian fauna of Northeast India’
for the benefit of our readers?
Carried out under the supervision of
Dr. Uma Ramakrishnan and Dr. Rajah
Jayapal, I concluded that each bird
species has its own fl ying ability, distinct
from others. For instance, babblers are
weak fl iers while warblers, fl ycatchers
and chats are strong fl iers. This variation
infl uences how far individuals can
disperse and how well populations can
mix and breed. To test this, I studied bird
populations across the Brahmaputra
valley. I explored the genetic diff erences
between birds and compared them to
the distances between sites. As expected
birds on one bank of the river valley
had similar genetic structure even if
their sites were very far apart. But the
genetic structure changed signifi cantlyABOVE Shashank studies bird specimens in the Bombay Natural History Society museum.
TOP Amur Falcon defenders, from left to right - Ramki Sreenivasan, Rokohebi Kuotsu, Shashank and
Bano Haralu in Nagaland.RAMKI SREENIVASAN’S PHOTO COLLECTIONVISHNUPRIYA SANKARARAMAN