Conservation status, threats and diversity of Odonates in Kuvempu University Campus, Mid- Western Ghats, Shivamogga district, Karnataka, India

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1 2017; 5(2): E-ISSN: P-ISSN: JEZS 2017; 5(2): JEZS Received: Accepted: MN Harisha Shankaraghatta , Shivamogga, Karnataka, India BB Hosetti Shankaraghatta , Shivamogga, Karnataka, India onservation status, threats and diversity of donates in Kuvempu University ampus, Mid- Western Ghats, Shivamogga district, Karnataka, India MN Harisha and BB Hosetti Abstract A study on diversity of odonates was conducted at Kuvempu University ampus located in Bhadravti Taluk, Shivamogga District of Karnataka. The study was conducted to explore status, diversity and threats of donates during February 2012 to January During the study period, a total of 43 species of donates in 31 genera belonging to 7 families have been reported. Among them the order-anisoptera (Dragonflies) dominated with 30 species, followed by the order-zygoptera (damselflies) with 13 species. The family Libellulidae dominated with 24 species among the Anisoptera. Among the Zygoptera, oenagrionidae was found to be the dominant family with 8 species. The occurrence of IUN categorized two Near Threatened species like Vestalis gracilis and Indothemis carnatica, one Data Deficient species like rthetrum pruinosum and one Endemic species like Anaciaeschna jaspidea were remarkable this indicates that, the area was found to be rich in odonate diversity. Keywords: Zygoptera, Anisoptera, Dragonflies, Damselflies, Endemic species, Mid-Western Ghats, Kuvempu University ampus orrespondence MN Harisha Shankaraghatta, Shivamogga, Karnataka, India 1. Introduction Globally 5740 species of odonates are known from the world, of which 474 species under 142 genera and 18 families exist in India [1]. Western Ghats of India and Sri Lanka, one of the global biodiversity hotspots [2], are known to support number of donata species [3]. Around 174 species of odonates have been reported from the Western Ghats, including 56 species endemic to the region [4, 5], while 154 species of odonates were reported from Kerala [6]. The northern Western Ghats (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and Northwestern Karnataka) are one of the under-explored areas in terms of documentation of donata fauna. These areas are characterized by highly fragmented forest cover. Most of the Western Ghats endemic odonates are known to be associated with closed forested area with streams [5]. Such habitats are often good quality forested areas. Therefore, documenting fauna from such regions is highly important as it helps to fill the gap about distribution of species, which may have conservation implications [3]. donates serve as an umbrella species in biodiversity conservation [7, 8] and represent specific biotic wetland assemblages [9]. Dragonflies are valuable as indicators to assess the health of freshwater wetlands and terrestrial ecosystem [10, 11]. They also play a vital role as prey and predator to maintain the balance of tropic levels of food chain [12]. Besides, being important elements of the food chain; they predate on mostly harmful insect pests of crops, orchards and forest, other small insects like mosquitoes, moths, butterflies and thus have a regulatory impact on agro-forestry [11, 13]. donates survive in a wide range of aquatic habitats i.e., from lotic and lentic water bodies, some have adapted to urban areas and exploit man-made water bodies [11, 14]. donates, being the top predators at larval and adult stages are highly specific to their niche and depend heavily on water bodies for feeding and breeding and play a significant role in freshwater ecosystems [1, 11, 15, 16]. Even though most the odonates species are highly specific to a habitat, they are more susceptible to habitat alterations induced by human activities [9, 11]. For the first time study was to conducted to make a preliminary survey on conservation status of odonate species and their diversity in Kuvempu University ampus, Shivamogga District in order to understand the nature of odonate species assemblages with reference to the habitat characters. ~ 389 ~

