HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad office of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) spearheaded the inaugural annual tree survey on Saturday. A total of 150 volunteers participated in the survey.
The volunteers were divided into 21 teams and deployed in various parts of the city. Volunteers filled a Google form for every tree they examined, making a note of the tree’s common name, diameter at breast height (DBH), its flowering and fruiting status and canopy coverage, among others.
The survey also sought to document how different species, including humans, interact with and utilise the trees in the city. Volunteers were instructed to upload photos of their observations on iNaturalist, a social network meant to share observations of biodiversity around the globe.
As per Farida Tampal, director of WWF-India Hyderabad office, 795 observations were uploaded on iNaturalist by the end of the survey. The collected data will be analysed by a team of specialists and the results are expected to be ready in a week, she informed.
Tampal, who was part of the group that surveyed the stretch from ISB signal to the Wipro Circle, observed Subabul, Yellow Tabebuia, gulmohars and Kanuga trees in the area. “We saw an excellent diversity of insects,” she said. However, she lamented the lack of multi-species plantation in the city.
Asiya Khan, whose group surveyed the areas surrounding the new Secretariat, echoed the concern. She noted that the median near Prasads Multiplex only had Conocarpus trees, which is banned in the state. One can see mostly Jacaranda on the stretch between KBR Park and Jubilee Hills Checkpost, she added.
Khan stressed on the need to have a variety of native species over planting exotic species.
Khan, who is also associated with ‘Save the Chevella banyans’, such holistic surveys are “essential” as they serve as a record of the biodiversity that is being lost. She said, “We need data and numbers to prove the point”.