Sowing and reaping : a year of expansion and ingathering in the North India Mission of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

Last page folds out to 32 cm. and is a list of "present members of the mission."

Punjab Region, India & Pakistan, 1869 (Image 1 of 4) (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: The Punjab and its dependencies with portions of the North West Provinces and Afghanistan, 1869. It was published by Survey of India in 1875. Scale 1:1,013,760. This layer is image 1 of 4 total images of the four sheet source map, representing the northwest portion of the map. Covers the Punjab region, India and Pakistan.The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Asia North Lambert Conformal Conic coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, roads, railroads, cities and other human settlements, territorial and administrative boundaries, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown by shading and spot heights.This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

Punjab Region, India & Pakistan, 1869 (Image 2 of 4) (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: The Punjab and its dependencies with portions of the North West Provinces and Afghanistan, 1869. It was published by Survey of India in 1875. Scale 1:1,013,760. This layer is image 2 of 4 total images of the four sheet source map, representing the northeast portion of the map. Covers the Punjab region, India and Pakistan.The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Asia North Lambert Conformal Conic coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, roads, railroads, cities and other human settlements, territorial and administrative boundaries, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown by shading and spot heights.This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

Punjab Region, India & Pakistan, 1869 (Image 3 of 4) (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: The Punjab and its dependencies with portions of the North West Provinces and Afghanistan, 1869. It was published by Survey of India in 1875. Scale 1:1,013,760. This layer is image 3 of 4 total images of the four sheet source map, representing the southwest portion of the map. Covers the Punjab region, India and Pakistan.The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Asia North Lambert Conformal Conic coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, roads, railroads, cities and other human settlements, territorial and administrative boundaries, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown by shading and spot heights.This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

Punjab Region, India & Pakistan, 1869 (Image 4 of 4) (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: The Punjab and its dependencies with portions of the North West Provinces and Afghanistan, 1869. It was published by Survey of India in 1875. Scale 1:1,013,760. This layer is image 4 of 4 total images of the four sheet source map, representing the southeast portion of the map. Covers the Punjab region, India and Pakistan.The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to the Asia North Lambert Conformal Conic coordinate system. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, roads, railroads, cities and other human settlements, territorial and administrative boundaries, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown by shading and spot heights.This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection. These maps typically portray both natural and manmade features. The selection represents a range of originators, ground condition dates, scales, and map purposes.

Soil stabilization with waste materials based binder

This paper describes a laboratory trial to study the effectiveness of a waste-based binder to stabilize expansive soils. The proposed binders viz., Fly ash and/or Ground granulated Blast furnace slag (GGBS) were mixed with the expansive soil along with a small amount of lime to increase soil pH and enable pozzolanic reactions. The geotechnical characteristics of the various combinations of samples were investigated through the compaction tests, unconfined compression tests etc. It was found that the addition of GGBS with and without fly ash and lime has significant influence on the geotechnical characteristics of the soil.

Clay mineral liner system for leachates containing organic contaminants

A conventional liner with a good performance against inorganic contaminants with a minimal hydraulic conductivity does not usually perform well for retention/removal of leachates containing organic contaminants. Organic modification of clay can render the naturally organophobic clay tobe organophilic. Incorporation of modified organo clay along with unmodified inorganic clay in liner systems can overcome the inherent incompatibility of conventional liners to organic contaminants and can increase organic sorption. The performance of commercially available organo clay and natural bentonite and mixtures of them in different pore fluids has been studied. It is found that the properties of mixtures improve with increase in organically modified clay particularly in non aqueous fluids from the considerations of liner application.

The stripe-backed weasel Mustela strigidorsa: taxonomy, ecology, distribution and status

1. The stripe-backed weasel Mustela strigidorsa is one of the rarest and least-known mustelids in the world. Its phylogenetic relationships with other Mustela species remain controversial, though several unique morphological features distinguish it from congeners. 2. It probably lives mainly in evergreen forests in hills and mountains, but has also been recorded from plains forest, dense scrub, secondary forest, grassland and farmland. Known sites range in altitude from 90 m to 2500 m. Data are insufficient to distinguish between habitat and altitudes which support populations, and those where only dispersing animals may occur. 3. It has been confirmed from many localities in north-east India, north and central Myanmar, south China, north Thailand, north and central Laos, and north and central Vietnam. Given the limited survey effort, the number of recent records shows that the species is not as rare as hitherto believed. Neither specific nor urgent conservation needs are apparent.

Soybean Stem Fly, Melanagromyza sojae (Diptera: Agromyzidae), in the New World: detection of high genetic diversity from soybean fields in Brazil

Soybean Stem Fly (SSF), Melanagromyza sojae (Zehntner), belongs to the family Agromyzidae and is highly polyphagous, attacking many plant species of the family Fabaceae, including soybean and other beans. SSF is regarded as one of the most important pests in soybean fields of Asia (e.g., China, India), North East Africa (e.g., Egypt), parts of Russia, and South East Asia. Despite reports of Agromyzidae flies infesting soybean fields in Rio Grande do Sul State (Brazil) in 1983 and 2009 and periodic interceptions of SSF since the 1940s by the USA quarantine authorities, SSF has not been officially reported to have successfully established in the North and South Americas. In South America, M. sojae was recently confirmed using morphology and its complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was characterized. In the present study, we surveyed the genetic diversity of M. sojae, collected directly from soybean host plants, using partial mtDNA cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene, and provide evidence of multiple (>10) maternal lineages in SSF populations in South America, potentially representing multiple incursion events. However, a single incursion involving multiple-female founders could not be ruled out. We identified a haplotype that was common in the fields of two Brazilian states and the individuals collected from Australia in 2013. The implications of SSF incursions in southern Brazil are discussed in relation to the current soybean agricultural practices, highlighting an urgent need for better understanding of SSF population movements in the New World, which is necessary for developing effective management options for this significant soybean pest. © FUNPEC-RP.

