Rock pools that support unique ecosystems need conservation in Pune

PUNE: A city-based group of scientists and researchers have taken up the study of temporary rock pool habitats that host a range of ecosystems in the tableland habitats of the Western Ghats.
Research group member Yugandhar Shinde, an assistant professor at the department of zoology, Modern College of Arts, Science and Commerce, said almost 97% water in the world is saline.
“The remaining 2% is under glaciers in the Arctic or the Antarctic. The 1% available as fresh water is from the rivers, ponds, pools and lakes. Of this 1%, about 0.35% water is in temporary habitats or pools which harbours 35% of freshwater diversity,” he said.
Such temporary habitats are not just available in the tropical regions with a lot of rain. “In some cases, it is there in colder climate. Melting snow forms small pools, particularly in grassland areas. In India, we generally look at rainwater pools. Not only animals, but plants are found only in these ephemeral aquatic habitats,” he added.
The flora on the Kas plateau is a kind of ephemeral habitat.
“We find some freshwater habitats, and we get some plants which are not terrestrial, but aquatic. Similarly, there are many animal communities in such habitats with very low nutrients,” he said.
Panchgani is another example of such habitats. “The substrata is mostly rock. The little amount of field or mud has poor nutrients. Fauna has adapted to oligotrophic habitats where nutrients are very low. These habitats harbour unique fauna and that ecosystem or ephemeral water body has a whole community, not just one or two animals. If the habitat is destroyed, you will lose a whole community and not just a single species,” he said.
Independent researcher Mihir Kulkarni said the pools are temporary and can hold water for a week to eight days. “In our ecosystems, we have pools that can hold water from 15 days to four or five months. This makes the habitat unique, when you compare it to other such systems in the world. Although, they are temporary, the duration of them being filled with water is quite different,” he said.
These pools harbour diverse groups of invertebrates.
“They will belong to four or five different groups. Commonly, you could find insect groups, crustaceans and other interesting groups like tardigrades which were released on the moon. All these animals have one thing in common specifically with crustaceans and tardigrades— they are desiccation resistant species. They can resist dry conditions for a considerable amount of time. This adaptation enables them to survive in the pools because they can’t fly away to other habitats like other insects,” he said.
Conserving the habitat would help conserve a particular species because most of them are very small. “If you look at all these different organisms, plants and invertebrates and so on, they are not found in other habitats even on comparable altitudes. It is important to conserve the habitat,” Kulkarni added.
Common threats include mining. “ In the Konkan region, tourism brings rubbish which can destroy the ecosystem. We don’t have a much information about the species which can reveal what we are losing out. Other concerns are climate change because if the rainfall pattern changes, and the animals don’t adapt well and will have to make adjustments to their life cycle. It can wipe out an entire ecosystem. So, habitats and landscapes must be conserved.”