Assessing the importance of Molecular and Genetic perspectives in Prophesying the KFD transmission risk provinces in the Western Ghats, Kerala, INDIA in context with spatial distribution, Extensive genetic Diversity, and phylogeography

The Western Ghats (WG) in India is recognized as one of the global biodiversity hotspots which have high proportion of endemic species and the medicinally important tree species. Due to medicinal importance and being found on the forest fringes, Symplocos racemosa Roxb. is highly susceptible to anthropogenic activities. The present study was undertaken to systematically analyze the effects of anthropogenic activities on the genetic diversity and population structure of S. racemosa and to generate preliminary data for conservation purposes. We analyzed the variation in intergenic sequences of chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes from seven sites of S. racemosa sampled from protected, semiprotected, and disturbed areas of WG. Total diversity was high although within-sites diversity was low. The protected sites were highly diverse, while the disturbed areas possessed less genetic diversity indicating the effect of anthropogenic activities.

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Spatial distribution of Haemaphysalis species ticks and human Kyasanur Forest Disease cases along the Western Ghats of India, 2017–2018

Experimental and Applied Acarology ◽

10.1007/s10493-019-00345-9 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 77 (3) ◽

pp. 435-447 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

N. Naren Babu ◽

Anup Jayaram ◽

H. Hemanth Kumar ◽

Prashant Pareet ◽

Sarthak Pattanaik ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Spatial Distribution ◽

Western Ghats ◽

Forest Disease ◽

Western Ghats Of India ◽

Kyasanur Forest Disease ◽

The Western Ghats

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Environmental susceptibility model for predicting forest fire occurrence in the Western Ghats of India

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf10109 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 368 ◽

Cited By ~ 58

Author(s):

Quentin Renard ◽

Raphaël Pélissier ◽

B. R. Ramesh ◽

Narendran Kodandapani

Keyword(s):

Spatial Distribution ◽

Forest Fires ◽

Western Ghats ◽

Goodness Of Fit ◽

Fire Season ◽

Management Problem ◽

Environmental Controls ◽

Western Ghats Of India ◽

Susceptibility Model ◽

The Western Ghats

Forest fires are a recurrent management problem in the Western Ghats of India. Although most fires occur during the dry season, information on the spatial distribution of fires is needed to improve fire prevention. We used the MODIS Hotspots database and Maxent algorithm to provide a quantitative understanding of the environmental controls regulating the spatial distribution of forest fires over the period 2003–07 in the entire Western Ghats and in two nested subregions with contrasting characteristics. We used hierarchical partitioning to assess the independent contributions of climate, topography and vegetation to the goodness-of-fit of models and to build the most parsimonious fire susceptibility model in each study area. Results show that although areas predicted as highly prone to forest fires were mainly localised on the eastern slopes of the Ghats, spatial predictions and model accuracies differed significantly between study areas. We suggest accordingly a two-step approach to identify: first, large fire-prone areas by paying special attention to the climatic conditions of the monsoon season before the fire season, which determine the fuels moisture content during the fire season; second, the most vulnerable sites within the fire-prone areas using local models mainly based on the type of vegetation.

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