Context:

• As the city undergoes a transformation from green to concrete, it may be in religious places that one can find the remnants of native biodiversity.
• Unlike man-made parks that have trees chosen for aesthetics, religious sites, such as temples, mosques and churches and even cemeteries, have a significant share of native trees and a broader variety, too.
• A recent study by researchers from the Bengaluru-based Azim Premji University and Germany (Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research, Bayreuth Center for Ecology and Environmental Science) enumerated 5,504 trees in religious places in the central business district.

Ficus dominates

• What also separates the trees in religious places from the rest of the spaces studied is the abundance of the Banyan fig (Ficus benghalensis), which not only has religious connotations, but supports a variety of animals.
• The ficus is a keystone species and can be the residence of insects, birds, and mammals. Without this tree, the ecosystem around it falls.
• The importance of the tree was seen recently when initial plans for the redesigned Kalasipalya bus stand meant cutting down 24 trees, a majority of them being ficus.

Source:TH