4 research outputs found
Spatial Relation of Bumblebees (Hymenoptera-Apidae) with Host-Plant and their Conservation Issues: An Outlook from Urban Ecosystem of Kathmandu Valley, Nepal
Ecology and conservation status of bumblebee species remains poorly understood, especially in rapidly degrading urban ecosystems, which is important considering the role of bumblebees in the pollinations. We collected more than 200 bumblebee (Bombus spp.) specimens under six species in different parts of the Kathmandu valley (Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur cities) in Nepal. The species of bumblebees were analyzed with their host plant types and the land use change using remote sensing and field observation data. We found that the bumblebees exert strong variation and were significantly affected by the families of the host plants and the nature of flowers (open and closed type) rather than colors and categories (invasive and noninvasive). We underline that the rapid habitat loss by changing land use in the study area can be a potential threat to the conservation of these important pollinators, and thus, need focused habitat conservation efforts
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The COVID‐19 Pandemic Not Only Poses Challenges, but Also Opens Opportunities for Sustainable Transformation
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted social, economic, and environmental systems worldwide, slowing down and reversing the progress made in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDGs belong to the 2030 Agenda to transform our world by tackling humankind's challenges to ensure well-being, economic prosperity, and environmental protection. We explore the potential impacts of the pandemic on SDGs for Nepal. We followed a knowledge co-creation process with experts from various professional backgrounds, involving five steps: online survey, online workshop, assessment of expert's opinions, review and validation, and revision and synthesis. The pandemic has negatively impacted most SDGs in the short term. Particularly, the targets of SDG 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 13 have and will continue to have weakly to moderately restricting impacts. However, a few targets of SDG 2, 3, 6, and 11 could also have weakly promoting impacts. The negative impacts have resulted from impeding factors linked to the pandemic. Many of the negative impacts may subside in the medium and long terms. The key five impeding factors are lockdowns, underemployment and unemployment, closure of institutions and facilities, diluted focus and funds for non-COVID-19-related issues, and anticipated reduction in support from development partners. The pandemic has also opened a window of opportunity for sustainable transformation, which is short-lived and narrow. These opportunities are lessons learned for planning and action, socio-economic recovery plan, use of information and communication technologies and the digital economy, reverse migration and “brain gain,” and local governments' exercising authorities
Πρότυπα απόκρισης νηματωδών έναντι φυσικών διαβαθμίσεων σε δάσος μεσογειακής δρυός
We studied the response of nematode communities to naturally established gradients of resource quantities and microclimate in a Mediterranean oak Quercus pubescens forest. The selected gradients were a) the microhabitat gradients of recourse quantity in each site, the altitudinal (high – low), the aspect (East, South, North) and the vegetation cover gradient (open-forested). For studying the responses of nematode communities across the selected gradients we focus in various aspects of the community including abundance and diversity, body size and shape distributions, functional guilds, nematological indices and nematode metabolic footprints. The results are presented in six chapters. In the first we provide data on the temperature based bioclimate parameters estimated in each experimental site. The other five chapters are focusing on different aspects of nematode community responses to the gradients, namely the nematode abundance and diversity, body size distribution and shape variation, nematode community indices and nematode metabolic footprints. Microhabitat is the major factor imposing differences in abundance, community structure and diversity of nematode communities (within site variation). The variation in nematode abundance, diversity and metabolic footprints per microhabitat (among sites effect) can be predicted from the microclimate variation among sites. This allows for the interpolation of abundance and metabolic footprints within the sampled region and helps to upscale their bioindication potential of nematode communities from local to landscape level with minimum sampling effort, given that a high resolution temperature map is available.Μελετήσαμε τις αποκρίσεις των βιοκοινοτήτων των Νηματωδών έναντι φυσικών διαβαθμίσεων των διαθέσιμων πόρων και του μικροκλίματος σε δάσος Μεσογειακής δρυός (Quercus pubescens). Οι διαβαθμίσεις που μελετήθηκαν ήταν η διαβάθμιση μικροενδιαιτημάτων εντός κάθε περιοχής, η υψομετρική (μικρό- μεγάλο υψόμετρο), η διαβάθμιση έκθεσης (Ανατολική, Νότια και Βόρεια) και η διαβάθμιση κάλυψης βλάστησης (δασος- ανοιχτός χώρος). Για τη μελέτη των αποκρίσεων των νηματωδών έναντι των διαβαθμίσεων εστιάσαμε σε όψεις των κοινοτήτων όπως η αφθονία και η ποικιλότητα, η κατανομή μεγέθους σώματος και μορφομετρικών χαρακτήρων, η σχετική συμμετοχή των τροφικών ομάδων, οι βιοδείκτες και το μεταβολικό αποτύπωμα των νηματωδών. Τα αποτελέσματα παρουσιάζονται σε 6 κεφάλαια. Στο πρώτο αναφερόμαστε τις βιοκλιματικές παραμέτρους ανά θέση δειγματοληψίας. Στα υπόλοιπα 5 εστιάζουμε στις διαφορετικές όψεις της βιοκοινότητας των νηματωδών και στις αποκρίσεις έναντι των διαβαθμίσεων. Το μικροενδιαίτημα είναι ο πιο καθοριστικός παράγοντας διαφοροποίησης των κοινοτήτων ως προς την αφθονία την δομή και την ποικιλότητα γενών και την κατανομή του σωματικού τους μεγέθους. Οι μεταξύ των θέσεων διαφοροποιήσεις της αφθονίας, της ποικιλότητας και του μεταβολικού αποτυπώματος ανά ενδιαίτημα σχετίζονται και μπορούν να προβλεφτούν από με τις διακυμάνσεις των βιοκλιματικών συνθηκών. Αυτό επιτρέπει την προβολή των προβλέψεων σε περιοχές εντός του χώρου δειγματοληψίας και μπορεί να βοηθήσεις στην αναγωγή από το δείγμα στο τοπίο κάτι που θα ισχυροποιήσει σημαντικά την χρήση των βιοδεικτών με μείωση του κόστους δειγματοληψίας με την προϋπόθεση βέβαια ότι θα υπάρχουν διαθέσιμοι υψηλής ευκρίνειας χάρτες βιοκλιματικών συνθηκών