Occurrence of Trissolcus jatrophae Rajmohana et al. 2011 (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) in Pune City, India

Trissolcus jatrophae Rajmohana et al. 2011, a parasitoid wasp has been observed to parasitize hemipteran eggs laid on Jatropha nana Dalzell &amp; Gibson (Euphorbiaceae) growing in Pune city, Maharashtra. In the present communication, this wasp has been reported for the first time on a new host plant species, and the occurrence of this wasp also forms a new distributional record.  </div

Flora of Fergusson College campus, Pune, India: monitoring changes over half a century

The present study was aimed at determining the vascular plant species richness of an urban green-space- the Fergusson College campus, Pune and comparing it with the results of the past flora which was documented in 1958 by Dr. V.D. Vartak. For this, the species richness data was obtained by both secondary sources and intensive surveys from 2009–2014. The data from the primary and secondary sources resulted in the documentation of 812 species belonging to 542 genera under 124 families, of which 534 species (65.8%) exists  today as compared to 654 in 1958 (net loss of 120 species). Of the 812 species listed, 278 species were observed only during the past, 210 species were exclusively recorded in the current survey and 324 species were observed both, in the past as well as current survey. Arboreal species richness recorded till date (196) in the campus accounts for 40.7% of that of the entire Pune City. Leguminosae and Poaceae were the dominant dicotyledonous and monocotyledonous families respectively and an inventory of all the species recorded is provided. Although the botanical garden over the past years has lost 187 species, it still houses rare species such as Acacia greggii, which has been reported from Maharashtra for the first time. Considering the rapidly changing urban land use in the city, much attention should be paid towards the conservation of these green spaces, for which such studies provide baseline data. </div

Restoring India's Terrestrial Ecosystems: Needs, Challenges, and Policy Recommendations

&lt;p&gt;This document is&nbsp;a product&nbsp;of the preparatory phase project of the National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Well-Being which was catalysed and supported by the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India. It is the outcome of a series of stakeholder consultation meetings on ecological restoration of terrestrial landscapes and climate change in India. The insights from these meetings have been used to develop this document which highlights the challenges and best-practices in the restoration of terrestrial ecosystems, can serve as a guide for successful restoration of landscapes across different biomes of the Indian subcontinent, and help achieve India&rsquo;s commitments to the Bonn Challenge and the goals set by India for biodiversity conservation, land restoration, climate mitigation and adaptation.&lt;/p&gt

Comment on “The global tree restoration potential”

Bastin et al.’s estimate (Reports, 5 July 2019, p. 76) that tree planting for climate change mitigation could sequester 205 gigatonnes of carbon is approximately five times too large. Their analysis inflated soil organic carbon gains, failed to safeguard against warming from trees at high latitudes and elevations, and considered afforestation of savannas, grasslands, and shrublands to be restoration.Funding: Supported by the Texas A&M Sid Kyle Global Savanna Research Initiative (T.W.B.); Swiss National Science Foundation (20FI20_173691) (N.B.); Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique CNRS PICS 2018-2020 (RESIGRASS) (E.B.); CNPq (Brazil, 303179/2016-3) (G.D.); CNPq (Brazil) (G.W.F.); CNPq (Brazil, 303988/2018-5) (A.F.); NASA award NNX17AK14G (F.F.); NSF award 1354943 (W.A.H.); Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (Brazil, 2016/13232-5) (S.L.S.); the Office of the Royal Society (IC170015) (C.E.R.L.); CNPq (Brazil, 310345/2018-9) (G.E.O.); the Spanish Government (FIROTIC, PGC2018-096569-B-I00) (J.G.P.); the National Research Foundation (ACCESS, 114695) (N.S.); CNPq (Brazil, 303568/2017-8) (F.A.O.S.); NSF awards 1342703 and 1926431 (C.J.S. and D.M.G.); NSF award EAR-1253713 (C.A.E.S.); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft grant 5579 POEM (V.M.T.); and USDA-NIFA Sustainable Agricultural Systems Grant 12726253 (J.W.V.