Depletion of bamboo clusters in Kerala’s Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary is threatening to make the coming summer hard for several species of wildlife there and in the adjoining forests that constitute the Nilgiris biosphere. Experts say that the phenomenon could even lead to a famine as far as Wayanad jungles’ herbivores are concerned. Almost all the bamboo clusters which used to grow in about 100 sq km of the 344-sq km area of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary have disappeared in the past six years due to flowering of the plants indicating that surviving the coming summer would be difficult for the herbivores in the forest like elephants and gaurs. The reason for the disappearance of the bamboo clusters, the mainstay of herbivores in summer when water becomes scarce in the jungle due to drying up of springs and ponds, is the gregarious flowering of the monocarpic plant. The flowering cycle of thorny bamboo, belonging to the grass family, varies from 30 years to 50 years, according to botanists. Officials in the Kerala Forest and Wildlife Department said that the situation was very serious as the bamboo groves in the adjacent sanctuaries also have begun to get depleted due to flowering. While the destruction of bamboo clusters in the Wayanad sanctuary is almost exhaustive, a 20 per cent to 30 per cent bamboo cluster depletion due to flowering has happened in the adjacent Rajiv Gandhi National Park, Nagarhole and the Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, a major habitat of tigers, elephants and other species, since last year. Botanists with the Kerala Agricultural University at Vellanikkara, Thrissur said that the bamboo clusters, disappearing altogether due to flowering, could grow back in some years as seeds, which have no dormancy, could germinate in favourable climatic conditions. “Bamboo regeneration is quite natural and profuse,” said a KAU botanist. However, he said that the Forest Department should be extra careful to ensure that no fire incidents occurred in the jungle. “Forest fires can end the possibility of the bamboo clusters’ growing back as the seeds could get reduced to ashes. But fire incidents are rare in the Wayanad sanctuary,” the botanist said. Established in 1973, the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, contiguous to the protected area network of Nagarhole and Bandipur on the northeast and Mudumalai of Tamil Nadu on the southeast, is home to 20 to 25 tigers. Rich in bio-diversity, the sanctuary was established with the specific objective of conserving the biological heritage of the region. There are reports that the sudden disappearance of the wall of bamboo clusters in the eastern part of Wayanad could be one of the reasons for the climate shift being felt in the hilly district. Environmentalists fear that the bamboo depletion could have led to the creation of a hot wind pass into Wayanad from the Deccan plateau.