Shola Forests Research Articles

<p align="left">Strobilanthes orbiculata (Acanthaceae) a new species and notes on S. matthewiana from the southern Western Ghats, India

A new species Strobilanthes orbiculata is described from the southern parts of the Western Ghats, India. It is a semelparous species found in the shola forests in Vattavada and Kundala in Idukki district of Kerala. Notes on pollen morphology, distribution, phenology, conservation status and photographic illustrations are given. Moreover, a short note on a narrow endemic taxon Strobilanthes matthewiana is also provided.

Elements of indigenous socio-ecological knowledge show resilience despite ecosystem changes in the forest-grassland mosaics of the Nilgiri Hills, India

The Nilgiri Hills in the Western Ghats of India constitute a region of high biological and cultural diversity, and include an endangered shola forest-grassland mosaic ecosystem. A mosaic ecosystem is one consisting of adjacent, coexisting patches of highly distinct naturally occurring land states (in this case, shola forest and natural grassland). Changes in the landscape since the nineteenth century have severely impacted the shola-grassland mosaic and challenged the traditional lifestyles of the indigenous Toda people. However, the responses of traditional Toda socio-ecological perspectives and landscape management to these changes have not been explored through population surveys. Here, using a survey method, the article explores traditional Toda perspectives of ecosystem value and landmanagement practices. The survey consists of interviews of 50 respondents belonging to 24 munds (villages), covering ten clans, neighbouring mosaic lands, plantations and agricultural areas. The findings show that traditional socio-ecological landscape management is robust and has persisted despite marked ecological and socio-economic changes during the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries, and despite frequent gathering of land management advice from non-Toda. Elements of traditional socio-ecological knowledge that have persisted include prevalent collective traditional decision-making and long-held preferences for a landscape composition with a strong mosaic component. The highly robust nature of Toda socio-ecological culture and land management suggests that the Todas have a valuable role to play in supporting the long-term persistence of the shola-grassland mosaic. Increasing their stewardship role would help conserve this endangered and highly biodiverse ecosystem, while at the same time preserving a unique indigenous culture.

Not seeing the grass for the trees: Timber plantations and agriculture shrink tropical montane grassland by two-thirds over four decades in the Palani Hills, a Western Ghats Sky Island.

Tropical montane habitats, grasslands, in particular, merit urgent conservation attention owing to the disproportionate levels of endemic biodiversity they harbour, the ecosystem services they provide, and the fact that they are among the most threatened habitats globally. The Shola Sky Islands in the Western Ghats host a matrix of native forest-grassland matrix that has been planted over the last century, with exotic timber plantations. The popular discourse on the landscape change is that mainly forests have been lost to the timber plantations and recent court directives are to restore Shola forest trees. In this study, we examine spatiotemporal patterns of landscape change over the last 40 years in the Palani Hills, a significant part of the montane habitat in the Western Ghats. Using satellite imagery and field surveys, we find that 66% of native grasslands and 31% of native forests have been lost over the last 40 years. Grasslands have gone from being the dominant, most contiguous land cover to one of the rarest and most fragmented. They have been replaced by timber plantations and, to a lesser extent, expanding agriculture. We find that the spatial pattern of grassland loss to plantations differs from the loss to agriculture, likely driven by the invasion of plantation species into grasslands. We identify remnant grasslands that should be prioritised for conservation and make specific recommendations for conservation and restoration of grasslands in light of current management policy in the Palani Hills, which favours large-scale removal of plantations and emphasises the restoration of native forests.

Growth and metabolic characteristics of oleaginous microalgal isolates from Nilgiri biosphere Reserve of India

