ECOLOGY, IMPACT AND TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE OF RESIN HARVEST ON THE WILD DAMMER TREE-CANARIUM STRICTUM ROXB. IN THE NILGIRI BIOSPHERE RESERVE, WESTERN GHATS, INDIA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MᾹNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN BOTANY AUGUST 2014 By Anita Varghese Dissertation Committee: Tamara Ticktin, Chairperson David C. Duffy Jefferson Fox Orou Gaoue Christopher A. Lepcyzk Keywords: non timber forest produce, resin, harvest, traditional ecological knowledge, mixed effects models, phenology, Canarium strictum, Nilgiri biosphere reserve ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This intense journey of the past years would not have been possible without grace from the Almighty and support, and encouragement of family, friends, teachers, colleagues and institutions. To all of them I remain deeply grateful and wish to express my heartfelt gratitude. My committee members – Dr Tamara Ticktin (Chairperson) for her unflinching faith in her student’s abilities and for being the wonderful person she is. Drs David Duffy, Jefferson Fox, Christopher Lepcyzk and Orou Gaoue for comments, suggestions, ideas and encouragement. My family and friends- Parents, daughter, sister, nieces, brother in law and cousins for their support and faith in what I do. My daughter, Merab who helped me set out on this journey and was there to help me take it to the end point. Friends and neighbours in Kotagiri – Pratim, Sneh, Mathew and Annie, my motivators and my local guardians. Pastor and members of the Union Church in Kotagiri, who have been a source of strength. Chamanlalji and Shipradi, for their blessings and countless lessons about life. Mari and Stan, from Gudalur for their encouragement. Anu, Sunita, Kochu, Durga – friends for a long time. Teachers at Rishi Valley School, who adopted Merab as their own. Hawaii my home away from home and so much like my home. Tamara, Gustavo and Ylang, my family away from family. Vandana, Lisa, Isabel, Alesandre, Jennifer, Daniela, Georgia, Natalie, Katie, Gioconda, Shimona – for the learning times and fun times. A special word for Jennifer my constant ‘J-seek’. The Botany department at UHM - a great place to be and Dr. Tom Ranker, Dr. Alison Sherwood and Ms Patty Bedoya have been especially supportive. My organisation – Keystone Foundation- a small NGO with big ideas - an inspiring place to be. Sneh, Pratim and Mathew – founders who shared their dreams ii with me. My team members especially Sumin, colleagues and well-wishers who have made the place so vibrant. For help in field work that I received from Aradukuttan, Mahadesh, Sudhakar, L. Rajendran, Senthil Prasad, Maya,Vasu, Punit, Rajan, Karian, Rangasamy, Rangan, and Lingan. My funding agencies – The East West Center, PEO International Scholarship, East West Center Summer Research Grant, Jean E Rolles Scholarship, UH Foundation Grants, Ruffords Small Grants, Botany in Action-Phipps Conservatory, Mohammed bin Zayed species conservation fund, and Keystone Foundation. Many people knew from a long time that I should get out and do my PhD and I am grateful to them for their advice – Tony Cunningham who started this idea, Pratim Roy who nurtured it, Tamara Ticktin who welcomed it and Patricia Shanley who helped me take that final decision. I deeply miss my good friends, T.Kunhimohammed and S.S.Manoharan who were there when I started out but are not here on earth to see this journey reach its destination. iii ABSTRACT Harvest of plant products from the wild are an important source of livelihood to millions of people who live near forests. The impact of harvesting occurs at many levels to the ecology of the species. Harvesters are guided by their traditional ecological knowledge that also aids in reducing the impact of the harvest. I use the case study of Canarium strictum Roxb, (Burseraceae) a semi-evergreen tree harvested for resin by several indigenous communities in the Indian subcontinent. Resin is used locally for rituals and healing purposes and traded widely for industrial uses. I investigated the effects of resin harvesting on the ecology and phenology of the species on 89 trees in three regions of the Nilgiri Biopshere Reserve, Western Ghats, for two years. Seed germination experiments with seeds from harvested and not harvested trees were also undertaken. Through focus group discussions with harvesters, and using a fuzzy logic approach I documented their perceptions on the ecology of resin harvest and trees. I found that harvesting practices, size of the tree along with the characteristic of the tree flush colour were significant predictors of resin harvest. My results show that harvesting of resin has no negative effect on the growth rate, and fruit production. However harvested trees flowered at different times from not harvested trees and showed increased fruit production and seed germination rates. I found that resin harvesting was a prevalent practice among the indigenous people of the region and many of the factors perceived by the harvesters to influence resin quality and status of resin tree numbers in the forest coincided with factors observed in the ecological studies. Overall my results suggest that harvesting of resin has relatively low impact on the ecology of C. strictum and harvesters of resin make decisions on resin harvest based on a number of ecological factors. My results illustrate some of the detailed knowledge that harvesters have with regard to a lesser iv studied species like C. strictum, and community based monitoring programs that build on this knowledge can ensure strategies that allow for sustainable use while meeting the goals of conservation. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... II ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... IV LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................. VIII LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................... X CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 1 Overview .................................................................................................................... 1 Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR), Western Ghats India ........................................... 2 Impacts of harvesting from the wild .......................................................................... 3 People and forests in India ......................................................................................... 5 Community based ecological monitoring .................................................................. 6 Research questions and dissertation outline ............................................................... 8 CHAPTER 2 - IMPACT OF RESIN HARVEST ON THE BIOLOGY OF CANARIUM STRICTUM ROXB .............................................................................. 10 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 10 Materials and Methods ............................................................................................. 13 Results ...................................................................................................................... 18 Discussion & Conclusion ......................................................................................... 20 CHAPTER 3 - PHENOLOGICAL PATTERNS IN CANARIUM STRICTUM ROXB. (BURSERACEAE), A RESIN HARVESTED SPECIES OF THE NILGIRI BIOSPHERE RESERVE, WESTERN GHATS, INDIA ...................... 29 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 29 Materials and Methods ............................................................................................. 31 Results ...................................................................................................................... 35 Discussion ................................................................................................................ 39 CHAPTER 4. TRADITIONAL ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE OF RESIN GATHERERS OF THE NILGIRI BIOSPHERE RESERVE, WESTERN GHATS, INDIA .......................................................................................................... 55 vi Introduction .............................................................................................................. 55 Materials & Methods ................................................................................................ 58 Results ...................................................................................................................... 63 Discussion ................................................................................................................ 67 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................ 85 Main findings ........................................................................................................... 85 Contributions to scientific literature ......................................................................... 89 Future directions ....................................................................................................... 92 APPENDIX.A. MAPS OF STUDY REGIONS WITH APPROXIMATE LOCATION