Deforestation in the Tropics: Reconciling Disparities in Estimates for India

Here we examine recent disparate estimates of deforestation obtained for India. We discuss the sources of disparity and the implications of inaccurate estimates and suggest ways in which future attempts at estimating deforestation might reconcile the disparity. Despite the importance of deforestation and its consequences, no attempt has been made to reconcile the different estimates obtained for India

Decline of pollinators threatens food supply

Most of our staple food crops such as wheat, rice, sorghum, barley and maize do not require animals for their pollination. However, wild pollinators play a very important role in the production of other crops such as some pulses, sunflower seeds, cardamom, coffee, cashew nuts, oranges, mangoes and apples. An army of more than 20,000 species of pollinators including birds, bats and insects service these crops. For most of our food crops, though, the most important pollinators are the thousands of species of bees

Cataloguing life in India: the taxonomic imperative

Taxonomy, the science of discovering, describing and naming new species has become critically important in this era of declining biodiversity. Cataloguing species is fundamental to conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Taxonomy also forms the basis of elucidating evolutionary relationships among agricultural crops, parasites, pathogens and insect pests. Many pharmaceutical products are based on plants and the indigenous systems of medicines are basedon our ability to accurately classify and describe living organisms. Thus taxonomy plays a vital role in the human well-being

Our biodiversity, our life, our future: What can arrest the steady decline of our ecosystems?

Life is unique to our planet. It is earth's most precious asset. And there is plenty of it. We do not know the exact number of species: many estimates range from 10 to 12 million. India may have close to a million species, the vast majority of which remain to be named or described. These hundreds and thousands of species in India live in many different types of ecological communities or ecosystems spread from deep seas to mountain tops

Ultrasensitive interplay between ferromagnetism and superconductivity in NbGd composite thin films

A model binary hybrid system composed of a randomly distributed rare-earth ferromagnetic (Gd) part embedded in an s-wave superconducting (Nb) matrix is being manufactured to study the interplay between competing superconducting and ferromagnetic order parameters. The normal metallic to superconducting phase transition appears to be very sensitive to the magnetic counterpart and the modulation of the superconducing properties follow closely to the Abrikosov-Gorkov (AG) theory of magnetic impurity induced pair breaking mechanism. A critical concentration of Gd is obtained for the studied NbGd based composite films (CFs) above which superconductivity disappears. Besides, a magnetic ordering resembling the paramagnetic Meissner effect (PME) appears in DC magnetization measurements at temperatures close to the superconducting transition temperature. The positive magnetization related to the PME emerges upon doping Nb with Gd. The temperature dependent resistance measurements evolve in a similar fashion with the concentration of Gd as that with an external magnetic field and in both the cases, the transition curves accompany several intermediate features indicating the traces of magnetism originated either from Gd or from the external field. Finally, the signatures of magnetism appear evidently in the magnetization and transport measurements for the CFs with very low (less than 1 at. %) doping of Gd

Threshold effect of inflation on economic growth in Nigeria

It is widely believed that price stability promote long-term economic growth, whereas high inflation is inimical to growth. This paper utilized a quarterly time series data for the period 1981 - 2009 to estimate a threshold level of inflation for Nigeria. Using a threshold regression model developed by Khan and Senhadji (2001), the study estimated a threshold inflation level of 13 per cent for Nigeria. Below the threshold level, inflation has a mild effect on economic activities, while above it, the magnitude of the negative effect of inflation on growth was high. The negative and significant relationship between inflation and economic growth for inflation rates both below and above the threshold level is robust with respect to changes in econometric methodology, additional explanatory variables and changes in data frequency. These finding are essential for monetary policy formulation as it provide a guide for the policy makers to choose an optimal target for inflation, which is consistent with long-term sustainable economic growth goals of the country

Applications of geographic information systems, remote-sensing, and a landscape ecology approach to biodiversity conservation in the Western Ghats

The mountains along the west coast of peninsular India, the Western Ghats, constitute one of the unique biological regions of the world. Rapidly occurring land-cover and land-use change in the Western Ghats has serious implications for the biodiversity of the region. Both landscape changes as well as the distribution of biodiversity are phenomena with strong spatial correlates. Recent developments in remote-sensing technology and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allow the use of a landscape ecology and spatial analysis approach to the problem of deforestation and biodiversity conservation in the Western Ghats. Applications of this approach include analyses of land-cover and landuse change; estimation of deforestation rates and rates of forest fragmentation; examination of the spatial correlates of forest loss and the socioeconomic drivers of land-use change; modelling of deforestation; analysis of the consequences of land-cover and land-use change in the form of climate change and change in distribution of biodiversity; biomass estimation;gap analysis of the effectiveness of the protected area network in conserving areas of importance for biodiversity conservation; and conservation planning. We present examples from our work in the Western Ghats, in general, and in the Agastyamalai region and Biligiri Rangan Hills, in particular, as well as that of other researchers in India on various aspects of applications of GIS, remote sensing, and 'a landscape ecology approach to biodiversity conservation

Parasexual analysis in Trichoderma reesei using protoplast fusion

Protoplast fusion techniques were used to induce parasexuality in Trichoderma reesei and the products of fusion and segregation analyzed in order to get genetic data regarding the three cellulase markers, exoglucanase (exo), endoglucanase (endo) and beta-glucosidase ( beta- glu) and their location with respect to other auxotrophic markers. Five mutants derived from T. reesei QM 9414, a hypercellulase producer, were used in this study

Prise en charge du spondylolisthesis par lyse isthmique a niamey, a propos de 20 cas

Objectif Evaluer la prise en charge chirurgicale du spondylolisthésis par lyse isthmique à Niamey. Méthode Etude prospective en série continue réalisée dans le service de Neurochirurgie de Niamey de Janvier 1999à Janvier 2006. Etaient inclus les spondylolisthésis par lyse isthmique. Les spondylolisthésis étaient classés selon la classification de Meyerding. L’indication opératoire était retenue après échec du traitement conservateur sur les radiculalgies. L’évaluation clinique préopératoire et post opératoire était basée sur la cotation fonctionnelle de Beaujon. Le traitement comprenait une décompression radiculaire associée à une ostéosynthèse par montage rigide et court. Résultats Il s’agissait de 11 hommes et 09 femmes. La moyenne d’âge était de 27,231ans avec des extrêmes de 17ans et de 40 ans; les radiculalgies évoluaient depuis 1,01 ans en moyenne .La radiculalgie était systématisée dans 65% des cas. Sur le plan radiologique, 10 patients étaient au stade I selon Meyerdig, 7 au stade II et 3 au stade III. La lyse isthmique était sur L5 bilatérale chez 17cas patients (85% des cas), sur L4 dans 3 cas (15%). Le score moyen préopératoire était de 9.1/20 ; à 3 mois du postopératoire, il était évalué à 14.8 sur 20.Conclusion Après échec du traitement conservateur, l’indication opératoire basée sur la radiculalgie donne des résultats satisfaisants