BackgroundRenewable energy for sustainable development is a subject of a worldwide debate since continuous utilization of non-renewable energy sources has a drastic impact on the environment and economy; a search for alternative energy resources is indispensable. Microalgae are promising and potential alternate energy resources for biodiesel production. Thus, our efforts were focused on surveying the natural diversity of microalgae for the production of biodiesel. The present study aimed at identification, isolation, and characterization of oleaginous microalgae from shola forests of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR), the biodiversity hot spot of India, where the microalgal diversity has not yet been systematically investigated.ResultsOverall the higher biomass yield, higher lipid accumulation and thermotolerance observed in the isolated microalgal strains have been found to be the desirable traits for the efficient biodiesel production. Species composition and diversity analysis yielded ten potential microalgal isolates belonging to Chlorophyceae and Cyanophyceae classes. The chlorophytes exhibited higher growth rate, maximum biomass yield, and higher lipid accumulation than Cyanophyceae. Among the chlorophytes, the best performing strains were identified and represented by Acutodesmus dissociatus (TGA1), Chlorella sp. (TGA2), Chlamydomonadales sp. (TGA3) and Hindakia tetrachotoma (PGA1). The Chlamydomonadales sp. recorded with the highest growth rate, lipid accumulation and biomass yield of 0.28 ± 0.03 day−1 (μexp), 29.7 ± 0.69% and 134.17 ± 16.87 mg L−1 day−1, respectively. It was also found to grow well at various temperatures, viz., 25 °C, 35 °C, and 45 °C, indicating its suitability for open pond cultivation. The fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analysis of stationary phase cultures of selected four algal strains by tandem mass spectrograph showed C16:0, C18:1 and C18:3 as dominant fatty acids suitable for biodiesel production. All the three strains except for Hindakia tetrachotoma (PGA1) recorded higher carbohydrate content and were considered as potential feed stocks for biodiesel production through hydrothermal liquefaction technology (HTL).ConclusionsIn conclusion, the present investigation is a first systematic study on the microalgal diversity of soil and water samples from selected sites of NBR. The study resulted in isolation and characterization of ten potent oleaginous microalgae and found four cultures as promising feed stocks for biodiesel production. Of the four microalgae, Chlamydomonadales sp. (TGA3) was found to be significantly thermo-tolerant and can be considered as promising feedstock for biodiesel production.

Rediscovery of Arisaema translucens (Araceae) and notes on A. tuberculatum, two strict endemics of Nilgiris, India

Genus Arisaema Martius (1831: 449) is represented by 215 taxa worldwide (Govaerts et al. 2017), of which 61 taxa are reported so far from India including two recent discoveries from Kerala and Tamil Nadu states of Western Ghats, viz. A. peerumedense J. Mathew in Mathew & George (2017: 29), A. madhuanum Nampy & Manudev in Manudev & Nampy (2014: 269) and A. gracilentum Bruggeman (2016: 87) from Arunachal Pradesh of North-East India. During extensive surveys in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Tamil Nadu, the authors came across two fascinating Arisaema species, one from Thia Shola and the second from Pennant’s Valley forest areas. The first species is attractive by means of its translucent spathe and the latter by its long caudate limb with a filiform thread. Detailed study of relevant literature (Fischer 1933, Fischer 1934, Gusman & Gusman 2002) confirmed their identity as A. translucens Fischer (1933: 344) and A. tuberculatum Fischer (1934: 167), respectively. Arisaema translucens is described by Fischer (1933) based on the collection from Thia Shola forests by E. Barnes at an elevation of 6000 ft made in 1932. From a thorough literature survey and herbarium consultations, it became apparent that this taxon had not been collected since 1932. Hence our discovery is a recollection of this species after a lapse of 84 years from its type locality. Detailed description, colour photographs and distribution information are provided based on the recent collections.

Recent Sight Records of Black Microhylid Frog, Melanobatrachus indicus Beddome, 1878 in Marayoor Forests, Idukki District, Kerala

The Black Microhylid Frog Melanobatrachus indicus is a rare and endangered species known only from very few specimens from the southernmost part of the Western Ghats. A good population of these species was reported for the first time from the highland montane shola forests Marayoor, Idukki district, Kerala. The present report forms the highest altitude record for the species, about 1700 m and also accounts for the most numerous populations ever recorded for the species from the Western Ghats. An updated review of the present distribution of the Black Microhylid frog is also provided.

A new species of Protosticta Selys, 1885 (Odonata: Zygoptera: Platystictidae) from Western Ghats, Kerala, India

A new species of Protosticta Selys, 1885 from Kerala part of Western Ghats is described and illustrated. The holotype male and paratype female is distinguished from other Protosticta species based on its complete black dorsal surface of abdomen, 7th and 8th abdominal segment without yellow or blue color dorsally and its distinct anal appendages. The new species, Protosticta monticola sp. nov. was collected from shola forests of Idukki District, Kerala, southern Western Ghats. A key is also provided for the identification of all described species of Protosticta known from the Western Ghats.

