572 research outputs found
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Epidemiology of Viral Pathogens of Free-Ranging Dogs and Indian Foxes in a Human-Dominated Landscape in Central India
No full textThere is an increasing concern that free-ranging domestic dog (Canis familiaris) populations may serve as reservoirs of pathogens which may be transmitted to wildlife. We documented the prevalence of antibodies to three viral pathogens, canine parvovirus (CPV), canine distemper virus (CDV) and canine adenovirus (CAV), in free-ranging dog and sympatric Indian fox (Vulpes bengalensis) populations
in and around the Great Indian Bustard Wildlife Sanctuary, in Maharashtra, central India. A total of 219 dogs and 33 foxes were sampled during the study period. Ninety-three percentage of dogs and 87% of foxes were exposed to one or more of the three pathogens. Exposure rates in dogs were high: >88% for CPV, >72% for CDV and 71% for CAV. A large proportion of adult dogs had antibodies against these pathogens due to seroconversion following earlier natural infection. The high prevalence of exposure to these pathogens across the sampling sessions, significantly higher exposure rates of adults compared with juveniles, and seroconversion in some unvaccinated dogs documented during the study period suggests that these pathogens are enzootic. The prevalence of exposure to CPV, CDV and CAV in foxes was 48%, 18% and 52%, respectively. Further, a high rate of mortality was documented in foxes with serologic evidence of ongoing CDV infection. Dogs could be playing a role in the maintenance and transmission of these pathogens in the fox population, but our findings show that most dogs in the population are immune to these pathogens by virtue of earlier natural infection, and therefore, these individuals make little current or future contribution to viral maintenance. Vaccination of this cohort will neither greatly improve their collective immune status nor contribute to herd immunity. Our findings have potentially important implications for dog disease control programmes
that propose using canine vaccination as a tool for conservation management of wild carnivore populations
Vegetation in Bangalore’s Slums: Boosting Livelihoods, Well-Being and Social Capital
Get PDFUrban greenery provides ecosystem services that play an important role in the challenging context of urban deprivation and poverty. This study assesses the social importance of vegetation through empirical assessment of 44 urban slums in the rapidly developing southern city of Bangalore, India. Vegetation played a major role in supporting nutrition by its role in food consumption, and in promoting health through the planting of species with medicinal use. Trees in slums also formed nodes for social activities including conversing and playing, domestic activities such as cooking and washing dishes, and livelihood activities such as the manufacture of broomsticks and tyre repair. Innovative methods of gardening were widely adopted, with kitchen gardens found planted in plastic bags, paint cans, old kitchen utensils and buckets, indicating the importance given to planting in environments with limited finances. Short and narrow trunked trees with medium-sized canopies and high economic value, such as Pongamia, were preferred. A greater focus on greening in slums is needed, and can provide an invaluable, inexpensive and sustainable approach to improve lives in these congested, deprived environments
Are mini DNA-barcodes sufficiently informative to resolve species identities? An in silico analysis using Phyllanthus
Get PDFDNA barcodes using certain regions of the genomic DNA
have become a popular diagnostic tool to assign species specific signatures. In plants, a number of chloroplast DNA regions such as psbA-trnH of size 400 bp have been shown to successfully discriminate members of various taxa. However, the technique is not always successful, as in the case of museum specimens or samples used in raw drug trade, where the DNA is often degraded. In this context, recent studies have suggested the use of shorter stretches of the region, called mini-barcodes, to resolve species identity. The minibarcodes are relativelymore stable and easily recovered from the degraded DNA. In this study, an attempt has been made to compare the effectiveness of mini-barcodes over full-length DNA barcodes in differentiating 16 species of Phyllanthus
(Phyllanthaceae) used in the raw drug trade. Using an in silico approach, mini-barcodes of varying lengths (50–200 bp) of the region psbA-trnH were generated and evaluated for their ability to resolve the 16 Phyllanthus species in comparison to the full-length DNA barcode of size 398 bp. Results have been discussed in the light of the overall utility of mini-barcodes in resolving the species identities
Dogs as predators and trophic regulators
