Designing With the Landscape, Not Against It
Research and Conservation
Two plant conservancies - One in the Upper Pleateau and one in the Lower Plateau of the Nilgiris - have helped us ensure that over 200 species of specialised, at-risk native plants have a future in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve.
Finding Value in Wastelands
Native sapling conservation is one of the core tenets at Upstream Ecology. We do this by scouting degraded, publicly-accessible habitats such as highways and other public roads, the borders of monoculture estates and fields, and other places where one would not think native saplings could even grow. We pay special attention to places where roadwork operations occur, since a lot of plants end up being dup up and discarded. In this manner, we have been able to save crucial shola species such as XXX YYY.
Our Conservation Footprint
Species/Genus name
Common name
About this Plant
About this Plant
Strobilanthes lawsonii
Copper kurinji
Highly endemic shrub found only in certain pockets of the Nilgiris
Eriochrysis rangacharii
Toda grass/avful
Previously declared extinct and rediscovered in 2011, revered by the Todas for thatching of houses and as cattle fodder
Eulalia phaeothrix
Golden Eulalia Grass
A tussock grass that is endemic to Southern India and also parts of SE Asia
Cyathea crinita
Golden Tree Fern
A highly endemic tree-fern found only in certain parts of the Southern Western Ghats
Impatiens cuspidata
Spindle Balsam
A highly endemic member of the balsam family found only in pockets of the Nilgiris and SWG
Mahonia leschenaultii
Nepal Berberense
A member of the holly family that is of reverence amongst the Todas, for its medicinal properties
Productive landscapes
Long-term ecological imbalance
Declining soil health and reduced landscape resilience
Isolated restoration efforts
Lack of ecological continuity
Fragmented habitats and limited long-term impact
Studying Behaviour, Populations and Progress
Developing frameworks for conducting population estimates of flora and fauna, occurrence estimates, species richness along with densities of flora (using ground-truthing and visual observations, as well as LiDAR analyses with data from trusted vendors). We also conduct species density of flora based on basal girth, stem count, seedling density and other metrics.
2023
Rapid assessments for Wildlife Trust of India, to help restore a native grassland for the Nilgiri Tahr
2017
Comprehensive assessment for the Lawrence School, Lovedale, in order to establish a plan for ecological restoration
