Aquatic habitats are important constituents of natural ecosystems — be it freshwater, estuarine or marine. A wide diversity of vertebrates and invertebrates along with several plant species are common biodiverse constituents of any dynamic aquatic ecosystem model. However, due to rise in human population, environmental pollution, climate change and global warming, destruction of forests and other natural ecosystems, expansion of industry and agriculture, aquatic habitats across the planet are facing serious challenges for their virtual existence.
It is quite unfortunate to note that several ecologically fragile aquatic habitats in the Arctic and the Antarctic to the temperate, sub-temperate, tropical and sub-tropical biomes have been impacted drastically; often in an irreversible manner.
Marine and estuarine ecosystems will need much bigger initiatives for the purpose of conservation. However, fresh water aquatic habitats could be protected through organised as well as individual efforts. What is needed is a highly integrated, effective, efficient and comprehensive Multiple Tier Conservation Model.
An important environment-friendly as well as sustainable (green) approach or model for protecting freshwater aquatic habitats could be through establishing Integrated Aquatic Habitats for Bees, Birds and Fishes (IAH-BBF). This is an Integrated Ecosystem Development Model in which conservation of species from various trophic levels existing within an aquatic ecosystem could be targeted simultaneously.
The integrated Bees, Birds and Fishes Conservation Model (BBFCM) is a new, excellent and innovative approach for successful conservation of both natural and artificial aquatic habitats targeting multiple species simultaneously at various trophic levels. Aquatic vegetation, bird droppings, leaf litter, insect larvae as well as adult insects together with some artificial fish food added to the water will help both the indigenous and introduced fish populations in the aquatic habitats to thrive together with the birds and bees.
For areas impacted with salinity related issues, salt tolerant grasses could be incorporated in the pollinator mix for the purpose of phytoremediation. A diverse pollinator mix with varied flowering regime (early, mid and late) will be more attractive to a widely divergent species of pollinating insects like bees and will also attract land birds in significant numbers over time.
Legumes incorporated in the Pollinator Mix will help building the pollinator insect populations around the aquatic habitats; and at the same time help in enriching the soil in natural nitrogen without the application of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers.
A grassy and well protected aquatic habitat with rich food source is always a favourite for aquatic birds, thereby successfully developing into an Integrated Ecosystem Development Model. Furthermore, as these aquatic habitats get well established over the years and suitably protected, both small and medium sized aquatic as well as terrestrial mammals will be attracted to such sites for breeding, nesting and hunting purposes on their suitable target prey species in that ecosystem.
Hence, there is a huge opportunity for the integrated BBFCM to be successful at multiple levels; if executed properly and managed scientifically. It will be important to explain the concept to people and popularize through various demonstrations at appropriate model aquatic habitat sites.
(Contributed by Saikat Kumar Basu)