Sacred groves (SG) of south India are either relics of primary or secondary forests or swamps, worshipped by the local communities, and distributed in the countrysides (CS) and forest landscapes of India. Studies suggest that SGs harbour a biodiversity different from that of adjoining CS and have a structural similarity to protected forests. Studies also suggest a negative effect of structural complexity of forests on predation. Considering these two expectations, we compared the predation of artificial caterpillars inside SGs and CSs with the hypothesis that predation will be less in SG than in CS. Examining the predation marks, we identified the likely predator and scored the intensity of predation. Bite marks of arthropods, birds, lizards and mammals were observed on caterpillars of both habitats. The predation rate and predation intensity were similar for overall predators and for each predator taxon in both habitats, despite the fact that mammal predation was mostly encountered in SGs. Because the proportion of predated caterpillars is not different between habitats and the intensity of predation is high in SGs, we conclude that SGs may not have a quality of the expected standard.

中文翻译：

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猎物与捕食者的相互作用表明，圣林在功能上与邻近的已用土地没有区别

印度南部的圣林 (SG) 是原始或次生森林或沼泽的遗迹，受到当地社区的崇拜，分布在印度的农村 (CS) 和森林景观中。研究表明，SGs 拥有不同于相邻 CS 的生物多样性，并且与受保护的森林具有结构相似性。研究还表明森林结构复杂性对捕食的负面影响。考虑到这两个预期，我们将人造毛虫在 SG 和 CS 内的捕食与 SG 的捕食量低于 CS 的假设进行了比较。检查捕食标记，我们确定了可能的捕食者并对捕食的强度进行了评分。在两个栖息地的毛虫上都观察到节肢动物、鸟类、蜥蜴和哺乳动物的咬痕。尽管哺乳动物捕食主要发生在 SGs 中，但总体捕食者和两个栖息地中每个捕食者分类群的捕食率和捕食强度相似。由于栖息地之间捕食毛虫的比例没有差异，而且SGs的捕食强度很高，我们得出结论，SGs可能没有达到预期标准的质量。