As part
of the Citizen Science and Lakes Initiative another Biodiversity Walk
was held at Kaikondrahalli lake on Sunday, August 11th 2019. The
walk was led by Aswathy Joseph and started near the Kalyani entrance.
Aswathy started by explaining the importance of mutualism in nature. In the
case of ficus trees, each variety of ficus trees has a certain species of wasp
essential for its pollination. The wasps in turn depend on the figs for a safe
haven to lay their eggs. Image 2 below is of a ficus tree being worshipped near
the Northwestern Entrance.
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| Image 1: Aswathy leading the Biodiversity Walk at Kaikondrahalli lake |
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| Image 2: A ficus tree being worshipped at the lake |
Aswathy mentioned that a week ago the tree was
blooming with red figs but a week later we could only spot a couple on the
entire tree. An interesting story she shared was that since so many birds,
insects and mammals depend on ficus trees throughout the year, one of the ficus
trees in the area always has figs growing on it. She also stated that figs were
one of the first plants domesticated for human consumption. Another species we
came across was the Babul tree as shown in Image 3, it’s a thorny tree with yellow
flowers. The same Babul species in Jakkur lake was more like a shrub while the
one we saw in Kaikondrahalli lake was a surprisingly large tree.
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| Image 3: Participants observing the large Babul tree |
Throughout the walk all the participants were
really engaged and shared any additional knowledge they had on the biodiversity
of plants and insects around the lake. What was supposed to be a one and a half
hour walk lasted for over two and a half hours due to the enthusiasm of the
participants.
Venkatesh Peedhanna - one of the younger well
diggers was also a participant
To learn more about the previous walks we have
had, please refer to the following links:
- Biodiversity Walk at Rachenahalli
Lake- https://biometrust.blogspot.com/2019/06/biodiversity-walk-at-rachenahalli-lake.html
- Biodiversity Walk at Jakkur Lake- https://biometrust.blogspot.com/2019/04/biodiversity-walk-at-jakkur-lake_58.html
