Bioenergy Status of Sharavathi River Basin, Western Ghats, India

Most of the developing countries including India depend heavily on bioenergy and it accounts for about 15% of the global energy usage. Its role in meeting a region’s requirement has increased the interest of assessing the status of biomass availability in a region. The present work deals with the bioenergy status in the Linganamakki reservoir catchment of the Sharavathi river basin, Western Ghats,India, by assessing the energy supply and sector wise energy consumption. The study reveals that majority of the households (92.17%) depend on fuelwood for their domestic energy needs with the per capita fuelwood consumption of 1.2 tonnes/year, which is higher than the national average (0.7 tonnes/year). This higher dependence on fuelwood has contributed to the degradation of forests,resulting in scarcity of bioresources necessitating exploration of viable energy alternatives to meet the growing energy demand.

Impact of Disturrance on Composition, Structure, And Floristics of Tropical Moist Forests in Uttara Kannada District, Western Ghats, India

Impact of disturbance on forest stand density, basal area, dbh class distribution of density and basal area, species richness, species diversity and similarity index was assessed through monitoring six, one-hectare, permanent forest plots after a period of 24 years in tropical moist forests of Uttara Kannada district, Western Ghats, India. It was observed that all sites lost trees due to removal by people and mortality. Loss of trees was more in sites that are easily accessible and closer to human habitation. In spite of a decrease in tree density, an increase in basal area was observed in some forest plots, which could be on account of stimulatory growth of surviving trees. Decrease in basal area in other sites indicates greater human pressure and overexploitation of trees. Preponderance of lower girth class trees, and a unimodal reverse `J-shaped' curve of density distribution as observed in majority of the sites in the benchmark year, was indicative of regenerating status of these forests. The decrease in number of species in all forest sites was due to indiscriminate removal of trees by people, without sparing species with only a few individuals, and also due to mortality of trees of rare species. Higher species richness and diversity in the lowest dbh class in most of the sites in the benchmark year is indicative of the existence of favorable conditions for sylvigenesis. The decrease in the similarity index suggests extirpation of species, favoring invasion and colonization by secondary species. To minimize human pressure on forests and to facilitate regeneration and growth, proper management planning and conservation measures are needed.

A new species of Raorchestes (Amphibia: Anura: Rhacophoridae) from mid-elevation evergreen forests of the southern Western Ghats, India

A new species of the shrub frog genus Raorchestes Biju, Souche, Dubois, Dutta and Bossuyt is described as Raorchestes kakachi sp. nov. from Agastyamalai hill region in the southern Western Ghats, India. The small sized Raorchestes (male: 24.7–25.8 mm, n = 3 and female: 24.3–34.1 mm, n = 3) is distinguished from all other known congeners by the following suite of characters. Snout oval in dorsal view; tympanum indistinct; head wider than long; moderate webbing in feet; colour on dorsum varying from ivory to brown, blotches of dark brown on flanks, brown mottling on throat reducing towards vent; inner and outer surface of thigh, inner surface of shank and inner surface of tarsus with a distinct dark brown horizontal band which extends upto first three toes on upper surface. A detailed description, advertisement call features, ecology, natural history notes and comparison with closely related species are provided for the new species.

Shola habitats on sky islands: status of research on montane forests and grasslands in southern India

The Shola habitat on the high elevation sky islands of the Western Ghats in southern India is a unique habitat. Although this habitat hosts a disproportionately high level of endemism and is threatened by anthropogenic modifications, it has received little research attention. We compiled publications of research conducted in this habitat from scientific databases and the grey literature to examine trends in publication. For a quantitative summary, all publications were classified according to the taxa of research and the broad topic of research. We identified 279 publications from 1964 and found an almost threefold increase in the number of publications and diversity of research topics studied over the last decade. Studies on flora, birds and mammals have been numerous (62% of the studies examined), but certain taxa like fish (1%) have been ignored. Most studies (65%) are descriptive, focusing on diversity, distribution trends and management suggestions, while surprisingly few have concentrated on climate change, ecological restoration and invasive species, all major threats to this landscape. We have identified some key gaps in research and conservation focus that future studies could address. We also suggest that initiatives like edited volumes and special journal sections, along with the use of creative commons licensed data-sharing portals, can be used to usher unpublished work into the public domain.

Multispecies coexistence of trees in tropical forests: spatial signals of topographic niche differentiation increase with environmental heterogeneity

Neutral and niche theories give contrasting explanations for the maintenance of tropical tree species diversity. Both have some empirical support, but methods to disentangle their effects have not yet been developed. We applied a statistical measure of spatial structure to data from 14 large tropical forest plots to test a prediction of niche theory that is incompatible with neutral theory: that species in heterogeneous environments should separate out in space according to their niche preferences. We chose plots across a range of topographic heterogeneity, and tested whether pairwise spatial associations among species were more variable in more heterogeneous sites. We found strong support for this prediction, based on a strong positive relationship between variance in the spatial structure of species pairs and topographic heterogeneity across sites. We interpret this pattern as evidence of pervasive niche differentiation, which increases in importance with increasing environmental heterogeneity.