2 2. Materials and Methods 2.1 Study Area Kuvempu University ampus located between latitude of 13 41' N and longitude of 75 38' E at an elevation of m above MSL. The campus is situated 24 km South-East of Shimoga city and 4 km North of Bhadra Reservoir amidst the dry deciduous forest and is located on the edge of Bhadra Tiger Reserve and Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary. The University campus encompasses 230 acres of land with varied habitat, from undulating hilly terrain to man-made wetlands. Before the inception and establishment of the University in this landscape, the area was a barren hill-slope without any prominent vegetation. But in the past 10 years after the establishment of the University, there is considerable secondary vegetation of many tree species establishing gradually. As of now, the predominating vegetation is typically dry deciduous with considerable similarities with the wildlife sanctuary Sampling and Identification donata sampling was conducted during February 2012 to January Adult donates sampling was done by direct counts made while observing habitats on hourly basis. Data collection was conducted between 09:00 am and 01:00 pm when insects were most active. During the course of the survey donates observed in the field were identified by using field guides [17, 18]. The taxonomic and nomenclature has been followed as per [1]. The odonates were categorized into five groups such as, very common (80-100%), common (60-80%), occasional (40-60%), rare (20-40%) and very rare (below 20%) based on their abundance during the study period [19]. 3. Results and Discussion A total of 43 species of donates in 31 genera belonging to 7 families have been reported. During the study, the order- Anisoptera which includes dragonflies was found to be more diverse and predominant with 30 species belonging to 3 families, contributed 70%, followed by the order-zygoptera which includes damselflies was found to be less diverse with 13 species belonging to 4 families, contributed 30% composition of total odonates recorded from Kuvempu University ampus (Table 1, Figure 1). Among the rder-anisoptera, on the basis of the family wise species distribution, the family Libellulidae was found to be widely distributed and dominated with high percentage composition i.e., 80% (n=24), followed by the family Aeshnidae with 13% (n=4) and Gomphidae 7% (n=2) respectively (Table 1, Figure 2). However, among the rder- Zygoptera, the family oenagrionidae was found to be dominated with highest percentage composition i.e., 62% (n=8), whereas, the family Platycnemididae and alopterygidae were found to be more or less equally distributed i.e., 15% (n=2) each and least by the Lestidae with 8% (n=1) of total species recoded from the study area (Table 1, Figure 3). The status of odonates based on the frequency of occurrence shown that 33% (n=14) species were common, 28% (n=12) were rare, 16% (n=7) were very common, 14% (n=6) were occasional and 9% (n=4) were very rare respectively (Table 1, Figure 4). According to IUN categorization, of all the odonate recorded from the study area, 93% (n=40) species fall under the Least oncern (L) and 5% (n=2) species under Near Threatened (NT) and 2% (n=1) species under Data Deficient categories (Table 1). The occurrence of IUN categorized two near threatened species like Vestalis gracilis and Indothemis carnatica, one data deficient species like rthetrum pruinosum and one endemic species like Anaciaeschna jaspidea were remarkable this indicates that, the area is found to be rich in odonate diversity. During the present investigation, it was revealed that order- Anisoptera (dragonflies) was found to be abundant; this similar pattern of predominance was also reported by different researchers from different parts of India, i.e., from Komaranahalli Lake [9] and Kondajji Lake [11] of Davanagere district, Karnataka, from hinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Southern Western Ghats [19], from Goa [20], from oimbatore and Salem districts in Tamil Nadu [21] and from Padmatola wetland of Balasore in disha [22], this might be due to their high dispersal ability and adaptability to wide range of habitats [23, 24]. Less abundance of Zygoptera (damselflies) was may be due to their limited dispersal ability and changing environment [19, 21, 22] and partial or absence of shade cover [23] afforded by the temporary water bodies. During the present investigation, the record of abundant Libellulidae (order-anisoptera) and oenagrionidae (order- Zygoptera) in study area might be due to their shorter life cycle and widespread distribution and tolerance to wide range of habitats [24, 25, 26]. donates belonging to the families orgulegasteridae and ordulidae of Anisoptera and Protoneuridae, alopterygida, hloroyphidae, Euphaeidae and Platystictidae of Zygoptera are not found in the study area probably because most of the species of these families are restricted to high altitude and/or breed in running water streams in forest landscape [22]. The maximum diversity of donates in Kuvempu University ampus might be due to their larger size, diverse habitat and presence of permanent and temporary water bodies. The size of the water bodies (temporary or permanent) also becomes an important factor to determine the species richness and diversity of donates [23, 27, 28]. However, during the study it has been found that, the odonates and their habitats are under threat due to intensive anthropogenic activities like habitat alterations, improper landuse planning leads to changes such as change in slope modification, soil excavation etc., impacted the environment adversely by way of intense soil erosion, water logging and water scarcity. Further, frequent weed clearing and irreversible damage to individuals by the presence of predators and to their breeding habitats by draining and pollution of water bodies in the campus. All these activities not only affect the assemblage of donata population in temporary water bodies but also cause local extinctions [9, 11, 18, 24, 29, 30]. The only source of water in these temporary wetlands is rain water and uncertainty in the amount of rainfall coupled with decreased inflow of water from surrounding forest due to unscientific trenching and drainage system is also posing a threat to the richness of biodiversity in the water bodies of the campus. From the study it was observed that the water bodies in the campus were drained out almost during ctober to November which created a number of problems for aquatic vegetation, surrounding forest and also for dependent wetland faunas (including aquatic insects other faunas like birds, some carnivores like tiger, leopards, wild cat spp, herbivores like sambar deer, spotted deer, mouse deer, barking deer etc). The data recorded in the present study may give valuable information about odonates fauna of Kuvempu University ampus, Mid-Western Ghats as a baseline data for assessing the changes of environmental conditions in the area, thereby helping in formulating future conservation measures to ~ 390 ~

