Butterflies vanish from Seshachalam

Researchers from Yogi Vemana University in Kadapa have come out with a study that can serve as an indicator of effects of climate change.

Three researchers from the university recently published a paper titled Impact of climate change on butterfly diversity in Seshachalam bio reserve forest of Southern Andhra Pradesh, in which, they report a dramatic decline in the sightings of butterflies in the reserve.

S.P. Venkata Ramana, one of the researchers, said, “Butterflies are ectothermic organisms and react very rapidly to temperature variations in their habitat. In lab tests, it has been found that if temperature is properly maintained then there is a smooth transition of a butterfly from the larval stage to an adult. However, due to increasing temperature, the life cycle gets affected.”

He added, “In northern AP the sightings of species diversity has decreased from 80-100 to 65-70 whereas in southern AP the numbers have gone down from 45-50 to 22. In Seshachalam, 150 butterfly species were sighted in an earlier research but between 2013 and 2014 only 75 could be sighted.” Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have both been lagging behind in afforestation works. It is globally accepted that to counter climate change, one of the most effective measures is to increase forest cover.

However, under the Compensatory Afforestation and Management Planning Authority ( CAMPA) programme, both the states have failed to completely utilise the funds allocated to them.

The situation was similar before the bifurcation of the state as well. In 2010-11, of `12,074 lakh allotted, only `930.5 lakh were spent; in 2011-12, of `11,857 lakh, only `2,076 lakh were used; in 2012-13, only `1540.5 lakh of the allocated `11,960 lakh were utilised; and in 2013-14, of the `9,200 lakh only `2,118 lakh were utilised.

After bifurcation, the AP Forest Department managed to utilise about `12 crore of the allocated sum of `135 crore, whereas TS spent about `10 crore of the allocated `35 crore.