No full textThere is increasing interest in the ecology of dogs, the world’s most abundant carnivore (estimated 700 million–1 billion worldwide) ( Hughes and Macdonald, 2013 ; Silva-Rodríguez and Sieving, 2012 ; Vanak and Gompper, 2009a ; Gompper, Chapter 1 ). Like other large-bodied predators, dogs have important functional roles in structuring and maintaining ecological communities ( Letnic et al., 2012 ; Ritchie and Johnson, 2009 ; Vanak and Gompper, 2009a ),
but they are also a regular source of confl ict with
humans due to their negative effects on people and their enterprises, for instance through their roles in disease transmission and the killing of livestock and wildlife ( Baker et al., 2008 ; Hughes and Macdonald, 2013 ; King et al., 2012 ; Ritchie et al., 2012 ; Van Bommel and Johnson, 2012 ; Young et al., 2011 ). Indeed, some of the negative effects of maintaining dogs in the landscape have led to considerable recent debate about their management, most notably for dingoes, whose structuring role in Australian ecosystems may be comparable to that of wolves ( Canis lupus ) in North American settings ( Allen et al., 2011a ; Houston et al., 2010 b, 2013 ; Fleming et al., 2012 ; Letnic et al., 2011a ; Mech, 2012 ; Johnson and Ritchie, 2013)
Disentangling, again, the drivers of population decline for two harvested species: a response to Prasad et al. (2014)
No full textTicktin et al. (2012) (Journal of Applied Ecology, 49, 774) assessed the dynamics of two Indian tree species (Phyllanthus emblica and P. indofischeri) and showed that although fruit harvest can decrease long‐term population growth rates (λ), the principal drivers of decline are mistletoe infestation and invasion of an exotic shrub. Prasad et al. (2014) (Journal of Applied Ecology, 51, doi: 10.1111/1365‐2664.12170) questioned Ticktin et al.'s approach, showed that P. emblica λ values increased when fruit harvest was banned and concluded that fruit harvest has a significant negative effect. We demonstrate that Prasad et al.'s analysis is fundamentally flawed and that our conclusions hold firm. We clarify that our models are built from empirical data collected from field plots. We use life table response experiments to demonstrate that the increase in P. emblica λs after the fruit harvest ban is due to higher adult survival and unrelated to fruit harvest. P. indofischeri populations show no such increase. We demonstrate that our results and the literature strongly back up our management recommendations to control mistletoe and the invasive shrub, and protect amla saplings. Synthesis and applications. Prasad et al. (2014) confound the effects of time and treatment and therefore reach erroneous conclusions. This highlights the importance of careful analyses to disentangle the effects of multiple drivers of decline for species at risk
Examining the emerging role of groundwater in water inequity in India
No full textThis article addresses a gap in the water equity literature arising from the simultaneous use of surface water and groundwater in India. Using two diverse case studies – one agricultural (Kukdi) and one urban (Chennai) – we demonstrate how gaps in planning, design and policy exacerbate inequity. Groundwater abstraction from user wells allows wealthier users to both free-ride and capture a greater share of the resource. By converting a public resource to a private one, it worsens inequity and jeopardizes the sustainability of water projects. The article suggests that better monitoring, inter-agency coordination and rethinking water entitlements and norms are needed for going forward
Water Management in the Noyyal River Basin A Situation Analysis
Get PDFThe Noyyal sub-basin, which is 3510 sq km in area, is
part of the Cauvery basin that lies in the state of Tamil
Nadu. It is a rapidly urbanizing sub-basin that includes
the Class I cities of Coimbatore and Tiruppur as well as 84 smaller urban settlements. Water issues in this basin have been the focus of much public debate and action over the last two decades. Most of the debate, triggered by farmer agitations and court cases, has focused on the question of water pollution; water scarcity and sustainability issues have received relatively little attention. Recent bans on industrial effluent discharge into the Noyyal, as well as changes in water supply infrastructure, watershed development activities, urban demand and agricultural water use have dramatically altered the future of the Noyyal River and merit follow-up studies. The purpose of this situation analysis is to summarize the current state of knowledge regarding water resources management in the Noyyal sub-basin and identify critical knowledge gaps to inform water-related research in the basin. It is hoped that such an analysis will help those studying or working on water issues in the Noyyal, and also provide useful insights for other urbanizing basins
Fire and grazing modify grass community response to environmental determinants in savannas: Implications for sustainable use
No full textTropical dry forests and savannas are important repositories of plant diversity and ecosystem services in