Growth and Physiological Responses to an Elevation Gradient by Co-Occurring Tree Species in a Shola forest of Kerala, India

Shola forests of Kerala in peninsular India belong to the broad category of tropical montane forests represented in the continents of Asia, Africa and America. In Kerala, typical shola forests are distributed along the crest of the Western Ghats, where the altitude goes beyond 1800 m (ref. 1). In these forests, like in other tropical forest belts, altitudinal gradient is one of the ecological factors which influence structure, composition and diversity of plant community.

Reproductive Biology of <I>Elaeocarpus blascoi</I> Weibel, an Endemic and Endangered Tree Species of Palni Hills, Western Ghats, India

Elaeocarpus blascoi Weibel is a lesser known endemic tree species growing in the Vattakanal shola forest of Palni Hills, Western Ghats, India. A study on reproductive biology of the species was conducted in the natural habitat to study its phenology, floral biology, pollen biology, fruit set and seed germination. Flowers are bisexual, anther dehisces 2-3 hours after anthesis and stigma becomes receptive on the day of anthesis and extends up to 6 days. Breeding experiments confirmed that the species permits autogamy and geitonogamy. Six different pollinators were observed during peak flowering period and Apis dorsata (honey bee) was found to be an effective pollinator and it takes 55 ± 15 sec per flower. Percentage of fruit set observed in the natural habitat was 78% and seed germination rate was found to be less than 5% in the natural habitat. Tests showed that more than 70% of seeds lost their viability after a year and most of the seeds were infested with Fusarium sp., Lasiodiplodia sp. and Penicillium sp. Further, the natural habitat of the species is altered by commercial plantations, tourism and urbanization in the Palni Hills, which leads to their reduction.

ANTI-HYPER LIPIDEMIC ACTIVITY OF METHANOLIC EXTRACT OF SMILAX WIGHTII A.DC. IN STREPTOZOTOCIN INDUCED MALE WISTAR ALBINO RATS

Smilax wightii, an endemic medicinal plant is found in the shola forests at high altitudes in Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, the Western Ghats, Southern India . The present study, was undertaken to find out the effect of methanolic extract of this plant on the body weight, fasting blood glucose levels and lipid profiles inall the streptozotocin (STZ) induced rats. The extract exerted a significant (P<0.05) effect in the body weight of the experimental animals when compared to the control group. Treatment with the extract and glibenclamide resulted in a significant (P<0.01) reduction in the fasting blood glucose levels in diabetic ratswhen compared to the normal. The lipid profile such as TC, TG, LDL, and VLDL contents in the serum registered a significant (P<0.01) hike and a decline in the HDL contents in diabetic control group, which were retrieved to near normalcy in the plant extract treated groups. The effect produced by this plant extract wascomparable with that of glibenclamide. The decreased fasting blood glucose levels and lipid lowering properties clearly showed the anti-hyperlipidemic effect of S.wightii.

Mineralogy of Kaolin Clays in Different forest Ecosystems of Southern Western Ghats, India

Random X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to identify 1 : 1 clay minerals in soils of five different forest ecosystems such as moist deciduous forests, evergreen forests, shola forests, grasslands and scrub jungles in the southern Western Ghats, India. The study sites experience a humid tropical climate with intense leaching and weathering, except scrub jungle which lies in the rain shadow area of the Western Ghats. XRD analyses of air-dried samples, confirmatory tests using formamide intercalation and SEM could establish kaolinite-halloysite coexistence in clay fractions of three different ecosystems of the Western Ghats. Earlier studies on clay mineralogy in the region failed to establish such coexistence because of the relative metastable nature of halloysite with respect to kaolinite. The identification of soil systems with metastable minerals like halloysite presents interesting possibilities of further studies vis-a-vis soil genesis and management in the tropics.

Edge transition impacts on swamp plant communities in the Nilgiri mountains, Southern India

Swamps represent a relatively understudied ecosystem in many regions, which contrasts markedly with the research attention which other wetlands and Mangrove ecosystems have received. In the upper Nilgiris of southern India, montane swamps are restricted to geographic areas with flat surfaces and bounded by different edge transition vegetation types including grasslands and shola forests. Our study examined whether species richness, endemism, edge and the composition of swamp interior communities have a significant relationship with swamp area. Using species-area curves we continued sampling for species in each swamp until species richness reached the asympote within that swamp. Our results suggest that species richness (log n), log endemism, and edge and swamp interior species composition do not increase significantly with increasing area due to edge effect. Moreover, swamp area and vegetation parameters showed no significant relationships. However our results did indicate that swamps species richness and endemism were affected by abiotic and biotic edge effects, particularly physical topographic environment and the structure of adjoining matrix vegetation. Therefore swamp protection and restoration, in addition to the preservation and management of buffer regions may be important conservation criteria to preserve these fragile ecosystems.

