Congratulations Manasi and Ketki from Oikos In today's local Marathi daily 'SAKAL' I read the article that these two bright women received the 'Ramabai Anant Joshi' Award (Puraskar) for something different and special business.I personally and on behalf of Indiantreepix congratulate both of you for the great ecology oriented work you have undertaken. For people in villages.,They started something like nature schools. They conducted some quizes for village women in preparing vegetable recepies from forests and many such works related to ecology. Cheers Dr Satish Phadke 2009/9/7 Oikos for Ecological Services <[email protected]>
> > <http://www.octane.in/jsp/redirect?cid=3507&[email protected]&uid=185&link=http://www.oikos.in> > September - 2009 Dear Nature Lovers, > > Right from the ‘valley of flowers’ in Himalayas to ‘Plateau of Kaas’ in > Western Ghats, wild flower watching is becoming very popular & creating > great affection for our native flowers & mountains. Let us know more about > these flowers & their linkages in ecosystem. > *Regards, > Ketaki & Manasi. * Seasonal beauties… > In September, monsoon slows down to give a chance for the herbaceous > flowers to emerge… these tiny seasonal herbs cover every corner of soil & > make a wonderful display of shapes, sizes & colours… they are not just > monsoon herbs but play a vital role in our ecosystem… > As per rainfall regions, there are many wild flowers surfacing during those > 2-3 months, like Sonaki, Terada, Smithias, ground orchids etc. > It’s a wonderful sight when a vast plateau is covered with the colourful > display of flowers… All this effort of colour, fragrance, shapes is for the > next generation of plants itself. These plants germinate at onset of monsoon > covering the barren plateaus & slopes, thus preventing splash erosion. They > are important food source for herbivores like Barking deer. Once they start > flowering, lot of bees, wasps, butterflies, & other insect visit them for > nectar, pollens & in turn help in pollination essential for fruit set. > *BUT* … Often, these herbs are indication of degraded conditions. When > original forest is cut and open areas are created, these herbs emerge. Some > of these serve as ‘Pioneering’ species i.e. they are the first species to > boost up succession of vegetation cover. They help the process of soil > formation, check soil erosion, and provide biomass for soil enrichment > within their very short life cycle. Once monsoon recedes the seeds fall down > in top soil layer & wait for first rains next year. > *ALSO* … certain herbs are indicators of good health of the ecosystem. > E.g. orchids or some herbs growing in understory of forest indicate better > microclimate for regeneration. Certain herbs are associated only with high > altitude plateaus. e.g. Kaas near Satara, many forts. > > Similar to other resources & nature, the herb cover too faces risk of > elimination due to human activities. Even the invasive plant species like > Cosmos, Raan-mari (Eupatorium sp), are proving dangerous to wild floral > diversity. Many roadside & natural areas have seen drastic change in this > decade from beds of terada, sonaki to aggressive growth of cosmos or > raan-mari which looks good to human eyes but proves bad for wildlife. > > It is not needed to visit Himalay or Ghats to enjoy wild flowers, but they > appear right in your garden once rain starts, these are known as ‘weeds’ ! > The grass belts along roads, herbs coming up in lawn or pots are refuge for > insects, butterflies & birds. Such weeds can be preserved & used wherever > possible. > What you can do - > - These flowers are very delicate & all may not survive in the garden. > Let’s not uproot them from their natural habitat for our garden. > - Some weeds in garden have attractive flowers; do watch them & their > visitors. > - Do not encourage seed dispersal of invasive species like Cosmos, Lantana, > try removing them as far as possible. > - In landscaping, keep some open area as natural as possible for wild > herbs. > > It will be difficult to conserve these herbs outside their natural habitat, > so let’s protect mountain slopes, roadsides, stream beds, for a beautiful > countryside & colourful displays of nature ! > > * Open calendar image by clicking on thumbnail, save it to computer and > set it as desktop background for your > computer monitor. > *Please Note -* > This Email is a part of awareness campaign initiated by oikos, Pune. > Write to us for your valuable feedback. oikos have been sending 'Desktop > calendars' since January '06 with various themes, which can be downloaded > from website. > If you are not willing or not the correct recipient of this Email, kindly > reply this mail with subject 'unsubscribe'. Thanking you for your precious > time. Spread a word !! Forward to nature lovers ! [image: August > Calendar]<http://www.octane.in/jsp/redirect?cid=3507&[email protected]&uid=185&link=http://www.oikos.in/pages/year2009/sep2009.htm>Click > on the image to > enlarge<http://www.octane.in/jsp/redirect?cid=3507&[email protected]&uid=185&link=http://www.oikos.in/pages/year2009/sep2009.htm> > oikos > for ecological services Ph. 020-65289576 > > Web: > www.oikos.in<http://www.octane.in/jsp/redirect?cid=3507&[email protected]&uid=185&link=http://www.oikos.in> > > > You are subscribed to Oikos as [email protected] and have > opted to receive this communication from Oikos. Please do not directly reply > to this mailer. If you do not wish to receive any further communications > from Oikos , please Click > here<http://www.octane.in/jsp/unsubscribe?uid=185&cid=3507&[email protected]>to > unsubscribe instantly. > > > -- http:// satishphadke.blogspot.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "indiantreepix" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
