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Locating Local Elites in Negotiating Access to Forests: Havik Brahmins and the Colonial State 1860-1920
No full textThis paper is an exploration of how colonial forest policy in Uttara Kannara district of present day Karnataka was critically shaped by the interests of the Havik Brahmin community. Despite the protests of the forest department, the Havik community was provided a remarkably generous forest settlement to enable their production of areca nut, a high revenue earner for the revenue department. We explore the contours of the debates of the time and the strategies deployed by these areca nut cultivators. Ultimately, as is illustrated here, the forest department was able to enforce a restrictive conservation regime vis-‡-vis only certain sections of the population. By highlighting the capability of certain elites in negotiating with the state, we attempt to bolster the argument that colonial forest policy was neither excessively oppressive nor completely pliant in the face of local resistance
Forest Management for Conservation
No full textForest management for conservation is in practice. different from management of forest for optimizing economic returns. It refers to the preservation of forest for the explicit functions of conserving the constituent biodiversity elements and ecosystem processes. The concept of managing forest for conservation is very old and was practiced by many traditional cultures and societies across the world. The resurgence however of the concept in the nineteenth century followed the European colonization events
and thereafter more recently owing to the disproportionately large human pressure on the forest resources. Several models of forest management for
conservation have emerged, both globally and locally. From very formal models such as the protected area network to completely informal models of grassroots people's movements, managing forests for conservation has gained an unparalleled momentum in the last couple of decades. In this article we trace the development of the concept of managing forests for conservation with a critique on the various models of management for conservation
Ecological Consequences of Forest Use: From Genes to Ecosystem - A Case Study in the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, South India
Get PDFHuman dependence on forests can have manifold ecological consequences from the level of genes to the entire ecosystem. Despite the extensive use of forest products by communities, especially in tropical countries such as India, there have been hardly any attempts at monitoring these consequences. Understanding the consequences could facilitate the development of management protocols that, while maintaining the livelihoods of the forest-dependent communities, could help minimise the associated ecological cost. In a unique attempt over the last decade, we have examined the ecological consequences of forest use, from genes to ecosystem, in the Biligiri
Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, south India. In this article we review these findings and demonstrate that monitoring of biodiversity elements from genes to
ecosystem is important in understanding the underlying process of change and in formulating appropriate strategies for the conservation of biodiversity
Croak, croak, croak: Are there more frogs to be discovered in the Western Ghats?
Get PDFPerhaps nothing in the recent past has stirred so much euphoria among the Indian taxonomists and scientists working on biodiversity as have the few reports on the dramatic discovery of new speciesof frogs from the two regions, the Western Ghats in India and Sri Lanka (see ref. 1 for more details). While one group from the Sri Lankan region reported 200 new species2 (but only 100 species in their recent report)3, another study in the
Western Ghats region of India reported 115 species mostly from the genus Philautus – all new to science!4 Accordingly, it has been argued that the Western Ghats along with Sri Lanka could represent the global hotspot of amphibian radiation and that there could be many more species waiting to be discovered by herpetologists
working in these regions. A recent discovery of a Gondwanaland relic frog family Nasikabatrachidae5,6 has only reinforced this notion
Livelihood gains and ecological costs of non-timber forest product dependence: assessing the roles of dependence, ecological knowledge and market structure in three contrasting human and ecological settings in south India
No full textNon-timber forest products (NTFPs) constitute the single largest determinant of livelihoods for scores of forest fringe communities and poor people in the tropics. In India over 50 million people are believed to be directly dependent upon NTFPs for their subsistence. However, such human dependence on NTFPs for livelihood gains (win) has most frequently been at a certain ecological cost (lose). If livelihoods are to be maintained, the existing ‘win-lose’ settings have to be steered to a ‘win-win’ mode, otherwise, there could be severe erosion of the biological resources and loss of livelihoods (‘lose-lose’). Examining the dependence of forest fringe communities on NTFPs at three sites in south India with contrasting human and ecological settings, three key factors (extent of dependence on NTFPs, indigenous ecological knowledge and market organization) are likely to constrain reaching the win-win situation. How these