Syzygium sahyadricum (Myrtaceae), a new tree species from India, and notes on the distribution of S. spathulatum Thwaites

A new species of the tree genus Syzygium (Myrtaceae), S. sahyadricum is described and illustrated from the Montane Shola forests of Anamalai and Palni Phytogeographical region of Western Ghats. Although phenotypically closely similar to S. spathulatum and S. malabaricum, the new species is easily recognizable by the pale yellow coloured tender leaves with horizontal secondary nerves and white flowers in reduced metabotryoid, pedunculate inflorescence, which are flattened towards the apex. Scanning the Syzygium collections in various herbaria revealed that similar specimens from various localities of this phyto-region are available and most of them with erroneous ascriptions. The report of S. spathulatum Thwaites, a Sri Lankan endemic species in India, was due to misinterpretation of Beddome’s collection. In this paper taxonomic peculiarities of the new species and allied taxa are discussed for better understanding.

Macrofungal diversity in the Western Ghats, Kerala, India: members of Russulaceae

A macrofungal biodiversity inventory carried out in different forest ecosystems viz., west coast tropical evergreen forests, west coast tropical semi-evergreen forests, south Indian moist deciduous forests, southern subtropical broadleaved hill forests, southern montane wet temperate forests (shola forests), southern tropical dry deciduous forests, grasslands, Myristica swamp forests, and forest plantations falling in different forest divisions in the Western Ghats, Kerala employing opportunistic as well as fixed-size plot sampling methods from 2006-2011 yielded several rare and hitherto unrecorded macrofungi. In Russulaceae 15 species of macrofungi belonging to the genera Russula and Lactarius were recorded. Of these, 12 species of Russula viz. Russula aciculocystis, R. adusta, R. atropurpurea, R. cinerella, R. congoana, R. delicula, R. hygrophytica, R. luteotacta, R. mariae, R. martinica, R. michiganensis and R. periglypta and white coloured latex exuding Lactarius nebulosus are new records for the Western Ghats. All the Russulaceae members exhibit an ectomycorrhizal association with tree species like Hopea ponga, H. parviflora, Myristica malabarica, Vateria indica, Calophyllum apetalaum, among others.

Reproductive biology of Pittosporum dasycaulon Miq., (Family Pittosporaceae) a rare medicinal tree endemic to Western Ghats.

BackgroundFor successful cultivation and conservation of plants a detailed knowledge of their reproductive biology is required. The reproductive features of trees are important to determine the diversity patterns and community structure of tropical forests. The present study on reproductive biology of Pittosporum dasycaulon, a rare medicinal tree, was conducted in the shola forests of Vaghamon hills, one of the foot hills of Southern Western Ghats of India from 2008–2011.ResultsThe plant flowers profusely during February to April. Inflorescence is a raceme and the total number of flowers per inflorescence varies from 96–217. The flowers are comparatively small, hermaphrodite, short pedicellate, complete, zygomorphic, pentamerous, polypetalous, hypogynous and light cream in colour with an average length of 1.14 cm. Anthesis started at 08.30 h and the flowers were completely opened at approximately 09.30 h followed by anther deshiscence at 10.00-11.30 h. The pollen grains were trizonocolpate with 45 ± 5.6 μm in size. Acetocarmine staining showed 66 ± 6% fertile pollen at the time of anther dehiscence. The number of pollen grains in an anther is 5246 ± 845 and per flower is 26230 ± 1021. The stigma is wet, non-papillate, capitate and contains a thin film of exudates under the light microscope. The superior ovary is densely covered with papillate hairs and containing 3–8 ovules. The important floral visitors include bees and butterflies. The plant is self-incompatible and an out crosser. Fruit set under open-pollination was poor (24%) with 58.3% fruits having seeds inside. There was no fruit set in manually self pollinated flowers while over 57% of the cross pollinated flowers set fruits.ConclusionsOur study presents a detailed account on reproductive biology of this medicinal tree which may help in the conservation and genetic improvement of this particular taxa.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1999-3110-55-15) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Impact of forest types on soil properties