the tropics. These ecosystems are also used extensively for grazing by livestock, and represent a critical element of the rural economy of many tropical countries. Fire is considered as a part of co-evolution in these ecosystems across the globe. However, in recent decades, there has been a shift in historical fire regime. Fire has become more frequent in these landscapes, and could be further enhanced under climate change. This poses threats to existing biodiversity, ecosystem processes, and rural economy. We asked how variability in fire frequency has influenced diversity and heterogeneity in grass species composition, and richness and abundance of grass species preferred by large herbivores (referred to as grazing acceptability) in a South Indian tropical savanna forest. We assumed that an increase in fire frequency acts as the active constraint and limits an ecosystem from attaining the maximum heterogeneity, and the maximum grazing acceptability (maximum richness and abundance of grass species preferred by herbivores) in its native settings. We used MODIS active fire and burned area products to estimate fire frequency across the
landscape. A nested sampling approach was used to collect information on vegetation and soil at different fire frequencies. Quantile regression analyses indicated that diversity and heterogeneity in grass species composition as well as grazing acceptability decreased with increasing fire frequencies. We found that livestock grazing intervened with the observed vegetation patterns; grass species diversity and heterogeneity, and grazing acceptability increased with grazing intensity at lower quantiles. Other measured covariates, rainfall, and soil-fertility, alone were not able to explain the observed vegetation patterns in the landscape. The results show a need to control annual fires but allow and manage intermittent fires in this landscape. A complete suppression of fire is not desirable as fire releases nutrients from burning of deeper-rooted vegetation and thus acts as a periodic nutrient pump. It also played an important role in maintaining the grass cover by reducing shrub cover. Hence, it is important to consider the complex interactions between fires–grazers–soil vegetation to develop effective management practices. We conclude that fire frequency should be managed at low to intermediate levels (one fire in every 5–9 years, resembling the native settings), and grazing regulated, in order to sustain wild and domestic herbivores, biodiversity, and other key ecosystem processes and services over the long-term
Invasive alien species as drivers in socio-ecological systems: local adaptations towards use of Lantana in Southern India
No full textLantana camara. L (hereafter Lantana) was first introduced by the British into India in 1807 as an ornamental plant. Since then the species has spread across the length and breadth of the country. Attempts to control Lantana in India have not been successful. In this study, we analysed the use of Lantana by local communities in southern India and identified the possible causes and consequences of its use through the use of a household survey of the socio-economic profile of the user and nonuser households and an analysis of the ecological history of the communities. Communities have been using Lantana for over 25–30 years and apparently such use was not prompted by external agencies. The characteristics of user and nonuser households were similar, except that Lantana users were more literate and had a greater number of occupations per household than nonusers. Per capita income was similar between user and nonuser groups. For nonuser groups, their main income sources were from trading (44 %), wage labour (32 %) and forest resources (23 %). In contrast, the Lantana user groups substituted their loss of income from forest resources (7 %) by income from Lantana (46 %). The ecological history revealed that Lantana was adopted as a resource at a time when it was increasing in the landscape and traditional bamboo resources were in decline because of overuse by commercial enterprises and mast flowering. This change in ecological resource availability prompted a major shift in livelihoods for some in the area
Cleanliness Beyond Cities, Celebrities And Tokenisms
Get PDFUbiquity of garbage and the proclivity to freely litter is one of few cultural phenomena that unite the length and breadth of India. Therefore the enthusiasm that the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ or Clean India Campaign has generated is noteworthy. It has cut across the political axes, media and civil society and aims to clean up the garbage and litter from the streets and other public spaces. Notwithstanding the cynics and critics’ questioning the feasibility of the campaign beyond the token gestures of celebrities and leaders wielding the broom, the buzz in the print and social media continues. However, the inordinate focus of the campaign on cities and towns seems to suggest that garbage doesn’t occur elsewhere. What about our forests? Given the perception that they are ‘pristine’ and ‘wilderness’ areas, are they automatically free from garbage and litter