Nature’s Arteries in the Western Ghats: A Review of Forest Stream Ecology

Abstract

The streams are the slow-moving water bodies that sustain biodiversity and play a key role in environmental balance. The streams originate from the Western Ghats, a biodiversity hotspot that harbors an extensive freshwater network system and provides crucial headwaters for the large river bodies. The waterways contribute to the region’s high biodiversity and support various ecosystems. This review synthesizes existing research on the ecological assessment of the streams, encompassing physico-chemical water quality, hydrological regimes, benthic species, endemic flora and fauna, riparian vegetation, multidisciplinary research, and Myristica swamps, and highlights the ecological integrity of streams. However, these streams play a critical role in hydrology. Conversely, streams in agricultural, plantation, and urban landscapes show the signs of threat, anthropogenic pressure, and degradation, including climate change, elevated nutrient concentrations, increased sedimentation, altered flow, and loss of sensitive taxa. The essential measure to safeguard the ecological functions and biodiversity requires extended conservation strategies, including addressing the growing conservation challenges, expansion of protected riparian buffers, extended policy and monitoring, a community-based monitoring program, and holistic watershed management, which strengthens the resilience of the ecosystem.