3 preserve the wetland habitats and to maintain the ecosystem health. More studies are needed to understand the population dynamics and seasonal patterns of donata in this particular geographical area. Plate I A). Heliogomphus promelas, B). Tholymis tillarga, ). Ictinogomphus rapax, D). rthetrum glaucum, E). rthetrum pruinosum, and F). rthetrum sabina Plate II G). Lathrecista asiatica, H). Rhyothemis variegata, I). Gynacantha bayadera, J). eriagrion coromandelianum, K). Vestalis apicalis, and L). Vestalis gracilis Table 1: List of donates and their conservation status at Kuvempu University, Mid-Western Ghats, Shivamogga District, Karnataka. Sl. No. I II 5 6 III ommon name Family/Scientific name rder: Anisoptera (Dragonflies) Darners Family: Aeshnidae Rusty Darner* Anaciaeschna jaspidea Blue-tailed Green Darner Anax guttatus Blue Darner Anax immaculifrons Parakeet Darner Gynacantha bayadera lubtail Family: Gomphidae ommon lubtail Ictinogomphus rapax ommon artail or Hooktails Paragomphus lineatus Skimmers Family: Libellulidae Trumpet Tail Acisoma panorpoides Blue-tailed Black Marsh Skimmer Brachydiplax sobrina Ditch Jewel Brachythemis contaminate Granite Ghost Bradinopyga geminate Ruddy Marsh Skimmer rocothemis servilia Scarlet Marsh Hawk Aethriamanta brevipennis Ground Skimmer Diplacodes trivialis Blue Ground Skimmer Indothemis carnatica Pied Paddy Skimmer Neurothemis tullia Brown-backed Red Marsh Hawk rthetrum chrysis ~ 391 ~ Status IUN L L L L L L V V V R R L L L L L L L NT L L

4 17 Blue Marsh Hawk rthetrum glaucum R L 18 rimson-tailed Marsh Hawk rthetrum pruinosum V DD 19 Green Marsh Hawk rthetrum Sabina V L 20 Wandering Glider Pantala flavescens V L 21 ommon Picture Wing Rhyothemis variegate L 22 rimson Marsh Glider Trithemis aurora L 23 Long-legged Marsh Skimmer Trithemis pallidinervis L 24 Black Stream Glider Trithemis festiva R L 25 oral-tailed loud Wing Tholymis tillarga R L 26 Emerald-banded Skimmer ratilia lineate L 27 Fulvous Forest Skimmer Neurothemis fulvia R L 28 Asiatic Blood Tail Lathrecista asiatica VR L 29 Black Marsh Trotter Tramea limbata VR L 30 Red Marsh Trotter Tramea basilaris R L rder: Zygoptera (Damselflies) IV Marsh Dart Family: oenagrionidae 31 Pigmy Dartlet Agriocnemis pygmaea L 32 oromandel Marsh Dart eriagrion coromandelianum L 33 Rusty Marsh Dart eriagrion olivaceum L 34 Golden Dartlet Ischnura aurora L 35 Senegal Golden Dartlet Ischnura senegalensis V L 36 Elegant Sprite Pseudagrion decorum R L 37 Blue Grass Dartlet Pseudagrion microcephalum L 38 Pixie Dartlet Rhodischnura nursei VR L V Spreadwing Family: Lestidae 39 Emerald Spreadwing Lestes elatus R L VI Bush Dart Family: Platycnemididae 40 Blue Bush Dart opera vittata R L 41 Yellow Bush Dart opera marginipes R L VII Glories Family: alopterygidae 42 lear-winged Forest Glory Vestalis gracilis R NT 43 Black-tipped Forest Glory Vestalis apicalis VR L DD-Data deficient, L- Least concern, NT-Near Threatened, *-Endemic to Western Ghats, V-Very common; -ommon; -ccasional, VR-Very Rare and R-Rare, Fig 1: Percentage composition of donates (rder: Anisoptera and Zygoptera) at Kuvempu University ampus, Mid-Western Ghats, Shivamogga Fig 3: Percentage composition of Damselflies (rder: Zygoptera) at Kuvempu University ampus, Mid-Western Ghats, Shivamogga Fig 2: Percentage composition of Dragonflies (rder: Anisoptera) at Kuvempu University ampus, Mid-Western Ghats, Shivamogga Fig 4: Status of donates based on the frequency of occurrence at Kuvempu University ampus, Mid-Western Ghats, Shivamogga ~ 392 ~

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