PUNE: Did you know that soil arachnids that are joint-legged invertebrate animals (like spiders, scorpions, ticks and mites) improve the soil quality by decafying the leaf litter? Or spiders feed on insect pests and keep the insect population under control? All these creatures are an integral part of biodiversity and to study and know more about its diversity and distribution, four research centres have been proposed in the country.
Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University will be the lead institution, with other proposed sub-centres at the Wildlife Institute of India (Dehradun), Walchand College (Solapur) and Zoological Survey of India (Kolkata). The centres will document a comprehensive inventory of arachnids from protected areas.
A proposal for these taxonomy centres has been sent by G N Vankhede, professor and head of the zoology department at the Amravati University to the ministry of environment and forest, under the all-India Coordinated Program for Taxonomy (AICOPTAX) scheme.
Vankhede told TOI, "Arachnids research is a neglected field. The proposed centres will take up key species and they will be identified, particularly endemics, rare and range restricted, including their distribution and ecology, in order to provide for their protection for a long term."
Vankhede, who is also heading the Indian Society of Arachnology, said there is a need for increased understanding about the importance of arachnid fauna for management of microhabitats in the protected areas. "The soil arachnids are important as they improve the quality of soil by decaying the leaf litter and also by keeping the soil organism population in control. Their enlisting will definitely be of use in forest management,'' he said.
Vankhede's team has recorded 1,600 spider species in Central India (Melghat tiger reserve). He said that spiders are beneficial predators and an integral part of the biodiversity with an important role in the ecosystem. The proposed study will also evaluate spider assemblage in the Melghat tiger reserve, Tadoba-Andhari tiger reserve and Pench tiger reserve. This will help maintain the spider collections (gene pool).
toi
Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University will be the lead institution, with other proposed sub-centres at the Wildlife Institute of India (Dehradun), Walchand College (Solapur) and Zoological Survey of India (Kolkata). The centres will document a comprehensive inventory of arachnids from protected areas.
A proposal for these taxonomy centres has been sent by G N Vankhede, professor and head of the zoology department at the Amravati University to the ministry of environment and forest, under the all-India Coordinated Program for Taxonomy (AICOPTAX) scheme.
Vankhede told TOI, "Arachnids research is a neglected field. The proposed centres will take up key species and they will be identified, particularly endemics, rare and range restricted, including their distribution and ecology, in order to provide for their protection for a long term."
Vankhede, who is also heading the Indian Society of Arachnology, said there is a need for increased understanding about the importance of arachnid fauna for management of microhabitats in the protected areas. "The soil arachnids are important as they improve the quality of soil by decaying the leaf litter and also by keeping the soil organism population in control. Their enlisting will definitely be of use in forest management,'' he said.
Vankhede's team has recorded 1,600 spider species in Central India (Melghat tiger reserve). He said that spiders are beneficial predators and an integral part of the biodiversity with an important role in the ecosystem. The proposed study will also evaluate spider assemblage in the Melghat tiger reserve, Tadoba-Andhari tiger reserve and Pench tiger reserve. This will help maintain the spider collections (gene pool).
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