Aponogeton satarensis - Rare aquatic plant, Kaas Plateau

Aponogeton satarensis is a rare aquatic plant only known from five sites in small temporary pools on the top of widely separated hill plateaus in the Western Ghats. It is a Herb with milky sap . Leaves sheathing at base; axillary scales present. Inflorescences branched, projected above water. Flowers are bilaterally symmetric. Aponogeton satarensis was described from Mhavashi ferricrete by Sunderaraghavan, Kulkarni and Yadav in 1982. It is known locally as Waytura in Marathi. <br /><br />At one of these sites in the western Ghats, some of the temporary pools have been lost due to the construction of windmills however, secondary pools have been created and the species is has colonized these new pools. Another site is threatened by the increase of tourism (botanical amateurs) and litter disposal. Hence, the habitat quality of these sites is degrading due to increased pollution, changes in micro habitats by earth removal, littering and garbage disposal and unintended fires in summer caused by tourists and grazers. Other sites are being claimed for mining of lateritic, although no pressures are active at the present except for grazing, which has been going on for several years. In the study that was conducted for three years from 2004-2006, decline was not observed although habitat modifications was observed in some of the known localities. Despite this, population decline in the next 10 years is expected due to increasing human pressures on the known sites. The species is assessed as Endangered as it has a restricted area of occupancy and extent of occurrence, and there is an ongoing a decline in habitat quality in most of the known locations.<br /><br />Kas/Kaas Plateau is a lateritic soil plateau on the ridge of North Western Ghats of India located to the west of Satara, Maharashtra. Kas plateau has only a shallow upper layer soil in scattered depressions and composed of exposed porous soft rock. The plateau is filled with small rivulets and ponds. The origin of its name 'Kaas' is still unclear yet this was once home to 'kaasa' plants Elaeocarpus. Probably the place got its name from the 'Kaasa' plant. Kas Plateau is recently recognised by UNESCO as a world natural heritage site. The flora on Kas plateau consists of herbaceous plants many of them being ephemerals dotted with clumps of shrubs, memecylon being the dominant species. The floral extravaganza at Kas begins with the advent of North West monsoon. The spectacle of Kas flowers has been unfolding each year after surviving through annual grazing and burning, yet Kas is threatened by the insurgence of thousands of visitors thronging the plateau on peak flowering days. Satara is a city located in the Satara District of Maharashtra state of India. The town is 2320 ft. above sea-level, near the confluence of the Krishna and its tributary river Venna. The city was the capital of the Maratha empire in the 17th century, hence one of the historical cities of Maharashtra. This city is the capital of Satara Tehsil, as well as Satara District.<br /><br />Source: Wikipedia & www.iucnredlist.org<br /><br />This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at wfi @ vsnl.com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.