Ethnobotany of the Monpa ethnic group at Arunachal Pradesh, India

Background: The present paper documents the uses of plants in traditional herbal medicine for human and veterinary ailments, and those used for dietary supplements, religious purpose, local beverage, and plants used to poison fish and wild animals. Traditional botanical medicine is the primary mode of healthcare for most of the rural population in Arunachal Pradesh. Materials and methods: Field research was conducted between April 2006 and March 2009 with randomly selected 124 key informants using semi-structured questionnaire. The data obtained was analyzed through informant consensus factor (F(IC)) to determine the homogeneity of informant's knowledge on medicinal plants. Results: We documented 50 plants species belonging to 29 families used for treating 22 human and 4 veterinary ailments. Of the medicinal plants reported, the most common growth form was herbs (40%) followed by shrubs, trees, and climbers. Leaves were most frequently used plant parts. The consensus analysis revealed that the dermatological ailments have the highest F(IC) (0.56) and the gastro-intestinal diseases have F(IC) (0.43). F(IC) values indicated that there was high agreement in the use of plants in dermatological and gastro-intestinal ailments category among the users. Gymnocladus assamicus is a critically rare and endangered species used as disinfectant for cleaning wounds and parasites like leeches and lice on livestocks. Two plant species (Illicium griffithii and Rubia cordifolia) are commonly used for traditional dyeing of clothes and food items. Some of the edible plants recorded in this study were known for their treatment against high blood pressure (Clerodendron colebrookianum), diabetes mellitus (Momordica charantia), and intestinal parasitic worms like round and tape worms (Lindera neesiana, Solanum etiopicum, and Solanum indicum). The Monpas of Arunachal Pradesh have traditionally been using Daphne papyracea for preparing hand-made paper for painting and writing religious scripts in Buddhist monasteries. Three plant species (Derris scandens, Aesculus assamica, and Polygonum hydropiper) were frequently used to poison fish during the month of June-July every year and the underground tuber of Aconitum ferrox is widely used in arrow poisoning to kill ferocious animals like bear, wild pigs, gaur and deer. The most frequently cited plant species; Buddleja asiatica and Hedyotis scandens were used as common growth supplements during the preparation of fermentation starter cultures. Conclusion: The traditional pharmacopoeia of the Monpa ethnic group incorporates a myriad of diverse botanical flora. Traditional knowledge of the remedies is passed down through oral traditions without any written document. This traditional knowledge is however, currently threatened mainly due to acculturation and deforestation due to continuing traditional shifting cultivation. This study reveals that the rural populations in Arunachal Pradesh have a rich knowledge of forest-based natural resources and consumption of wild edible plants is still an integral part of their socio-cultural life. Findings of this documentation study can be used as an ethnopharmacological basis for selecting plants for future phytochemical and pharmaceutical studies.

Mini Forest - An experiment to evaluate the adaptability of Western Ghats species for afforestation

Saplings of forty nine species of trees from Western Ghats forests were planted on a 1.5 hectare tract of Deccan plateau (in the campus of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore) and their performance monitored for 23 years. The objective was to evaluate their adaptability to a habitat and conditions apparently alien to these species. The study was also meant to understand the linkages of these trees with the surrounding environment. Contrary to the belief that tree species are very sensitive to change of location and conditions, the introduced trees have grown as good as they would do in their native habitat and maintained their phenology. Further, they have grown in perfect harmony with trees native to the location. The results show that the introduced species are opportunistic and readily acclimatized and grew well overcoming the need for the edaphic and other factors that are believed to be responsible for their endemicity. Besides ex situ conservation, the creation of miniforest has other accrued ecosystem benefits. For instance, the ground water level has risen and the ambient temperature has come down by two degrees.

Molecular Identification and Phylogeny of Bactrocera Species (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Fruit flies that belong to the genus Bactrocera (Diptera: Tephritidae) are major invasive pests of agricultural crops in Asia and Australia. Increased transboundary movement of agricultural produce has resulted in the chance introduction of many invasive species that include Bactrocera mainly as immature stages. Therefore quick and accurate species diagnosis is important at the port of entry, where morphological identification has a limited role, as it requires the presence of adult specimens and the availability of a specialist. Unfortunately when only immature stages are present, a lacunae in their taxonomy impedes accurate species diagnosis. At this juncture, molecular species diagnostics based on COX-I have become handy, because diagnosis is not limited by developmental stages. Yet another method of quick and accurate species diagnosis for Bactrocera spp. is based on the development of species-specific markers. This study evaluated the utility of COX-I for the quick and accurate species diagnosis of eggs, larvae, pupae and adults of B. zonata Saunders, B. tau Walker, and B. dorsalis Hendel. Furthermore the utility of species-specific markers in differentiating B. zonata (500bp) and B. tau (220bp) was shown. Phylogenetic relationships among five subgenera, viz., Austrodacus, Bactrocera, Daculus, Notodacus and Zeugodacus have been resolved employing the 5' region of COX-I (1490-2198); where COX-I sequences for B. dorsalis Hendel, B. tau Walker, B. correcta Bezzi and B. zonata Saunders from India were compared with other NCBI-GenBank accessions. Phylogenetic analysis employing Maximum Parsimony (MP) and Bayesian phylogenetic approach (BP) showed that the subgenus Bactrocera is monophyletic.