Effect of rodents on seed fate of five hornbill-dispersed tree species in a tropical forest in north-east India

Hornbills are important dispersers of a wide range of tree species. Many of these species bear fruits with large, lipid-rich seeds that could attract terrestrial rodents. Rodents have multiple effects on seed fates, many of which remain poorly understood in the Palaeotropics. The role of terrestrial rodents was investigated by tracking seed fate of five horn bill-dispersed tree species in a tropical forest in north-cast India. Seeds were marked inside and outside of exclosures below 6-12 parent fruiting trees (undispersed seed rain) and six hornbill nest trees (a post-dispersal site). Rodent visitors and seed removal ere monitored using camera traps. Our findings suggest that several rodent species. especially two species of porcupine were major on-site seed predators. Scatter-hoarding was rare (1.4%). Seeds at hornbill nest trees had lower survival compared with parent fruiting trees, indicating that clumped dispersal by hornbills may not necessarily improve seed survival. Seed survival in the presence and absence of rodents varied with tree species. Some species (e.g. Polyalthia simiarum) showed no difference, others (e.g. Dysoxylum binectariferum) experienced up to a 64%. decrease in survival in the presence of rodents. The differing magnitude of seed predation by rodents can have significant consequences at the seed establishment stage.

Recovery of tropical rainforest avifauna in relation to vegetation succession following shifting cultivation in Mizoram, north-east India

1. Recovery of rainforest bird community structure and composition, in relation to forest succession after slash-and-burn shifting cultivation or jhum was studied in Mizoram, north-east India. Replicate fallow sites abandoned after shifting cultivation 1, 5, 10, 25 and approximate to 100 years ago, were compared with primary evergreen and semi-evergreen forest using transect and quadrat sampling. 2. Vegetation variables such as woody plant species richness, tree density and vertical stratification increased with fallow age in a rapid. nun-linear, asymptotic manner. Principal components analysis of vegetation variables summarized 92.8% of the variation into two axes: PC1 reflecting forest development and woody plant succession (variables such as tree density, woody plant species richness), and PC2 depicting bamboo density, which increased from 1 to 25 years and declined thereafter. 3. Bird species richness, abundance and diversity, increased rapidly and asymptotically during succession paralleling vegetation recovery as shown by positive correlations with fallow age and PC1 scores of sites. Bamboo density reflected by PC2 had a negative effect on bird species richness and abundance. 4. The bird community similarity (Morisita index) of sites with primary forest also increased asymptotically with fallow age indicating sequential species turnover during succession. Bird community similarity of sites with primary forest (or between sites) was positively correlated with both physiognomic and floristic similarities with primary forest (or between sites). 5. The number of bird species in guilds associated with forest development and woody plants (canopy insectivores, frugivores: bark feeders) was correlated with PCI scores of the sites. Species in other guilds (e. g. granivores, understorey insectivores) appeared to dominate during early and mid-succession. 6. The non-linear relationships imply that fallow periods less than a threshold of 25 years for birds, and about 50-75 years for woody plants, are likely to cause substantial community alteration. 7. As 5-10-year rotation periods or jhum cycles prevail in many parts of north-east India. there is a need to protect and conserve tracts of late-successional and primary forest.

Climate change vulnerability profiles for North East India

Climate change vulnerability profiles are developed at the district level for agriculture, water and forest sectors for the North East region of India for the current and projected future climates. An index-based approach was used where a set of indicators that represent key sectors of vulnerability (agriculture, forest, water) is selected using the statistical technique principal component analysis. The impacts of climate change on key sectors as represented by the changes in the indicators were derived from impact assessment models. These impacted indicators were utilized for the calculation of the future vulnerability to climate change. Results indicate that majority of the districts in North East India are subject to climate induced vulnerability currently and in the near future. This is a first of its kind study that exhibits ranking of districts of North East India on the basis of the vulnerability index values. The objective of such ranking is to assist in: (i) identifying and prioritizing the most vulnerable sectors and districts; (ii) identifying adaptation interventions, and (iii) mainstreaming adaptation in development programmes.

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.

Identifying regions for conservation of sloth bears through occupancy modelling in north-eastern Karnataka, India

In the absence of information on species in decline with contracting ranges, management should emphasize remaining populations and protection of their habitats. Threatened by anthropogenic pressure including habitat degradation and loss, sloth bears (Melursus ursinus) in India have become limited in range, habitat, and population size. We identified ecological and anthropogenic determinants of occurrence within an occupancy framework to evaluate habitat suitability of non-protected regions (with sloth bears) in northeastern Karnataka, India. We employed a systematic sampling methodology to yield presence absence data to examine a priori hypotheses of determinants that affected occupancy. These covariates were broadly classified as habitat or anthropogenic factors. Mean number of termite mounds and trees positively influenced sloth bear occupancy, and grazing pressure expounded by mean number of livestock dung affected it negatively. Also, mean percentage of shrub coverage had no impact on bear inhabitance. The best fitting model further predicted habitats in Bukkasagara, Agoli, and Benakal reserved forests to have 38%, 75%, and 88%, respectively, of their sampled grid cells with high occupancies (>0.70) albeit little or no legal protection. We recommend a conservation strategy that includes protection of vegetation stand-structure, maintenance of soil moisture, and enrichment of habitat for the long-term welfare of this species.

The age and growth of catfish Rita rita (Ham.) from the River Yamuna in north India

The age of 224 fishes was determined by counting the translucent zone on the opercular bones and otoliths. Back calculated annual growth of the fish revealed that the absolute growth of the female was better than that of the male upto the third year. From the fourth year onwards the growth of the male exceeded the growth of the female.