By Sunil Kumar M DH News Service BANGALORE, July 24 When most conservationists are worried only about big animals such as tigers and elephants, scientists at the College of Forestry, Sirsi, are trying to rescue a rare endemic tree from going extinct. As of now only about 150 individuals of the tree species (Semecarpus kathlekanensis) have been discovered in the entire world and strangely all of them are in the poorly lit, freshwater swamps of Siddapur region in Uttara Kannada district. This huge tree, belonging to the mango family, derives its name from its habitat, the Kathlekan (Kathle - dark and Kan- forests). Earlier, the tree was found in large numbers but has now been reduced to about 150 due to indiscriminate felling and draining of Kathlekan swamps for cultivation. The tree has been declared as critically endangered as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature norms. What worried us was that there were less than 50 breeding trees out of the 150. Since the trees are at far off distances, pollination becomes a problem. Equally endangered is the butterfly Idea malabarica which acts as a pollinator. The flowering of male and female trees also do not synchronise so there is high chance of inbreeding. DNA fingerprinting tests confirmed that there was a low genetic diversity among the trees due to inbreeding. Semecarpus kathlekanensis can go extinct like what happened to the Cheetah in India if immediate measures are not taken, says Dr R Vasudeva of College of Forestry, Sirsi. As a first step, the Forest Department has fenced the four areas where the trees are available to prevent encroachment of the swamps and felling. They have also declared it as a hot spot for the tree. In order to replenish the tree population, Dr Vasudeva and his students Raghu and Suraj collected seeds from the wild and raised about 60 seedlings of the tree in the lab and introduced them in the swamps. The growth was monitored for two years. The seedlings recorded a mortality rate of 20 per cent. Fortunately, the saplings responded favorably to artificial transplanting in its typical habitat. Restoration of species into the wild is therefore possible. In India, restoration of species in the wild has been done only for a few orchids. This is probably the country’s first critically endangered tree species to be restored into its natural habitat, Dr Vasudeva adds. Dr Ganeshaiah and Dr Uma Shaanker of University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, who were involved in the restoration programme say that there are a few more such tree species in the Western Ghats whose numbers are very low and require immediate attention to prevent them from going extinct. The initial success of the experiment could act as signpost to include reintroduction as an effective tool while recovering such critically endangered plant species of Western Ghats, they add.ÿ