Costs and benefits of the presence of leopards to the sport-hunting industry and local communities in Niassa national reserve, mozambique

Sport hunting is often proposed as a tool to support the conservation of large carnivores. However, it is challenging to provide tangible economic benefits from this activity as an incentive for local people to conserve carnivores. We assessed economic gains from sport hunting and poaching of leopards (Panthera pardus), costs of leopard depredation of livestock, and attitudes of people toward leopards in Niassa National Reserve, Mozambique. We sent questionnaires to hunting concessionaires (n = 8) to investigate the economic value of and the relative importance of leopards relative to other key trophy-hunted species. We asked villagers (n = 158) the number of and prices for leopards poached in the reserve and the number of goats depredated by leopard. Leopards were the mainstay of the hunting industry; a single animal was worth approximately U.S.$24,000. Most safari revenues are retained at national and international levels, but poached leopard are illegally traded locally for small amounts ($83). Leopards depredated 11 goats over 2 years in 2 of 4 surveyed villages resulting in losses of $440 to 6 households. People in these households had negative attitudes toward leopards. Although leopard sport hunting generates larger gross revenues than poaching, illegal hunting provides higher economic benefits for households involved in the activity. Sport-hunting revenues did not compensate for the economic losses of livestock at the household level. On the basis of our results, we propose that poaching be reduced by increasing the costs of apprehension and that the economic benefits from leopard sport hunting be used to improve community livelihoods and provide incentives not to poach.

Lizard Wears Shades. A Spectacled Sphenomorphus (Squamata: Scincidae), from the Sacred Forests of Mawphlang, Meghalaya, North-east India

A new species of lygosomatine scincid lizard is described from the sacred forests of Mawphlang, in Meghalaya, northeastern India. Sphenomorphus apalpebratus sp. nov. possesses a spectacle or brille, an unusual feature within the Scincidae, and a first for the paraphyletic genus Sphenomorphus. The new species is compared with other members of the genus to which it is here assigned, as well as to members of the lygosomatine genera Lipinia and Scincella from mainland India, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and south-east Asia, to which it also bears resemblance. The new taxon is diagnosable in exhibiting the following combination of characters: small body size (SVL to 42.0 mm); moveable eyelids absent; auricular opening scaleless, situated in a shallow depression; dorsal scales show a line of demarcation along posterior edge of ventral pes; midbody scale rows 27-28; longitudinal scale rows between parietals and base of tail 62-64; lamellae under toe IV 8-9; supraoculars five; supralabials 5-6; infralabials 4-5; subcaudals 92; and dorsum golden brown, except at dorsal margin of lateral line, which is lighter, with four faintly spotted lines, two along each side of vertebral row of scales, that extend to tail base. The new species differs from its congeners in the lack of moveable eyelids, a character shared with several distantly related scincid genera.

Scale-dependent relationships between tree species richness and ecosystem function in forests

1. The relationship between species richness and ecosystem function, as measured by productivity or biomass, is of long-standing theoretical and practical interest in ecology. This is especially true for forests, which represent a majority of global biomass, productivity and biodiversity. 2. Here, we conduct an analysis of relationships between tree species richness, biomass and productivity in 25 forest plots of area 8-50ha from across the world. The data were collected using standardized protocols, obviating the need to correct for methodological differences that plague many studies on this topic. 3. We found that at very small spatial grains (0.04ha) species richness was generally positively related to productivity and biomass within plots, with a doubling of species richness corresponding to an average 48% increase in productivity and 53% increase in biomass. At larger spatial grains (0.25ha, 1ha), results were mixed, with negative relationships becoming more common. The results were qualitatively similar but much weaker when we controlled for stem density: at the 0.04ha spatial grain, a doubling of species richness corresponded to a 5% increase in productivity and 7% increase in biomass. Productivity and biomass were themselves almost always positively related at all spatial grains. 4. Synthesis. This is the first cross-site study of the effect of tree species richness on forest biomass and productivity that systematically varies spatial grain within a controlled methodology. The scale-dependent results are consistent with theoretical models in which sampling effects and niche complementarity dominate at small scales, while environmental gradients drive patterns at large scales. Our study shows that the relationship of tree species richness with biomass and productivity changes qualitatively when moving from scales typical of forest surveys (0.04ha) to slightly larger scales (0.25 and 1ha). This needs to be recognized in forest conservation policy and management.

Challenges in vulnerability assessment of forests under climate change

Forest-management goals in the context of climate change are to reduce the adverse impact of climate change on biodiversity, ecosystem services and carbon stocks. For developing an effective adaptation strategy, knowledge on nature and sources of vulnerability of forests is necessary to conserve or enhance carbon sinks. However, assessing the vulnerability of forest ecosystems is a challenging task, as the mechanisms that determine vulnerability cannot be observed directly. In this article, we list the challenges in forest vulnerability assessments and propose an assessment of inherent vulnerability by using process-based indicators under the current climate. We also suggest periodic assessment of vulnerability, which is necessary to review adaptation strategies for the management of forests and forest carbon stocks.

Product Dimension of Forests and Bounded Treewidth Graphs

The product dimension of a graph G is defined as the minimum natural number l such that G is an induced subgraph of a direct product of l complete graphs. In this paper we study the product dimension of forests, bounded treewidth graphs and k-degenerate graphs. We show that every forest on n vertices has product dimension at most 1.441 log n + 3. This improves the best known upper bound of 3 log n for the same due to Poljak and Pultr. The technique used in arriving at the above bound is extended and combined with a well-known result on the existence of orthogonal Latin squares to show that every graph on n vertices with treewidth at most t has product dimension at most (t + 2) (log n + 1). We also show that every k-degenerate graph on n vertices has product dimension at most inverted right perpendicular5.545 k log ninverted left perpendicular + 1. This improves the upper bound of 32 k log n for the same by Eaton and Rodl.