Testing concordance in species boundaries using acoustic, morphological, and molecular data in the field cricket genus Itaropsis (Orthoptera: Grylloidea, Gryllidae: Gryllinae)

In most taxa, species boundaries are inferred based on differences in morphology or DNA sequences revealed by taxonomic or phylogenetic analyses. In crickets, acoustic mating signals or calling songs have species-specific structures and provide a third data set to infer species boundaries. We examined the concordance in species boundaries obtained using acoustic, morphological, and molecular data sets in the field cricket genus Itaropsis. This genus is currently described by only one valid species, Itaropsis tenella, with a broad distribution in western peninsular India and Sri Lanka. Calling songs of males sampled from four sites in peninsular India exhibited significant differences in a number of call features, suggesting the existence of multiple species. Cluster analysis of the acoustic data, molecular phylogenetic analyses, and phylogenetic analyses combining all data sets suggested the existence of three clades. Whatever the differences in calling signals, no full congruence was obtained between all the data sets, even though the resultant lineages were largely concordant with the acoustic clusters. The genus Itaropsis could thus be represented by three morphologically cryptic incipient species in peninsular India; their distributions are congruent with usual patterns of endemism in the Western Ghats, India. Song evolution is analysed through the divergence in syllable period, syllable and call duration, and dominant frequency.

Tamarind orchards: Agroforestry for dry lands

Agroforestry has a potential for sequestering as much carbon if not more than forests. Massive benefits can be channeled to small farmers and landless labourers through cultivation of Tamarind and other fast growing and fruit yielding trees. This paper describes a project started by small farmers and landless labourers in a semiarid areas of south India. The aim is to upgrade dryland holdings of the member families through economically sound dry land horticulture, community woodlots, and planting of fast growing species along orchard and field boundaries. The small farmers invest massive labour inputs and project gives economic benefits to change their land use practices and improve environmental quality. This paper describes the planning. processes of the project, hurdles in finding AIJ partners, current monitoring procedures and costs of C sequestration. This shows this project is economically viable on its own, but initially needed, and continues to need Carbon credit investment in order to spread rapidly across the geopolitical region covered by the organization. It argues that economic gains to small farmers and landless labourers are the most certain way of achieving massive biomass increase and soil carbon replenishment, and that multiple holistic benefits are achieved through this kind of project.

Interactions between oppositely-charged vs. those between like-charged species in crystal of aminoacetonitrile picrate: a charge density investigation

Energy and charge aspects of two types of ion association - between oppositely-charged and between like-charged species - were quantified using the topological analysis of the electron density function derived from the low-temperature X-ray diffraction experiment for a crystal of aminoacetonitrile picrate (sp. gr. Cmca, Z = 8, R = 0.0187), providing an experimental evidence of their ``equal rights'' in crystal packing formation.

Two new species of Nitzschia (Bacillariophyta) from shallow wetlands of Peninsular India

The majority of species belonging to the genus Nitzschia are distinguished by minute taxonomic features that are difficult to observe and document. Currently, geographical distributions for many species are recognized as cosmopolitan; in contrast endemic species are poorly documented and studied. Our study describes two new species of Nitzschia from shallow wetlands across the Bangalore urban district of peninsular India, Nitzschia taylorii, sp. nov. and Nitzschia williamsi, sp. nov. Morphological analyses of these new species were performed with light and scanning electron microscopy, and the ecology of inhabited wetlands are discussed briefly. New species records from urban polluted wetlands provide evidence for broadening taxonomic and ecological investigations of cosmopolitan genera like Nitzschia in the Southern Hemisphere.

