Abstract:
The Eastern Sinharaja is a moist montane tropical forest that falls within the Rakwana
mountain range and is 30km2
in area. Eastern Sinharaja is the home for many threatened
endemic herpetofauna where seven species of anuran amphibians three agamids, one
species of gecko are known to be spot endemics where all of them are considered to be
critically endangered. The eastern Sinharaja is confronting different degrees of threats due
to human disturbances including deforestation and habitat destruction due to cardamom
and tea cultivation, the land degradation as a result of Illegal gem mining, extraction of
forest resources, illicit timber felling, collection of non-woody products, wild cardamom,
medicinal plants and firewood, setting fire to the forest and grasslands and the excessive
usage of pesticides in plantations. The relative abundances of the above mentioned
endemic herpetofauna is significantly low. Therefore it is assumed that the population size
of these species is extremely low. Having a small land area, where the primary forest
vegetation is rapidly declining, the herpetofaual populations are facing an imminent threat.
Therefore, immediate conservation actions are recommended. Specific attention must be
paid over restoration of regarded areas with native fast growing forest species and
establishment of habitat corridors to bridge the neighboring forest patches to yield space
and resources to sustain the minimum viable populations. Establishment of a buffer is
imperative to mediate the human impacts. The landowners must be encouraged to adopt
agro-forestry practices instead of monocultures like tea/cardamom plantation, allowing
establishment of small populations of herpatofauna in those agroforestry plots adjoining the
reserve.