factors shape the ecological cost of harvesting NTFPs
at the three sites is examined. Within the parameter
space of these factors, it is possible to predict outcomes and associations that will conform to win-win or win lose situations. Empirical data derived from the three study sites demonstrate the causality of the observed associations.The key for long-term livelihood gains lies in reducing the ecological cost. Certain interventions and recommendations that could optimize the balance between livelihood gains and ecological cost are
proposed
Ethanol synthesis and aerobic respiration in the laboratory by leader segments of Douglas-fir seedlings from winter and spring
No full textStem segments from terminal leaders of Douglas-®r, Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco, seedlings were sampled in mid-December when cambial cells were dormant. The residual, debudded leaders were resampled again in early May when the cambium was metabolically active. May stems had higher constitutive ethanol concentrations than December stems. This was not the result of cambial hypoxia generated by rapid spring respiration rates, because when aerobic respiration was stimulated by incubating the stems in air at 30 °C ethanol production was induced in December, but not in May. Rapid respiration rates at 30 °C may have depleted O2 supplies and induced ethanol production in December stems because
dormant, thick-walled cambial cells may be less permeable to CO2 and O2, compared with metabolically active, thin-walled cambial cells in May. December stem segments incubated in a N2 atmosphere at 30 °C synthesized 1.8 times more ethanol than segments from May, most likely because spring growth had reduced the soluble sugars available for fermentation. CO2 ef¯ux from May stems (after 5.5 h of incubation at 30 °C) was equal to December stems per unit volume, but greater than December stems per unit surface area. N2-induced ethanol concentrations were positively related with CO2 ef¯ux per unit volume, indicating that rapidly respiring leaders can maintain rapid fermentation rates, provided soluble
sugars are readily available. N2-induced ethanol and
CO2 ef¯ux per unit volume declined with increasing leader diameter in both seasons, whereas there were no relationships between CO2 ef¯ux per unit surface area and diameter. Cambium physiology and phenology influence the induction of fermentation and concentrations of ethanol produced in terminal leaders of Douglas-®r, and probably other conifers as well. This needs to be considered when comparing fermentation among species, or comparing individuals from different seasons, or disparate ages within a species
Vombisidris humboldticola (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): a new arboreal ant species from an Indian ant plant
Get PDFThe 12 known species of Vombisidris range from India to Queensland, Australia, with most of them occurring in Malaysia and Indonesia 1. These ants are poorly represented in earlier collections, perhaps because they nest and forage arboreally and would thus tend to be overlooked by most ant-collectors 2. The only known species from India (Mudigere, Karnataka) is Vombisidris occidua Bolton, collected from low vegetation
Beyond Paradise—Meeting the Challenges in Tropical Biology in the 21st Century
Get PDFTropical ecosystems support a diversity of species and ecological processes that are unparalleled anywhere else on Earth.Despite their tremendous social and scientific importance, tropical ecosystems are rapidly disappearing. To help tropical ecosystems and the human communities dependent upon them better face the challenges of the 21st century, tropical biologists must provide critical knowledge in three areas: (1) the structure and functioning of tropical ecosystems; (2)the nature and magnitude of anthropogenic effects on tropical ecosystems; and (3) the socio-economic drivers of these anthropogenic effects. To develop effective strategies for conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of tropical ecosystems, scientific perspectives must be integrated with social necessities. Three principles for guiding tropical biological research are suggested: (1) broadening the set of concerns; (2) integration of biological knowledge with the social sciences and traditional knowledge; and (3) linking science to policy and action. Four broad recommendations are proposed for immediate action in tropical biology and conservation that are fundamental to all biological and social disciplines in the tropics: (1) assemble and disseminate information on life’s diversity in the tropics; (2) enhance tropical field stations and build a worldwide network to link them with tropical field biologists at their field sites; (3) bring the field of tropical biology to the tropics by strengthening institutions in tropical countries through novel partnerships between tropical and temperate zone institutions and scientists; and (4) create concrete
mechanisms to increase interactions between tropical biologists, social scientists, and policy makers
Discothyrea sringerensis(Hymenoptera: Formicidae)a new ant species from India
No full textDiscothyrea sringerensis sp. nov. is described and is the first record of this genus from South India. The other known species of Discothyrea are scattered within the tropics and the temperate zones of the world. