查看更多>>摘要：Taracad Narayanan Ananthakrishnan [TNA], a longstanding Fellow of the National Institute of Ecology, who contributed to Indian biology in general and ecology of Indian arthropods in particular, passed away in New Jersey (U.S.A.) at 2.30 PM on Friday, 7 August 2015, leaving behind his wife Menaka, children Ranee and Ramdas, and their children, and us, his graduate students. A little more than 50 of us earned our PhD titles with him, when he was attached to Loyola College, Madras. He was well known all over the world for his contributions to Indian insects, especially to a group of poorly known agricultural and horticultural crop pests, the Thysanoptera.
查看更多>>摘要：Insects play very important role in mangrove community as pollinators, predators, as well as prey. They also play role in the decomposition process, cycles of matter and energy flow. The diversity of insects is related to the diversity of the mangrove community, directly or indirectly.This study reveals the diversity of insects on mangrove communities in small islands national park Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. We used line transects toward the shoreline crossing mangrove formation, up to mangrove formation that borderingwith land plants. In each transect, several 10 × 10 m observations plots were laid according to the width of the mangrove communities. Insects were collected using insect nets, pitfall traps and leaf litter samples. Shannon Weiner index of diversity (H) was computed. The results showed variation in number of insects between islands. At Keledupa Island, there are 7 orders of insects that include 21 families and 39 genera. At Lentea Island there are 5 orders, including 15 families and 28 genera. At Hoga island, there were only 4 orders, 8 families, and 13 genera. Among them, there were 19 species of arboreal insects, 21 species of soil insects and 5 species of aquatic insects. The dominant insects were Hymenoptera, with 11 species. The diversity index of insects was highest in Kaledupa Island (3.481), followed by Lentae Island (3.252), and Hoga island (2.44). The other significant finding of the study is that the saline water insect both Hemiptera and Diptera (brine flies) were recorded for the first time from Indonesia in the mangrove community of Kaledupa and Lentea Island.
查看更多>>摘要：Today, human development and greater mastery over the environment has caused environmental changes occur faster and wider than before. Thus having information about these changes is essential for managemenfrand restoration of ecosystem's sustainable normal order. Landscape metrics are quantitative tools of landscape situation. These metrics can give us a lot of information about the structure and changes of landscape components. This study has been performed to investigate the landscape changes in Golpayegan city located in Isfahan province in central Iran. In order to preparation of land cover maps and change analysis, satellite imagery 1972 (TM) and 2010 (ETM~+) and class area, patch density, number of patches, mean patch size, edge density and mean shape index metrics were used. For analysis of landscape fragmentation, various metrics of landscape pattern in class level were calculated using the Fragstats software. Landscape metrics analysis shows that medium ranges have been replaced by agricultural lands, poor ranges, residential lands and bare lands. According to the results, increasing in the number of patches and decreasing in the area average are important indicators of decomposition that indicate the destruction and fragmentation of the landscape. The results of this study can be used in land evaluation, environmental studies and planning and integrated management for rational utilization of natural resources and reducing of resource degradation.
查看更多>>摘要：The homegardens of Kerala are known for the high diversity of their species in both cultivated and non-cultivated (hereafter, non-crop) plant communities. The non-crop plants can be categorised into edible and non-edible plants. A study was conducted to identify edible non-crop plants in homegardens of a village located in the mid-land agroclimatic zone of the State. Among the 27 edible non-crop species identified six species namely, Cassia occidentalis, Cassia tora, Centella asiatica, Oxalis corniculata, Phyllanthus urinaria and Portulaca oleracea were found in majority of the homegardens. A significant positive correlation between the number of homegardens accommodating and using the species was also noticed. In homegardens, all edible non-crop plants are managed at a minimal level by tolerance and protection. Nutritionally, all the investigated edible non-crop species could contribute substantially to protein, minerals and crude fibre intake. Being rich in protein (19.3 mg g~(-1) to 54.3 mg g~(-1)), fat (0.004 mg g~(-1) to 0.016 mg g~(-1)), fibre (12.6 mg g~(-1) to 49.8 mg g~(-1)), minerals (25.7 mg g~(-1) to 58.3 mg g~(-1)),calcium(3.3 mg g~(-1) to 13.3 mg g~(-1)), phosphorous (0.3 mg g~(-1) to 3.2 mg g~(-1)) and iron (0.2 mg g~(-1) to 0.8 mg g~(-1)), these species are nutritionally comparable to or even better than several cultivated vegetables in the country. The present study also demonstrated an example of a system in which an important traditional feature i.e. utilisation of non-crop plants is still prevailing. In the context of changing socio-economic scenario, however, efforts are required to strengthen traditional system so that they will maintain optimal combination of ecological and productive features and at the same time ensure nutritional security and plant diversity in homegardens and rural landscapes.
Francisco Soares Santos-FilhoEduardo Bezerra de Almeida Jr.Caio Jefiter dos Reis Santos SoaresCarmen Silvia Zickel...
147-160页
查看更多>>摘要：The coast of Piaui State, Brazil, extends for 66 km and both continental and insular areas are completely contained within the Parnaiba Delta Environmental Protection Area. The coastline there is dominated by quartz sands of the Quaternary period and soils derived from the Barreiras Formation (Tertiary period). The municipality of Ilha Grande (02°50'84"S / 41°47'39"W), located just off the coast, is covered by mangrove vegetation and "restinga" (sandy substrate, near shore vegetation). The present work sought to demonstrate the floristic richness of the restinga vegetation on Ilha Grande and compare its woody vegetation structure to other such areas in northeastern Brazil through floristic and phytosociological studies, elaborating vegetation profiles and performing chemical and physical analyses of the soils. Sixty-seven species were encountered (belonging to 31 botanical families) growing on sandy soils with high aluminum concentrations. Clumped shrubby vegetation predominated, that demonstrated slightly more than 50% similarity with other coastal continental restinga vegetation areas of Piaui State - although its composition was more similar to restinga sites in the northeastern region of Brazil than to geographically adjacent environments.
查看更多>>摘要：This paper provides an overview of organic agriculture programmes that have been attempted in Uttarakhand state of India. Much of the rural land in India, especially in Himalaya is fragmented and the problems created by male outmigration coupled with market forces influence the viability of the future farming in the region. This paper identifies the key problems, their causes and the scope of solutions based on the perceptions of the farmers participating in the organic farming training and development. The present approach of providing subsidy as part of policy though encourages the farmers to take up the programmes, they need to build the capacity to continue the organic farming once the subsidy is withdrawn. The policy is currently looking at only to export the raw material from the region rather than value addition to increase the shelf life and export potential. Some potential actions for sustaining the organic farming in the state are suggested.
查看更多>>摘要：This study was carried out across eighteen forest stands dominated by Pinus roxburghii and Quercus leucotrichophora forests to understand vegetation patterns and physico-chemical properties of soils in Khulgad watershed (District Almora in Uttarakhand) with a particular focus on carbon stock in vegetation and soil pool. C-sequestration in vegetation pool was also estimated. Oak forests were found rich in species diversity as compared to Pine forests. The above ground biomass of Oak forests (189.8 Mg ha~(-1)) was also computed significantly greater than the Pine forests (119.1 Mg ha~(-1)), and consequently the more carbon stock in vegetation pool (91.1 vs 56.6 Mg ha~(-1)). Also, C stock in soil of Oak forests was found more than twice as compared to Pine forests (171.8 vs 73.7 Mg ha~(-1)). C input to forest floor through litter fall was computed 5.97 Mg ha~(-1) for Oak forests and 4.21 Mg ha~(-1) for Pine forests, and over 98% of this input was accounted for by leaf litter. Thus in terms of total C pool (vegetation + litter + soil), Oak forests (268.87 Mg ha~(-1)) had two times greater C than the Pine forests (134.48 Mg ha~(-1)). However, net primary productivity (NPP) computed for tree layer of Pine forests (9.04 Mg ha~(-1) yr~(-1)) was markedly greater as compared to Oak forests (5.68 Mg ha~(-1) yr~(-1)). Thus C-sequestration rate in Oak and Pine forests was recorded 2.64 Mg ha~(-1) yr~(-1) and 3.96 Mg ha~(-1) yr~(-1), respectively. Oak forests were also characterized by high SOM, soil moisture, WHC and soil fertility (N, P, K), and all the soil nutrients in these forests decreased with increasing soil depth (0-90 cm). Oak forests should therefore be conserved and maintained to mitigate the climatic change impacts through stocking more C in vegetation and soil pool.
查看更多>>摘要：Variation in phenology and reproductive biology among different clones of a species help in the selection of better genotypes. We studied a 33 year old clonal seed orchard of Teak (Tectona grandis) to estimate the variation in phenology and reproductive biology of 13 distinct clones derived from two different provenances. The peak phonological events like leaf shedding, leaf renewal, flowering, fruiting and fruit fall were observed in January, May, August, September and December respectively. The clones such as 0RANP4 and ORANR2 showed their activeness in having phonological events earlier. The number of flowers produced per inflorescence was highest in 0RANP3 (5230) while ORANR5 produced the lowest (3030). However, ORANP7 produced highest number of fruits per tree (570) closely followed by ORANP4 (563) and ORANP3 (528). All the reproductive traits expressed very high percentage of heritability (＞90%) which indicates that these traits are useful for further selection to produce high yielding genotypes.
查看更多>>摘要：Floristic assemblage, crop diversity, occurrence, vertical stratification of species and use aspects of 92 homegardens in twenty two villages in Mizoram, northeast India was studied. An attempt was made to assess the influence of altitude and size of homegardens on different attributes of vegetation. A total of 351 plants belonging to 101 families were recorded from the survey which included 170 trees, 42 shrubs, 94 herbs, 5 epiphytes, 34 climbers and 6 bamboo species. An average of 34 plant species (sd, ±14) per garden were recorded; more than fifty percent of the gardens contain 21 -40 plant species while very few gardens have less than 10 species or more than 60 species per garden. Density of trees per unit area was significantly (p＜0.01) more in low altitudes and least in the high altitude gardens and it ranged from 15 trees in a garden in mid altitude to 720 trees in low altitude. Shannon Weiner diversity index of trees and shrubs varied significantly (p＜0.01) across the altitudes and was higher (H'=3.89) in the mid altitudes and minimum (H' =2.73) in the low altitudes. The importance value index (IVI) of plants showed that Parkia timoriana was more ecologically important in the high altitude (19.76) and mid altitude gardens (5.61) while it was Areca cachecu (16.61) in the low altitude. The former showed a decreasing stem density per garden with decreasing altitude. The relationship between garden size and the number of species encountered at different altitudes showed an weak increasing trend but was significant at the high altitude gardens (p＜0.01).
查看更多>>摘要：Asian cold desert, which includes Gobi desert, Iranian desert, Takla Makan desert, Turkestan desert and Trans-Himalayan desert, has an extremely inhospitable climate and terrain. It has been neglected both by the scientists and development practitioners for a long time. The region is highly heterogeneous in terms of farming practices, biodiversity, ecosystem services and livelihoods. Efforts for understanding the dynamics of climate, land use-land cover, biodiversity and livelihoods, by and large, focus on macro-scale, with serious gaps in knowledge and understanding about local environmental, economic and social processes. Unlike many other areas, this region has escaped extensive transformation of natural ecosystems and loss of biodiversity. The studies reviewed here provide insights into the ways and means of avoiding environmental degradation and promoting environmental conservation and sustainable livelihoods. There is a need for further enhancing and consolidating scientific knowledge on multiple dimensions of farming, food security and environmental conservation through national and international interdisciplinary endeavours to maximize global benefits from this unique ecoregion which is highly sensitive to global climate change. Research is needed to demonstrate the potential of biodiversity/environmental conservation for sustainable agriculture and food security and vice-versa.
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