A recent survey documented only 65% of historically known Odonata species in the Western Ghats. Discuss the significance of such biodiversity gaps and suggest measures to strengthen freshwater biodiversity monitoring in India.

Q. A recent survey documented only 65% of historically known Odonata species in the Western Ghats. Discuss the significance of such biodiversity gaps and suggest measures to strengthen freshwater biodiversity monitoring in India. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

A 2021–2023 survey across 144 sites in five Western Ghats states recorded 143 Odonata species — 76 dragonflies and 67 damselflies — only about 65% of the ~220 historically known, leaving a 35% shortfall [1]. In a UNESCO World Heritage landscape recognised as one of the world's eight "hottest" biodiversity hotspots [2], such a gap is both an ecological warning and a governance failure.

Ecological significance - Odonata are obligate freshwater insects with aquatic larvae, making them bioindicators; globally 16% of the 6,016 assessed species face extinction as wetlands shrink [3]. - Their absence signals freshwater degradation — stream channelisation, pollution, hydropower and land-use change — before larger vertebrates show stress. - Endemism risk is acute: 40 recorded species are Western Ghats endemics, Kerala alone accounting for 33 [1].

Knowledge and governance significance - Most Ghats Odonata remain "Data Deficient" or "Not Evaluated" — nearly 30% of assessed odonates worldwide are Data Deficient [3] — so absence of data is misread as absence of threat, weakening Environmental Impact Assessments. - Weak species-level data undermines India's reporting under the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, whose Target 3 commits to protecting 30% of land and inland waters by 2030 [4]. - Conservation across six states makes federal coordination and the pending Western Ghats ESA notification [5] harder to ground in evidence.

Way forward - A national Odonata/freshwater invertebrate monitoring programme under ZSI, building on its expanding faunal database and annual survey network [6]. - Institutionalise citizen science with expert validation, as the Ghats survey demonstrated [1]. - Empower Biodiversity Management Committees under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 to maintain People's Biodiversity Registers for local water bodies [7]. - Make invertebrate baselines mandatory in EIA for hydropower and tourism projects.

Biodiversity gaps of this scale are a monitoring deficit before they are an extinction verdict. Converting the Western Ghats' bioindicator evidence into periodic, funded, standardised assessments would let India meet its 30×30 obligations while honouring the constitutional duty under Article 48A to protect forests and wildlife.

(~330 words)

Sources: 1. Western Ghats Odonata Odyssey, Biology Bulletin Reviews (Springer Nature, 2026) — 143 species across 144 sites, 65% documentation rate, 40 endemics, citizen-science method 2. Western Ghats — UNESCO World Heritage Centre (inscribed 2012) — World Heritage status, "hottest hotspot" recognition 3. Dragonflies threatened as wetlands around the world disappear — IUCN Red List — bioindicator role, 16% of 6,016 odonates threatened, Data Deficient share 4. Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework — CBD — Target 3 (30×30) and species-monitoring obligations 5. ESA Notifications, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change — Western Ghats Ecologically Sensitive Area notification process 6. Zoological Survey of India, Annual Report 2024-25 — national faunal database and survey network 7. Biological Diversity Act, 2002 — National Biodiversity Authority — Biodiversity Management Committees and People's Biodiversity Registers