Love games that insects play: the evolution of sexual behaviours in insects

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The Thalakaadu phenomenon: a miracle or an ecological disaster?

The Thalakaadu curse has established itself in the folklore as a miracle since the early part of 16th century because of two strange events visible even to date: (i) Thalakaadu, an historically vibrant city, is now being submerged under sand dunes several meters deep, and (ii) the Mysore royal family have faced problem in having a rightful heir to the throne since 1600s. Both these events linked to an apparent curse by a pious lady have defied logic. Based on the data from diverse sources and field studies, I have reconstructed the possible chronology of events of this acclaimed miracle. I argue that the Thalakaadu phenomenon represents an ecological disaster unintentionally wrought on to a vibrant civilization at this place and in this sense the curse per se is an intelligently inserted story as an overlay. Using this example I discuss the possible process through which the miracles or myths of this kind survive in a society

An unscientific way to bury astrology

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The ever-ready pollen

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Global errors in science: traps of chance and prejudice

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We need taxonomists not taxa-namists

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Are patterns a rule in nature?

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Whipping astrology - a science crime

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Diversity of species assemblages of islands: predictions and their test using tree species composition of shola fragments

Based on all possible combinations of species that can theoretically exist on islands of different sizes, we estimated similarities among islands of equal size in their species compositions. We found that similarity coefficients among islands of equal sizes increases and the coefficients of variation for similarities decreases with increase in the size of islands. Accordingly, it can be predicted that the species compositions of small fragments shall be more diverse compared to large fragments. We tested this prediction using the tree species composition of the shola fragments at BR Hills, Western Ghats. Similarities among sholas were measured as coefficients of correlation between the frequencies of species in them and also as proportions of species shared among sholas. Small sholas were less similar and shared fewer species among themselves, compared to medium and large sholas. Also, small sholas showed higher coefficient of variation for the correlation coefficients and for proportion of species shared than medium or large sholas. In other words, species assemblage diversity among sholas was found to decrease with their size and large islands appeared to converge towards a common assemblage of species. Based on our results, we argue that small fragments add structural and functional heterogeneity to the ecosystem and hence are as important as are the large fragments in conserving biodiversity

War of hormones over resource allocation to seeds: strategies and counter-strategies of offspring and maternal parent

It is suggested that maternal parent and offspring have conflicting interests over the extent of resource allocation to developing seeds. While maternal parent would be selected to allocate her resources optimally among her offspring, the latter would be selected to demand more. In animals, offspring are known to demand additional resources either visibly (through intense vocal calls) or subtly through the production of hormones. In plants though parent offspring conflict over resource allocation has been invoked, the mechanism through which the parent and offspring interact in regulating resource allocation into developing seeds is not yet clear. In this paper, we propose that the strategies and counter-strategies of the offspring and mother during the development of seeds might be manifested through the production of appropriate growth hormones. Accordingly, we predict (i) hormones that mobilize resources into seeds (e.g. auxins and gibberellic acid) shall be synthesized exclusively by the offspring tissue and (ii) hormones that inhibit resource flow in to seeds (e.g. abscisic acid) be produced exclusively by the maternal tissue. We show that these predictions are supported by existing literature on the temporal dynamics and source of production of growth hormones during seed development. Finally, we suggest that such analysis viewing the production of different hormones during early seed development, as strategies and counter-strategies of mother and offspring tissue, helps ofer a meaningful interpretation of the otherwise complex dynamics of hormone fluxes