Ecosystem services from relic forest

The association of relic forests with local livelihood is manifold. Apart from cultural and religious link, they play pivotal role in major livelihood centric factors e.g. water availability, crop pattern, resource utilization etc. Relic forests in highland areas have immense role in groundwater recharge which benefits people in downstream hamlets. A comparative assessment between two watersheds with and without relic sacred forest in Uttara Kannada has found that relic forest with its characteristic old growth forest composition and higher soil moisture retention influence groundwater recharge in downstream area (Fig. 1). The yearlong availability of ground water in the area has an impact on local livelihood as reflected in selection of high value horticultural crop (areca, coconut, vanilla etc.) for cultivation and high profit from it. On the contrary, in non-sacred site, the secondary forest with its specific deciduous and disturbance tolerant species composition and disturbed interior doesn’t have any role in soil moisture conservation therefore have lesser impact on downstream locality. The scarcity of water compelled people to adopt different strategy for survival as evidenced through dominance of rainfed crops in the area (Table 2).  On the other hand, relic patches in agricultural landscape play a different role in water conservation as observed by the presence of seasonal or perennial water bodies. When perennial water bodies have human utility seasonal water bodies provide favourable microclimate for diverse group of organisms thus provide shelter in a highly altered landscape.

Fig. 1. Groundwater monitoring data from study sites (Jan 2009-May 2010)
(Sambegadde = non-sacred site hamlet, Karikan = Sacred site: comparative study on sacred and non-sacred forests, Honavar Taluk, Uttara Kannada)

Table 2. Land use pattern in sacred and non-sacred forest sites (comparative study on sacred and non-sacred forests, Honavar Taluk, Uttara Kannada)

Apart from water and species conservation, the importance of relic forest can be felt in much broader scale e.g. carbon sequestration, plant –animal interaction. A fairly protected forest patch of ~2 ha. can sequester 148.73 tC/ha with a rate of 1.29 tC/ha/yr comparable to other reported studies in tropical forest areas (Ray et al. 2012). The comparatively undisturbed nature of the forest protects both old and new growth woody species which collectively promote sequestration capacity of the stock. Similarly, another study on relic Myristica swamps found that, in comparison to non-swamp stream forest, relic patches have an average of 174.76 tC/ha storage of carbon in comparison to 131.66 tC/ha storage carbon in non-swamp forest (Chandran et al 2010).   Although scientific studies are rare, plant-animal interaction in terms of pollination, seed dispersal and germination has been reported from relic forest patches with emphasis on their conservation significance (Punde 2007).