A Talk on ‘Climate change and anthropogenic impacts on the Biodiversity and Ecology Sacredgrove Tropical dry evergreen forest’
About the Talk
This lecture will focus on the distribution, biodiversity, functional ecology and conservation significance of sacredgrove tropical dry evergreen forest (TDEF) on the Coromandel (East) coast of India, under the present climate change and anthropocene. The atmospheric CO2 level has risen from 280ppm during preindustrial era to 427ppm by March 2026. Of the 16 major forest types and 103 subtypes in India, TDEF has restricted global distribution, many are small sacredgrove, canopy closed forests, dominated by trees and lianas. Our intensive ecological research found 103 tree and 57 liana species, with wide variation of biodiversity across sites. Tree diversity in 27 sites ranged from 18 to 37 species per ha, density from 596 to 2815 stems. Liana diversity in 18 sites ranged from 11 to 31 species and 408 to 1656 stems per ha. Most interestingly, the set of dominant tree and liana species varied in every site, irrespective of site proximity. Three decadal biomonitoring in permanent plots revealed tree density declined by 30 per cent, while liana density increased by 30 per cent, attributable to cumulative climate and anthropogenic impacts, coupled with eroding belief on sacredgroves. Complex plant-animal interactions in forest functional ecology , bioresource values of species and ecosystem services forest renders, underline the conservation need of the unique tropical dry evergreen forest.
About the Speaker
Dr N Parthasarathy, served as a professor over three decades in the Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Pondicherry University and retired in June 2024.
– He obtained his MSc and PhD in Botany from University of Madras. He served as a HOD and Dean, School of Life Sciences.
– He has 37 years of PG. teaching experience. He guided 19 PhDs.
– He was awarded FNA (2025) and FNASc (2014).
– He published more than 150 Research papers, spanning over 65 International and National journals, including Nature, Science, PNAS, Nature Ecology and Evolution and Science of the Total Environment etc.
– He has undertaken 12 major research projects and published four books.
– He is a Life Member of 6 professional societies and served as associated editor in Tropical Conservation Science and Tropical Ecology over a decade.
– He was an invitee of American and European government for Global biodiversity research collaborative programs at University of California and ETH, Zurich, Switzerland.
– Prof. Parthasarathy over four decades, in focal and phased manner conducted plant biodiversity inventories across India, studied forest functional ecology at individual level, national and international collaborations.