Jatropha cultivation in southern India: assessing farmers' experiences

Together with 106 farmers who started growing Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.) in 20042006, this research sought to increase the knowledge around the real-life experience of Jatropha farming in the southern India states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Launched as an alternative for diesel in India, Jatropha has been promoted as a non-edible plant that could grow on poor soils, yield oil-rich seeds for production of bio-diesel, and not compete directly with food production. Through interviews with the farmers, information was gathered regarding their socio-economic situation, the implementation and performance of their Jatropha plantations, and their reasons for continuing or discontinuing Jatropha cultivation. Results reveal that 82% of the farmers had substituted former cropland for their Jatropha cultivation. By 2010, 85% (n = 90) of the farmers who cultivated Jatropha in 2004 had stopped. Cultivating the crop did not give the economic returns the farmers anticipated, mainly due to a lack of information about the crop and its maintenance during cultivation and due to water scarcity. A majority of the farmers irrigated and applied fertilizer, and even pesticides. Many problems experienced by the farmers were due to limited knowledge about cultivating Jatropha caused by poor planning and implementation of the national Jatropha program. Extension services, subsidies, and other support were not provided as promised. The farmers who continued cultivation had means of income other than Jatropha and held hopes of a future Jatropha market. The lack of market structures, such as purchase agreements and buyers, as well as a low retail price for the seeds, were frequently stated as barriers to Jatropha cultivation. For Jatropha biodiesel to perform well, efforts are needed to improve yield levels and stability through genetic improvements and drought tolerance, as well as agriculture extension services to support adoption of the crop. Government programs will -probably be more effective if implementing biodiesel production is conjoined with stimulating the demand for Jatropha biodiesel. To avoid food-biofuel competition, additional measures may be needed such as land-use restrictions for Jatropha producers and taxes on biofuels or biofuel feedstocks to improve the competitiveness of the food sector compared to the bioenergy sector. (c) 2012 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

The Contribution of Rare Species to Community Phylogenetic Diversity across a Global Network of Forest Plots

Niche differentiation has been proposed as an explanation for rarity in species assemblages. To test this hypothesis requires quantifying the ecological similarity of species. This similarity can potentially be estimated by using phylogenetic relatedness. In this study, we predicted that if niche differentiation does explain the co-occurrence of rare and common species, then rare species should contribute greatly to the overall community phylogenetic diversity (PD), abundance will have phylogenetic signal, and common and rare species will be phylogenetically dissimilar. We tested these predictions by developing a novel method that integrates species rank abundance distributions with phylogenetic trees and trend analyses, to examine the relative contribution of individual species to the overall community PD. We then supplement this approach with analyses of phylogenetic signal in abundances and measures of phylogenetic similarity within and between rare and common species groups. We applied this analytical approach to 15 long-term temperate and tropical forest dynamics plots from around the world. We show that the niche differentiation hypothesis is supported in six of the nine gap-dominated forests but is rejected in the six disturbance-dominated and three gap-dominated forests. We also show that the three metrics utilized in this study each provide unique but corroborating information regarding the phylogenetic distribution of rarity in communities.

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.

Positive Relationships between Association Strength and Phenotypic Similarity Characterize the Assembly of Mixed-Species Bird Flocks Worldwide

Competition theory predicts that local communities should consist of species that are more dissimilar than expected by chance. We find a strikingly different pattern in a multicontinent data set (55 presence-absence matrices from 24 locations) on the composition of mixed-species bird flocks, which are important sub-units of local bird communities the world over. By using null models and randomization tests followed by meta-analysis, we find the association strengths of species in flocks to be strongly related to similarity in body size and foraging behavior and higher for congeneric compared with noncongeneric species pairs. Given the local spatial scales of our individual analyses, differences in the habitat preferences of species are unlikely to have caused these association patterns; the patterns observed are most likely the outcome of species interactions. Extending group-living and social-information-use theory to a heterospecific context, we discuss potential behavioral mechanisms that lead to positive interactions among similar species in flocks, as well as ways in which competition costs are reduced. Our findings highlight the need to consider positive interactions along with competition when seeking to explain community assembly.

Influence of nature of support on the catalytic activity of supported molybdenum-oxo species in benzyl alcohol conversion

Supported catalysts containing 15 wt.% of molybdenum have been prepared by the incipient wetness impregnation method. CaO, MgO, Al2O3, Zr(OH)4 and Al(OH)3 have been used as supports for the preparation of supported Mo catalysts. Characterisation of all the materials prepared has been carried out through BET surface area measurement, X-ray diffractometry and FT-IR spectroscopy. Catalytic activity measurements have been carried out with reference to structure-sensitive benzyl alcohol conversion in the liquid phase. The percentage conversion of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde and toluene varied over a large range depending on the support used for the preparation of catalysts, indicating the importance of the support on catalytic activity of Mo catalysts. Al(OH)3 has been found to be the best support for molybdenum among all the supports used. Support–metal interaction (SMI) has been found to play an important role in determining the catalytic activity of supported catalysts.

