Scientists at the Agharkar Research Institute (ARI) in Pune have found a rare low-altitude basalt
plateau in the Western Ghats, an important discovery they believe could hold the clues to how
plant species globally survive climate change.
Presence of the low-altitude plateau, an isolated flat-topped steep hill, found at Manjare village in
Thane district was not known to scientists who have been studying plateau formations and plant
species in the Western Ghats for decades now.
Dr Datar and his team found 76 species of plants belonging to 24 different families on the
low-altitude plateau, some of which are unique to it while others are common among all four
plateaus. “It’s a unique model to study how species interact in varying environmental conditions,
” Dr Datar said.
Plateaus are a dominant landscape in the Western Ghats and significant because of the
predominance of endemic species. According to Dr Datar, survival of plants in these open, mostly
arid habitats is an “important repository of information” on how vegetation can survive in
high-temperature conditions, likely to be worsened as climate change continues.
“There are only four months in the year – during the monsoon – which are favorable for plants.
So, the plants which grow here only have four-month life cycles. After the monsoons, there is a
severe water paucity here and the plants die out. The plants survive in two ways – by seeding just
before the end of the monsoon spell or by storing nutrition underground, in the form of bulbs.
These plants continue to survive in an extremely hostile environment, with soil temperatures going
up to 60 degrees Celsius during the summer months,’’ he explained.
The ARI team is also seeking to find if genetics plays a role in the plants’ survival in hostile
environments. If there is a gene that actually helps these plants, scientists can use it for crop
survival, Dr Datar said. “That is why information about these plateaus and plants is crucial,
’’ he added.
Presence of the low-altitude plateau, an isolated flat-topped steep hill, found at Manjare village in
Thane district was not known to scientists who have been studying plateau formations and plant
species in the Western Ghats for decades now.