Ecological disaster unfolding in Western Ghats as one insect goes 'missing' in India

A new study has highlighted the ecological disaster unfolding in the Western Ghats of India, as one-third of the country's dragonfly and damselfly species have likely gone extinct. Researchers surveyed the region for two years and came across the worrying trend linked to a global decline in insect populations. Such species depend on freshwater ecosystems for reproduction, and so the local extinction of these insects has caused concerns about the environmental changes in the Western Ghats. The research has set alarm bells ringing as this could mean that many more animals could also be at risk in the region. Scientists say that their vanishing throws light on the ecological health of the water bodies in the Western Ghats. Dragonflies and damselflies are widely considered "indicator taxa" because of their short life cycles and rapid response to environmental changes.

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Over 30 per cent of previously known species missing

Scientists from the Maharashtra Institute of Technology-World Peace University carried out extensive field work in the Western Ghats between February 2021 and March 2023, where they studied several types of dragonflies and damselflies, also known as odonates, and their freshwater habitats. Their survey revealed the presence of 143 distinct odonate species, 40 of which were endemic to the Western Ghats. But this number was only around 65 per cent of the species historically known from the region. This means that 35 per cent of them are potentially missing, which indicates not only a species decline, but also loss of habitat and ecological stress. Ecologist Pankaj Koparde, one of the authors of the study, said, "Our survey could recover only 65 per cent of known Odonata fauna of the Ghats, indicating a plausible loss of species and habitats."

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The study further points to the factors that are affecting the ecology in the Western Ghats, all of which are linked to humans. The spurt in infrastructure development, hydropower projects, and severe pollution has been highlighted as some of the things that have created an unsuitable environment for the dragonflies. Tourism and forest fires have also led to a degradation of the region, affecting odonate numbers.