New research from the Centre for Wildlife Studies evaluated changing fire regimes in wildlife reserves across three Indian landscapes, finding that burned area rose most steeply in the Eastern Ghats between 2002 and 2022, at 9.3% per year.

The rising fires in the Eastern Ghats show that it has a more fire-prone combination of vegetation, climate, and repeated human ignition than the Western Ghats, while Central India sits in between.

The study evaluated roughly 20,000 square kilometres of protected forest land across 13 reserves. Both human and climate factors explained between 21 and 77% of annual fire activity across individual reserves, with drought and community fire use both playing major, but regionally varying roles.

A region- and reserve-specific deconstruction of forest fires is essential to understanding how different rainfall, temperature, and land use regimes, as well as population densities, affect fire occurrence, the researchers argue.

For example, high human population density was strongly associated with more frequent fires in Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary (Telangana) and Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve (Andhra Pradesh), but in Nagarahole and Bandipur National Parks (Karnataka), similar conditions were linked with fewer fires.

“Various factors could be contributing to this paradoxical trend in burned areas in India, including forest management, land-use change, changes in fire ignitions, anthropogenic climate change and natural climate variability,” the study says.

Using satellite-derived burned-area data from NASA’s MODIS sensor, the study found that burned area in the Western Ghats declined by 10.8% per year. It suggests that local factors, including wetter conditions and changing land use, may be offsetting drought- or human-driven fire pressure. The Western Ghats had a fire-return interval of 92 years (the average number of years between successive fires in the same place), compared with 31 years in Central India and 14 years in the Eastern Ghats.

Intensifying fires in the Eastern Ghats are driving the growth of fire resistant grasses like Cymbopogon “and creating regeneration challenges for native trees,” while too little fire in parts of the Western Ghats “risks allowing woody plants to encroach on the open grasslands that support herbivores,” a press release of the study says.

“Wildfires are ubiquitous across various eco-regions of India. However, each region is characterised by variation in trends, drivers, and ecological challenges. Integrated fire management that accounts for climate, vegetation, and human factors is important for fire management and policy in Indian ecosystems,” Narendran Kodandapani, lead author of the study, said.

Banner image: A wildfire in Bandipur National Park, Karnataka, in 2019. Image by NaveenNkadalaveni via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Species File: Exploring India’s biodiversity, one species at a time.

A creature of the open grasslands, where there’s nowhere to hide, the blackbuck’s evolutionary survival trick is endurance — it can sprint incredibly fast, sometimes even fast enough to have once outrun the Asiatic cheetah when it still prevailed in India.

The blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) is the sole living member of its genus.

In a 2025 story published in Mongabay-India, Mihir Godbole, founder of The Grasslands Trust-India, said: “Blackbucks … are key indicators that grassland species cannot do well in any other habitats.”

Female blackbucks are light brown and live in herds, sometimes led by a mature male. Younger males live in bachelor groups until they mature, at which point they establish their own territories, develop a black-brown coat, and grow corkscrewed horns. During mating season, males form display territories called leks, leaping and calling to attract females.

Once spread across the Indian subcontinent, blackbuck populations were decimated by trophy hunting under British rule. The species is now extinct in the wild in Pakistan and Bangladesh and survives in small protected pockets in Nepal, while the majority live in India.

A 2016 estimate put the Indian population at roughly 35,000. They live in the open grassland habitats and are found across 13 states, with strongholds in Velavadar, Tal Chhapar, Point Calimere, and Karnataka’s Ranebennur and Jayamangali reserves.

The IUCN lists the blackbuck as least concern, indicating that its population is widespread and abundant. In India, it’s protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, offering it the highest protection from hunting, poaching and trading. It is the state animal of Punjab, Haryana, and Andhra Pradesh, and is considered sacred by the Bishnoi community of western Rajasthan.

Habitat loss is the main threat to the blackbuck, as grasslands have historically been dismissed as “wastelands” and converted for agriculture or infrastructure projects, or encroached by invasive plants. Feral dogs are another growing danger — in Haryana’s Hisar district alone, over 360 blackbuck were killed by dogs between 2016 and 2020.

Read more about blackbucks outside protected reserves, threats to blackbucks from feral dogs, and community conservation of blackbucks in Odisha.

