Enhancing Biodiversity Conservation and Sustenance of Ecosystem Services in Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) Project BIODIVERSITY BASELINE SURVEY FOR THE ESA PROJECT AMENDED FINAL REPORT BASELINE BIODIVERSITY INFORMATION OF FAUNA AND FLORA SPECIES IN THE KALA OYA BASIN November 2017 Baseline Biodiversity Information on Fauna and Flora of Kala Oya Basin Biodiversity Baseline Survey for the ESA Project AMENDED FINAL REPORT November 2017 Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................. 14 BIODIVERSITY BASELINE SURVEY TEAM MEMBERS .............................................................. 14 1.0 INTRODUCTION TO THE PROJECT ........................................................................ 15 1.1 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT .................................................................................................... 16 1.1.1 Outputs of the Study .................................................................................................................... 17 2.0 KALA OYA BASIN ................................................................................................... 18 2.1 PHYSICAL FEATURES ....................................................................................................... 19 2.2 CLIMATE & RAINFALL ...................................................................................................... 20 2.3 FLORA & HABITAT ........................................................................................................... 21 2.4 FAUNA ............................................................................................................................. 24 2.5 WATER RESOURCES ......................................................................................................... 25 2.6 ECOSYSTEMS COVERED UNDER PRESENT STUDY ............................................................. 27 Dry Mixed Evergreen Forests ............................................................................................................... 28 Disturbed Forests and Scrub Jungles.................................................................................................... 28 Chena Cultivation Associated Habitats ................................................................................................ 29 Tank Associated Habitats ..................................................................................................................... 29 Coastal Habitats ................................................................................................................................... 29 3.0 SAMPLING METHODOLOGY ................................................................................... 31 3.1 PROTOCOLS USED IN THE BIODIVERSITY BASELINE SURVEY OF THE KALA OYA BASIN ... 31 3.2 CRITERIA FOR SAMPLING AND COLLECTION OF FIELD DATA ............................................ 32 3.3 DESCRIPTION OF SAMPLING UNITS ................................................................................... 33 3.3.1 Transects – 1 km in length ........................................................................................................... 33 3.3.2 Quadrats –100m × 5m .................................................................................................................. 33 3.3.3 Plots – 10m × 5m ......................................................................................................................... 34 3.4 SAMPLING AND PREPARATION ......................................................................................... 34 3.4.1 Sampling of Identified Habitats ................................................................................................... 35 3.4.2 Quantitative Integrated Sampling Design ................................................................................... 36 3.4.3 Qualitative Sampling Design ........................................................................................................ 37 3.5 SAMPLING METHODS ........................................................................................................ 38 3.6 HABITATS/ECOSYSTEMS SURVEYED ................................................................................. 41 3.6.1 Freshwater stream habitats .......................................................................................................... 42 LIMITATIONS IN DATA COLLECTION ....................................................................................... 42 4.0 FLORA DIVERSITY ANALYSIS ............................................................................... 44 4.1 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................ 44 4.2 HABITAT HETEROGENEITY .............................................................................................. 44 4.2.1 Dry Mixed Evergreen Forests ...................................................................................................... 44 4.2.2 Disturbed forests .......................................................................................................................... 46 4.2.3 Scrub forests ................................................................................................................................. 47 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1 Baseline Biodiversity Information on Fauna and Flora of Kala Oya Basin Biodiversity Baseline Survey for the ESA Project AMENDED FINAL REPORT November 2017 4.2.4 Tank associated habitats .............................................................................................................. 49 4.2.5 Coastal Habitats ........................................................................................................................... 50 4.2.6 Chena and associated habitats ...................................................................................................... 51 4.3 PLANT SPECIES DIVERSITY AT DIFFERENT CLUSTERS ..................................................... 51 Eili Cluster ............................................................................................................................................ 51 Eluwankulama Cluster .......................................................................................................................... 52 Morapathana Cluster ............................................................................................................................ 52 Weerakkodichole Cluster ...................................................................................................................... 52 Horiwila cluster .................................................................................................................................... 53 Ranawa kanda Cluster .......................................................................................................................... 53 Manewa kanda Cluster .......................................................................................................................... 53 Wilpattu Cluster ................................................................................................................................... 54 4.4 SPECIES DIVERSITY ......................................................................................................... 54 5.0 HERPETOFAUNA DIVERSITY ANALYSIS ............................................................. 64 5.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 64 5.2 HERPETOFAUNA DIVERSITY IN KALA OYA BASIN ........................................................... 65 5.2.1 Quantitative Integrated Sampling Design ................................................................................... 65 5.2.2 Qualitative Sampling Design ........................................................................................................ 66 5.2.3 Species Diversity .......................................................................................................................... 67 5.2.4 Species status and their conservation status ................................................................................ 67 5.3 HERPETOFAUNA DIVERSITY IN KALA OYA RIVER SUB-BASIN AREAS AND ITS IMPORTANCE .............................................................................................................................................. 69 5.3.1 Eile area ....................................................................................................................................... 69 5.3.2 Eluwankulama ............................................................................................................................. 70 5.3.3 Suduweli Tahala-Morapathana .................................................................................................... 70 5.3.4 Weerakkodichole- Thabbowa ....................................................................................................... 70 5.3.5 Horiwila-Ambagahawewa ............................................................................................................ 70 5.3.6 Galpaya-Hinguruwelpitiya-Ranva Kannda-Nambatiwewa ......................................................... 70 5.3.7 Manawa ........................................................................................................................................ 71 5.3.8 Wilpaththu National Park ..........................................................................................................