Bamboosa Bambos likely to threaten Nilgiri biosphere

Bamboosa Bambos likely to threaten Nilgiri biosphere

Part of: GS Prelims and GS – III – Environment; Biodiversity 

In news

• The flowering of bamboo inside the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) may pose a threat to wildlife in the Nilgiri biosphere, a major tiger and elephant habitat.

Key takeaways 

• The bamboo groves in the Wayanad forest are the mainstay of herbivores in the Nilgiri biosphere during summer.
• With the onset of the summer, migration of wild animals starts from the adjacent sanctuaries in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to Wayanad due to shortage of fodder and water.
• The flowering may adversely affect migration, especially by elephants, wild gaur, and other lower herbivores due to the mass destruction of bamboo groves after the flowering.

Important value additions 

• It is a tall, bright-green coloured spiny bamboo species, which grows in thickets consisting of a large number of heavily branched, closely growing culms.
• Bamboosa bambos is a monocarpic (flowering only once) plant. 
• Family: Poaceae family (grass family). 
• Its flowering cycle varies from 40 to 60 years.
• It is also known as the giant thorny bamboo, Indian thorny bamboo, spiny bamboo, or thorny bamboo.
• It is a species of clumping bamboo native to southern Asia.

Do you know? 

• The Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary is an animal sanctuary in Wayanad, Kerala, India.