Beauty and the Bees!!

For my Ph.D. I am studying the ecosystem services of riparian forests along river Cauvery in three different landscapes: coffee-agrosystem, agricultural land and protected area. My recent field work in the coffee-agrosystem of Kodagu was exciting and also challenging!! Here I wish to share some insights from the field.

Field notes: A field researcher's most important asset. PC: Vimhaseno Neikha

Kodagu is a hilly region with most of its economy based on agriculture, plantations and forestry. It is one of the largest coffee producing regions in India. It is also the birthplace of river Cauvery, a lifeline to many parts of southern India; used for irrigation, domestic and industries.

Coffee in bloom. PC: Vimhaseno Neikha

Riparian forests (forests adjacent to the river) along river Cauvery provide many ecosystem services out of which pollination is an important one. Since, studies suggest coffee pollination by external agents like bees and other insects increase fruit set, I started looking at how and to what extent riparian forests along river Cauvery supported bee colonies and coffee pollination.

Beyond the waters: Riparian forests along river Cauvery. PC: Deepthi Narasimhaiah

During my visit to the Madikeri region in early summer, I observed that, coffee flower blooming was mostly concentrated in specific plantations as they had been irrigated. This resulted in attracting more number of bees than during mass flowering that occurs after the summer showers. Preliminary field observations showed that riparian forests supported bee colonies, and coffee plantations adjacent to these riparian forests had high frequency of bee visits. This shows that the riparian forest along river Cauvery in Kodagu provides ecosystem services such as habitat for bees (supporting service), coffee pollination (regulating service), honey (provisioning service) etc. Therefore, I am trying to understand the ecosystem services (such as pollination, carbon storage, timber, fuelwood, food, recreation etc) and conservation aspects of riparian forest along river Cauvery in other landscape settings; such as agriculture and protected area.

Beauty and the Bees: Honey bees pollinating coffee flowers. PC: Vimhaseno Neikha

I thank Jeevan and Vimhaseno for accompanying me in this lovely field journey.