Timeline: 2024-Present
People: Vaishnavi Apte, Jithin Vijayan, Rohit Naniwadekar
Collaborators: Aparna Watve, Varad Giri, Jahnavi Joshi

Funding: Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) - Future Conservationist Grant, Thackeray Wildlife Foundation - RED Grant, Funds from Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, Rainmatter Foundation

What We Do?

The high-elevation lateritic plateaus of the northern Western Ghats, Maharashtra, are a threatened ecosystem supporting unique, endemic, and endangered biodiversity. Loose rocks on these plateaus form critical microhabitats for ectotherms by buffering against the extreme environmental conditions characteristic of plateau habitat. Our work aims to understand the ecology and distribution of endemic herpetofauna, with a focus on the Critically Endangered Satara gecko (Hemidactylus sataraensis), a species with narrow microhabitat requirements and likely high vulnerability to climate change. We also aim to assess the adaptive potential of the populations of this species to the currently changing environmental condition  by characterizing the genetic structure of populations across distribution hotspots to estimate genetic diversity within and among populations. By integrating population genetic data from co-occurring congeners and closely related low-elevation species, we aim to place genetic structuring of the Satara gecko in a broader comparative context, informing effective conservation of both the species and lateritic plateau ecosystems under ongoing environmental change.

Why This Matters?

In official land-use records, plateau ecosystems are frequently classified as wastelands, a designation that enables unregulated or inadequately assessed development activities. Our work underscores the ecological significance of these plateau ecosystems and the species they support. Assessing the adaptive capacity of herpetofaunal populations is essential for developing population-specific conservation strategies and for informing management and policy decisions related to habitat protection, restoration, and the maintenance of landscape connectivity.

Key Findings 

• The Satara Gecko occurs in very low density in its type locality (Chalkewadi), has a locally patchy distribution and its probability of occurrence depends on elevation making it likely vulnerable to climate change.

• Thought to be point-endemic to its type locality, recent records indicate additional populations on high-elevation lateritic plateaus, revealing distinct distribution hotspots.

• Shows pronounced seasonal variation in abundance at the type locality, with higher abundances during summer and monsoon and markedly lower densities in winter - reflecting the highly seasonal nature of these threatened landscapes.