Performance of established native seedlings in relation to invasive Lantana camara, rainfall and species' habitat preferences in a seasonally dry tropical forest

Native species' response to the presence of invasive species is context specific. This response cannot be studied in isolation from the prevailing environmental stresses in invaded habitats such as seasonal drought. We investigated the combined effects of an invasive shrub Lantana camara L. (lantana), seasonal rainfall and species' microsite preferences on the growth and survival of 1,105 naturally established seedlings of native trees and shrubs in a seasonally dry tropical forest. Individuals were followed from April 2008 to February 2010, and growth and survival measured in relation to lantana density, seasonality of rainfall and species characteristics in a 50-ha permanent forest plot located in Mudumalai, southern India. We used a mixed effects modelling approach to examine seedling growth and generalized linear models to examine seedling survival. The overall relative height growth rate of established seedlings was found to be very low irrespective of the presence or absence of dense lantana. 22-month growth rate of dry forest species was lower under dense lantana while moist forest species were not affected by the presence of lantana thickets. 4-month growth rates of all species increased with increasing inter-census rainfall. Community results may be influenced by responses of the most abundant species, Catunaregam spinosa, whose growth rates were always lower under dense lantana. Overall seedling survival was high, increased with increasing rainfall and was higher for species with dry forest preference than for species with moist forest preference. The high survival rates of naturally established seedlings combined with their basal sprouting ability in this forest could enable the persistence of woody species in the face of invasive species.

Revision of the scolopendrid centipede digitipes Attems, 1930, from India (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha): reconciling molecular and morphological estimates of species diversity

Recent work on molecular phylogenetics of Scolopendridae from the Western Ghats, Peninsular India, has suggested the presence of six cryptic species of the otostigmine Digitipes Attems, 1930, together with three species described in previous taxonomic work by Jangi and Dass (1984). Digitipes is the correct generic attribution for a monophyletic group of Indian species, these being united with three species from tropical Africa (including the type) that share a distomedial process on the ultimate leg femur of males that is otherwise unknown in Otostigminae. Second maxillary characters previously used in the diagnosis of Digitipes are dismissed because Indian species do not possess the putatively diagnostic character states. Two new species from the Western Ghats that correspond to groupings identified based on monophyly, sequence divergence and coalescent analysis using molecular data are diagnosed based on distinct morphological characters. They are D. jangii and D. periyarensis n. spp. Three species named by Jangi and Dass (Digitipes barnabasi, D. coonoorensis and D. indicus) are revised based on new collections; D. indicus is a junior subjective synonym of Arthrorhabdus jonesii Verhoeff, 1938, the combination becoming Digitipes jonesii (Verhoeff, 1938) n. comb. The presence of Arthrorhabdus in India is accordingly refuted. Three putative species delimited by molecular and ecological data remain cryptic from the perspective of diagnostic morphological characters and are presently retained in D. barnabasi, D. jangii and D. jonesii. A molecularly-delimited species that resolved as sister group to a well-supported clade of Indian Digitipes is identified as Otostigmus ruficeps Pocock, 1890, originally described from a single specimen and revised herein. One Indian species originally assigned to Digitipes, D. gravelyi, deviates from confidently-assigned Digitipes with respect to several characters and is reassigned to Otostigmus, as O. gravelyi (Jangi and Dass, 1984) n. comb.

Planar triazinium cations from vanadyl-mediated ring cyclizations: the thiazole species for efficient nuclear staining and photocytotoxicity

Planar triazinium cationic species from vanadyl-assisted cyclization of 1-(2-thiazolylazo)-2-naphthol (H-TAN, 1), 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (H-PAN, 2), 2-(2'-thiazolylazo)-p-cresol (H-TAC, 3) and 6-(2'-thiazolylazo)- resorcinol (H-TAR, 5) were prepared and characterized. A dioxovanadium(V) species VO2(TAR)] (4) was also isolated. Compounds 1, 2 and 4 were structurally characterized. Both 1 and 2 have planar structures. Complex 4 has (VO3N2)-O-V coordination geometry. The cyclised triazinium compound forms a radical species within -0.06 to -0.29 V vs. SCE in DMF-0.1 M tetrabutylammonium perchlorate with a second response due to formation of an anionic species. A confocal microscopic study showed higher nuclear uptake for 1 having a fused thiazole moiety than 2 with a fused pyridine ring. The compounds showed a partial intercalative mode of binding to calf thymus DNA. Compound 1 showed plasmid DNA photo-cleavage activity under argon and photocytotoxicity in HeLa and MCF-7 cells with IC50 values of 15.1 and 3.4 mu M respectively in visible light of 400-700 nm, while being essentially non-toxic in the dark with IC50 values of 90.4 and 21.9 mu M. ATDDFT study was done to rationalize the experimental data.