Banner image: Male blackbucks fight at Sagareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary. Image by Inside Indian Jungle via Flickr (CC PDM 1.0).

Are invasive plants better at competing with species in places they invade than species in their native range? A paper investigated this using Erigeron canadensis, commonly known as Canadian horseweed, to find that plants from non-native populations had 19.2% higher competitive ability than those from native populations.

In the study, that advantage was evident across two watering conditions — watered and drought. Although drought reduced competitive ability overall by 12.9%, the difference between native and non-native populations was not significant.

Canadian horseweed is native to North and Central America that has spread widely across Europe, Asia and other regions. In some introduced areas, it can suppress other plant species and reduce local plant diversity.

The researchers conducted a large glasshouse experiment involving plants from 100 native and 165 non-native populations of Erigeron canadensis. They grew the plants under different conditions, including adequate water and drought, and tested how they performed when growing alone, alongside individuals of their own species, and alongside other plant species.

The paper suggests that the competitive advantage evolved independently in different regions. Genetic analyses identified four clusters, but increased competitive ability was evident in two. The result suggests that similar evolutionary changes can emerge independently rather than being explained solely by the spread of one already competitive lineage.

One of the crucial findings was that the advantage was associated with interactions with other species, rather than competition between individuals of the same species. Non-native plants showed 28.4% greater competitive tolerance and 38% greater competitive suppression under interspecific competition. These differences were not found under intraspecific competition. In other words, the advantage was specifically associated with competing against other plant species, not with competing against members of their own species.

The findings suggest that if non-native populations attain greater competitive ability, they may increasingly suppress other plants and contribute to reduced native plant diversity. The ecological impacts of an invasive species therefore may not remain constant after introduction.

The paper, however, cautions that it remains uncertain what drives the competitive ability and whether it is a general response because “the evidence is largely based on studies with limited sampling, inadequate consideration of population co-ancestry, and oversimplified estimates of competitive ability”.

Banner image: Canadian horseweed or Erigeron canadensis photographed in North America. Image by Aaron Volkening via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

On October 11, the Upper Siang district administration issued an order prohibiting the assembly of five or more people amid intensifying protests against the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP). The order was issued two days after four protesters were detained under the Arunachal Pradesh Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2014.

Protests against the 11,000 MW hydropower plant turned violent earlier this month after Chief Minister Pema Khandu’s visit to the district. Residents of the Siang, Upper Siang, and East Siang districts have consistently opposed the development of the dam, which will submerge 27 villages, including Upper Siang’s district headquarters, Yingkiong.

On October 13, three civil society groups — the Adi Banne Kebang United, Siang Indigenous Farmers Forum Youth Wing, and SUMP Affected Area Youth Association (SAAYA) submitted a memorandum to the Upper Siang District Collector condemning police atrocities and demanding the immediate release of those arrested for protesting. Police allegedly lathi charged protesters on October 4, days after protesters set fire to vehicles and stormed an MLA’s house.

The memorandum demands the unconditional release of protesters from police custody, the “immediate and complete withdrawal of Central Armed Police Forces from Siang and Upper Siang,” a halt on all studies being done to determine the dam’s viability in the area, and the quashing of all legal proceedings against protesters.

“Failure to comply will compel the youth and public to escalate democratic agitation, for which the district administration and law enforcement authorities shall be held solely responsible,” says the memorandum, seen by Mongabay-India.

“We’ve been approached by the authorities seeking advice on how to restore peace to the area. By the steps they’re taking now, like detaining people, can peace be restored?” asked Goto Apang, convenor of SAAYA, over the phone.

Ashok Tajo, Upper Siang’s District Collector, said that the area was peaceful. “The detainees will have to submit their representations to the state government challenging the detention order of the District Magistrate for release from detention.”

The imposition of UAPA on protesters, as well as curbs on public assembly, follow allegations of the movement being foreign funded. Bhanu Tatak, legal advisor to the SIFF, was served a notice by the Central Bureau of Information for allegedly violating the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. The notice alleged Tatak had received ₹17 lakh (₹1.7 million) without registration under the FCRA.

The protests oppose the attempt to carry out a Pre-Feasibility Report (PFR) study by the NHPC, which is developing the project, to determine if the locations of the proposed dam are viable. The PFR is one of the few pending studies left before completing the dam’s detailed project report.