Soil and vegetation have a complex interrelationship, in which one influences the other. Both in naturalforests as well as man-made plantations cycling of nutrients is an important aspect as considerableamount of nutrients are returned through litter fall are made available for re-absorption. The natureand amount of organic matter produced depends on the dominant tree species present and the sitecharacteristics of the area, which regulate the physico-chemical properties of soil. Thus, the percentagereturn of nutrient varies with species, site conditions and topography.The present study investigates the effect offorest types on soi I properties. Soil samples were collectedfrom different forest types covering different forest ecosystems viz., dry deciduous forest, moistdeciduous, shola forest, grassland, pine plantation, eucalyptus + wattle plantation, each at three depthsviz., 0-15, 15-30 and 30-45 ern and were analyzed for their physical and chemical properties.The soil pH ranged from 3.52 to 7.60 and the dry deciduous forest registered a maximum pH of 6.54and the minimum was recorded in shola forest. With increase in depth, there was a slight increase inpH under dry deciduous forest, pine plantation and eucalyptus + wattle plantation. Dry deciduousforest registered a maximum EC of 0.946 d'Sm+at top layer followed by shola forests. In general,grassland recorded lower EC values than other vegetations. Organic carbon content was higherunder shola forest. With increasing depth, there was a progressive reduction in organic carbon.Soi I avai lable nitrogen was in the range of 229 kg ha' to 1919 kg ha -I. A higher value of availablenitrogen was recorded in grassland soils followed by shola forest. Available nitrogen was found tooccur in a decreasing order with soil depth in all the study sites excluding sholas and grasslands. Thehighest available phosphorus was recorded in sholas and minimum was found in moist deciduousforest. With increasing depth, there was a great reduction in soil available phosphorus in all locations.This may be due to increased uptake anclless contribution of P by the litters. Soil available potassiumranged from 90 kg ha' to 941 kg ha-' The maximum amount of potassium was recorded in teaplantations and the minimum was under pine plantations. With increasing depth soil potassiumdecreased drastically.Bulk density (80) increased with increasing depth in all vegetations. Sholas recorded lesser BO. Thisis because of more organic matter addition to the top layer of the ground floor. Particle density (PO)oftop layer of grassland was the lowest followed by sholas. Like BO, PO also increased with increasingdepth of soil. Percent pore space was maximum in the top layers of shola forest and it decreased withincreasing depth.From this study a very good fertility status of soil was observed under sholas and grasslands. Thelower amount of nutrients was recorded under dry deciduous and moist deciduous forest and this isbecause of higher absorption of nutrients by the trees and erosional losses. Hence it is concluded thatthe soil physical and chemical properties are markedly influenced by vegetation.

Territoriality in Kerala Laughingthrush Strophocincla fairbanki meridionalis

The Kerala Laughingthrush Strophocincla fairbanki is a Near Threatened, endemic species of the Western Ghats of southern India, south of the Palakkad Gap (=Palghat Gap). Within its restricted range, it has two subspecies - the more widespread nominate race found in the high ranges north of the Shencottah Gap; and meridionalis , occurring south of the Gap. A study on territoriality was carried out on the latter at four study sites, namely Pandipath, Pandimotta, Kodayar, and Mahendragiri, in the Agasthyamalai hills from January 2011 to March 2011 after a pilot study in December 2010. Territory size of 30 pairs was estimated by following them and marking their locations using a GPS unit. The territories were found only in shola forests above 1,200 m above msl. Territories were not recorded in tea plantations, grasslands, scrub dominated rocky areas, bare rocky areas, forest patches adjoining reservoirs, and in large swathes of Ochlandra . The average territory size was estimated to be about 2 ha. No overlap of territories was observed and the territories were separated by an average distance of 66.04 m. Pairs were formed and territories defended only in the breeding season. Habitat loss and deterioration were identified as serious threats to the subspecies.

