Hi, Mansi ji & Ketki ji. Your desktop calenders with wonderful brief write ups have always been wonderfully done. I never forget to go through them. Your work itself looks quite from what one finds anywhere else. Pl. keep up your wonderful work!!!
2009/9/7 Satish Phadke <[email protected]> > 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 > > > > -- With regards, J.M.Garg ([email protected]) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1 'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna' Image Resource of thousands of my images of Birds, Butterflies, Flora etc. (arranged alphabetically & place-wise): http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg For learning about Indian Flora, visit/ join Google e-group- Indiantreepix: http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "indiantreepix" group. 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