Banner image: Protests against the SUMP held in Upper Siang in 2024. Representative image by special arrangement.

Species File: Exploring India’s biodiversity, one species at a time.

During the monsoon this year, sloth bears seemed to quite literally unearth an unusual prey in the forest floor of Amrabad Tiger Reserve, Telangana: shield-tailed snakes. Researchers studying over a hundred scat samples found the remains of the snake in a handful – potentially the first record of the bears hunting the snake.

The shaggy-coated and long-clawed sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) is a mostly nocturnal mammal that is native to the Indian subcontinent. It has a long, flexible snout and mobile lips that enable it to suck up ants and termites. While they love their occasional meat tidbits, they mostly thrive on insects, fruits and wild berries.

Sloth bears usually live in rugged terrain with rocky hillocks and dense scrub vegetation. Like other bears, they depend on dens as safe spaces for resting and raising their cubs. They can adapt to life in a wide range of habitats such as dry grasslands, scrublands, and moist tropical forests. The only population estimation of sloth bears in India stems from a 2006 survey: between 6,000 to 11,000 sloth bears, with around half of them living outside protected areas.

The IUCN Red List classifies the species as vulnerable, which means it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild. In India, it receives the highest legal protection under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Sloth bears may be helping regenerate forests by dispersing viable seeds. A study from Rajasthan’s Aravalli hills has found that their role as seed dispersers may help shape dry deciduous forests and influence plant regeneration.

Habitat loss and fragmentation are major threats to the sloth bear. Additionally, forest degradation hampers bear migration to colonise other forest patches. Poaching and local extinctions remain a concern, while their body parts are trafficked internationally as part of the illegal wildlife trade.

In a story published by Mongabay-India in March 2026, Nishith Dharaiya, director at the Center of Excellence for Wildlife and Conservation Studies, said, “Rocky hillocks and natural caves can function as important refuges for sloth bears even outside protected areas. It shows that suitable microhabitats may be more important for denning than the formal protection status of the landscape.”

Read more about a proposed sloth bear reserve caught between courts and a thermal power project, and struggles of the species in human-dominated areas.

Banner image: A sloth bear in Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary. Image by Bikash Das via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

A new paper documents the first known record of a moth using the umbilicate lichen, Lasallia pertusa, as a camouflage background. Published in the journal Arthropod-Plant Interactions, the observation was made in July 2025 at Duggi, in Kugti Wildlife Sanctuary, Chamba district, Himachal Pradesh, at about 3,200 m elevation.

Lichen-associated camouflage has been documented before, including in moths. In this case, however, the association involves an umbilicate (attached to its substrate only at a single point), foliose (with flat, leaf-like lobes) lichen, rather than the more commonly documented crustose or bark-growing lichens. The finding, therefore, expands the range of lichen growth forms known to potentially participate in insect camouflage. It also points to the fact that a seemingly inconspicuous lichen can be an important part of an animal’s visual environment and survival strategy.

One of the authors, Sanjay Kumar Uniyal, informs Mongabay-India that though there have been similar observations of moths mimicking lichens in the past, this particular lichen species has been documented for the first time. “This might have an evolutionary consequence which can only be understood through further studies,” Unniyal shares.

L. pertusa has a large, perforated and highly irregular thallus (vegetative body), providing a particularly complex visual background, reports the paper. The moth that belongs to the family Noctuidae, was found resting directly on the lichen growing on exposed rock. The moth’s identification was based on photographs and expert examination. The paper reports that the moth species couldn’t be identified due to the absence of a specimen.

The proposed mechanism, however, is crypsis or background matching, one of the most widespread camouflage strategies among insects inhabiting visually heterogeneous environments, says the report. In this case, the moth resembles the visual characteristics of its immediate surroundings, reducing its contrast against the background.

The likely predators are visually hunting animals, particularly birds and lizards, although the study did not experimentally test whether those predators actually found the moth harder to detect.

The findings, however, come with an important caveat that it was simply an observation and not an experimental demonstration of camouflage effectiveness.

Banner image: A moth camouflaged against L. pertusa lichen. Image by Sanjay Kumar Unniyal.