Why in news?
A recent study shows that tea plantations in the Western Ghats hosts less-diverse bat communities than those found in coffee estates and forests.
What are the findings of the study?
- Forests in Western Ghats have changed drastically.
- The study examined bat diet, echolocation, body size and wing morphology in different habitats in Valparai, Western Ghats.
- In Valparai tea and coffee plantations have fragmented natural forests.
- It found that tea plantations fared badly.
- Only few insectivorous bats that could adapt to highly modified habitats thrived here.
- Coffee plantations did better because of native tree presence which is required for coffee growth.
- Protected areas and forest fragments were the most ‘functionally’ rich, by being home to bats with diverse morphologies.
What is the significance of bats?
- Bats perform important ecological functions.
- They are important insect controllers, pollinators and seed-dispersers.
- Different bat species can perform these varied ecological functions due to the physical features they have evolved.
- e.g Bats with short, broad wings are better suited to plucking off large insects on the wing, in densely-vegetated patches like the forests of the Ghats.
What should be done?
- Tea plantations will never be as rich for wildlife as coffee plantations.
- But it can be more biodiversity-friendly if small changes in land use practices is implemented.
- Bats and other fauna could benefit if tea plantations have a buffer of native trees on both sides of every river.
- Protecting existing forest fragments and extending them wherever possible could also help.
Source: The Hindu
