Functional importance of sacred forest patches in the altered landscape of Palakkad region, Kerala, India

Abstract

Abstract:The role of sacred forest patches in maintaining biodiversity and offering ecosystem services is well established, though the functional aspects are understated. This study aims to understand the functional diversity of tree reproductive traits of sacred forest patches in an altered landscape. Twenty-five sacred groves in Palakkad region, Kerala, India, were chosen to assess the distribution of five reproductive traits – pollination mechanism, fruit size, seed number, seed size and dispersal mechanism – among the tree populations. The data matrix was analysed for overall trait-state distribution, functional diversity assessment and its relation to environmental parameters and disturbance in the area. A total of 87 woody species was documented with a fairly homogenized distribution of fruit and seed characters, with ≥50% of the recorded trait states in each grove in comparison to control plot. Pollination and dispersal mechanisms are dominated by a single guild. e.g. insects and birds, often generalist in nature. Functional richness had a strong correlation with Shannon's index and disturbance, but evenness and divergence were weakly related with others. Comparative assessment with null model showed no significant deviations from expected results indicating apparent lack of habitat filtering or resource competition among sacred groves. The trait homogenization and overall simplification of the grove biota is perhaps an outcome of rapid land-use change and its consequences on specialist members. This study shows sacred groves are important for maintaining a plethora of functional traits in the altered landscape. However, the prevalence of generalist mediators indicates maintenance of basic ecological functions in the landscape without support for specialist ones.

Where is religion in political ecology?

“…Over the past few years political ecologists have begun addressing this lacuna, at least in its empirical dimensions (Baillie Smith et al, 2013; Yeh, 2014; Hopkins et al, 2015; Nair, 2015: 222–30; Hall, 2017; Rajasri et al, 2017; Fernandez, 2018; Anthias, 2018: 79–83; Dukpa et al, 2018; Rumsby, 2018; Lahiri-Dutt and Chowdhury, 2018; Collins and Grineski, 2019; Darrah-Okike, 2019; Braverman, 2019). Ranging from discussions of the relationship between contemporary degrowth movements and historical monastic practices (Hall, 2017) to analyses of the role of the sacred within Hawai’ian indigenous resistance (Darrah-Okike, 2019) to discussions of pilgrim’s environmental impacts (Nair, 2015), these articles demonstrate the wide range of ways religion affects political ecologies.…”

“…Over the past two decades, these literatures have converged to assess sacred forests’ effects on conservation (Narayanan, 1997; Byers et al, 2001; Dudley et al, 2009; Daye and Healy, 2015). Much of this work has examined either how sacred spaces limit the consumption of certain plants and animals or their indirect effects on local ecological stability and long-term forest productivity (Wadley and Colfer, 2004; Campbell, 2005; Salick et al, 2007; Waylen et al 2010; Ormsby and Bhagwat, 2010; Brandt et al, 2013, 2015; LoTemplio et al, 2016; Jana et al, 2017; Rajasri et al, 2017). They can also improve local water quality and protect old growth from timber and other resource extraction (Campbell, 2005; Ormsby and Bhagwat, 2010; Brandt et al, 2013; Woods et al, 2017).…”

Sacred forest biodiversity conservation: A meta‐analysis

“…Third, given the importance of sacred forests for local communities, they can successfully maintain their biodiversity for a long time, as the cultural value of the forest can outlast one human generation (Manna and Roy, 2021). Fourth, sacred forests protect important ecosystem services and functions, such as protecting medicinal plants (Mgumia and Oba, 2003; Bhagwat et al, 2005a; Ma et al, 2022), ensuring landscape connectivity as wildlife corridors or buffer zones for protected areas (Ishii et al, 2010), facilitating seed dispersal and pollination (Rajasri et al, 2017), providing erosion control and protecting water resources (Ma et al, 2022), and mitigating some negative effects of climate change by providing temperature control (Rawat, 2014) and carbon storage (Waikhom et al, 2018; Devi et al, 2021). Finally, despite their small size, sacred forests can play a crucial role in a land‐use matrix: overlooking this role would be a missed opportunity (Bhagwat et al, 2005b; Dudley et al, 2010; Marks et al, 2020).…”

Shifting values and the fate of sacred forests in Guinea-Bissau: are community-managed forests the answer?

“…One such option consists of CMFs, which comprise the fastest-growing category of tropical protected areas (PAs) (Schmitt et al 2009). These informal PAs are a promising conservation alternative to protecting desacralized forests, and they may also allow for the collective empowerment and welfare of local communities (Lele et al 2010) (Rajasri et al 2017).…”