Gongronema sasidharanii and Pampadum Shola National Park

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Context

• A plant with smooth stems and small urn-shaped flowers spotted in Idukki district has been identified as an entirely new species of the genus Gongronema.
• This is the first time Gongronema has been reported from south India.

Details

• Spotted during a survey in the Pampadum Shola National Park in 2019, the plant has been named Gongronema sasidharanii.
• In India, the genus Gongronema has so far been represented by just three species found in northeast India, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and West Bengal.
• Plants of the genus Gongronema are described as terrestrial twining plants or undershrubs with smooth stems, opposite leaves, and small flowers.
• Morphological characteristics that distinguish Gongronema sasidharanii from its sister species Gongronema nepalense and Gongronema ventricosum include elliptic-oblong leaves, larger petioles, and higher number of flowers per peduncle.

Pampadum Shola National Park

• Pampadum Shola National Park is the smallest national park in Idukki district of Kerala.
• It is on the border with Kodaikanal, Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu.
• The park adjoins the Allinagaram Reserved Forest within the proposed Palani Hills Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park. It is a part of Palani hills stretched up to Vandaravu peak.
• The park protects a moderate amount of montane evergreen shola forest that is associated with the wildlife rich Eravikulam National Park.
• After the forest range there are grandis (a variety of eucalyptus) that threaten the ecology of the area due to their dehydrating and quick-spreading character.
• These trees as well as the private legal and illegal plantations of the same trees remain as a living danger. The eucalyptus trees (grandis) that eat up the unique eco-system is yet to be a consideration of the forestry.
• The national park with its unique richness of uncontaminated "humus", has been an interest of studies recently.
• The keystone species here is the highly elusive and endangered, endemic small carnivore – the Nilgiri marten.
• Some notable birds found here include the Nilgiri wood-pigeon, white-bellied shortwing, vernal hanging parrot, blue rock-thrush, blue-capped rock-thrush and Nilgiri flycatcher, and black-and-orange flycatchers.

Nilgiri marten The Nilgiri marten (Martes gwatkinsii) is the only marten species native to southern India. It lives in the hills of the Nilgiris and parts of the Western Ghats. With only around a thousand members left it is listedz as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. The Nilgiri marten is deep brown from head to rump, with the forequarters being almost reddish, with a bright throat ranging in colour from yellow to orange. It has a prominent frontal concavity and is larger than the yellow-throated marten. The Nilgiri marten is diurnal. It is mainly arboreal, but descends to the ground occasionally. It is omnivorous and preys on birds, small mammals and insects such as cicadas. The Nilgiri marten mainly inhabits the shola grassland and high-altitude evergreen forests, and occasionally the adjacent mid-altitude moist deciduous forests and commercial plantations, that span the Western Ghats in the South Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.

PRACTICE QUESTION Q. Consider the following statements with reference to Pampadum Shola National Park: 1.It is the largest national park in Kerala. 2.The national park with its uncontaminated "humus", has been an interest of studies recently. 3.The park protects a moderate amount of montane evergreen shola forest.   How many of the above statement(s) is/are correct? A) Only one B) Only two C) All three D) None   Answer: B) Only two Statement 1 is incorrect.

SOURCE: THE HINDU