Conservation through in vitro propagation and restoration of Mahonia leschenaultii, an endemic tree of the Western Ghats

Conservation of Mahonia leschenaultii was achieved through multiple axillary shoot formation in single node cultures, in vitro and ex vitro rooting of the shoots, and successful reintroduction and establishment of the rooted plants in the forests of Palani hills in Southern India. A preliminary experiment on the culture of young nodal explants (1.0-1.5 cm) from field-grown plants in different basal nutrient media revealed high frequency bud beak in Schenk and Hildebrandt (SH) medium followed by Woody Plant medium and Murashige Skoog medium in 4 weeks. Subsequent culture of both shoot tips (0.5-0.8 cm) and nodes for 6 weeks in SH medium supplemented with various concentration of cytokinins resulted in optimal formation of 3.6 shoots in 80% of the nodes against 1.35 shoots in 75% of the shoot tips in the presence of 2.0 and 1.0 mg/l benzyl adenine (BA), respectively. Invariably, the resident apical and axillary meristems grew into a single shoot (1.0-1.8 cm) in 1-2 weeks followed by the characteristic differentiation of additional buds from its base. A synergistic combination of 1.0 mg/l BA and 0.02 mg/l indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) induced the maximum number (5.9) of axillary shoot formation which were relatively high (75%) when the explant was collected during May-June and the fifth nodes from the top of the growing shoots were used. Repeated subculture of the nodes from shoot cultures at 5-6 week intervals in medium supplemented with reduced concentrations of the growth regulators (0.5 mg/l BA, 0.01 mg/l IAA) through at least 10 passages enabled consistent production of 6-7 shoots per node at 92% success rate without loss of vigour, growth and morphological abnormalities. Shoots of 3-6 cm were rooted in vitro in the presence of 1.0 mg/l indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and hardening in the mist house at 76-78% and these rooted plants established in a potting medium of river sand and top soil (1:1) under constant mist irrigation. The plants reared in the nursery for 5-8 weeks were successfully reintroduced into the natural forest segment of the Institute's campus (MSL 200 m) at Palode and Vattakanal shola forests of Palani hills (MSL 2500 m) with establishment frequencies of 78.8 and 90.6, respectively, after 18 months. Growth characteristics of the plants (height, number of leaves and branches) reintroduced into native habitat at Vattakanal were better than those at Palode. Genetic fidelity of the 12-month old plants established in the nursery/field was confirmed by analysis of amplified products of genomic DNA obtained with random primers.

PROBABILITY MODELS TO STUDY THE SPATIAL PATTERN, ABUNDANCE AND DIVERSITY OF TREE SPECIES

Ecological communities are composed of complex vegetation that differs from community to community and also within the community. The variability of tree species in the community in relation to their environments can be studied by using different statistical tools. The present study was conducted to describe and also to quantify the spatial pattern, abundance and diversity of tree species in the Western Ghats of Karnataka. The spatial pattern of tree species was studied by using Poisson and Negative binomial distributions. Results indicate that most of the selected tree species followed Negative binomial distribution having clumped pattern. The Species abundance distribution was studied by using log series and lognormal distributions in six different forest types (Evergreen, semievergreen, moist deciduous, dry deciduous, scrub and shola forest types). All six different forest types followed lognormal distribution where as evergreen and shola forest types followed log series distribution also. Diversity of the tree species in different forest types was quantified by different diversity indices; it was found that evergreen forest is most diverse.

Indirect Evidences of Wildlife Activities in Shoals of Western Ghats, a Biodiversity Hotspots

Indirect Evidences of Wildlife Activities in Shoals of Western Ghats, a Biodiversity HotspotsThe presence of wildlife fauna and its activities were ascertained with the density of the scat, dung and other markings or droppings of the wildlife abode therein. Attempt was made to find out spatial differences in the activities of the wildlife populations and to comment on the abundance of different preys and predators within shola forests of Western Ghat hill forests, a Biodiversity hotspot in India. An indirect sampling method, Transect Count Method, was employed to count dung/pellet group/scat and other markings in that area. Pachyderms were found to be mostly dominant in Varagaliar and Punnumala shola patches while scats of all the three important predators, viz., tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), Indian wild dog (Cuon alpinus) and leopard (Panthera pardus) were encountered only in Varagaliar shola. Greater abundance was recorded from Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary than Silent Valley National Park may be because of the restriction of animal movements in the former due to topographical barriers and its existence as isolated shola patches that led to a greater concentration of wild fauna in a relatively segregated forest cover.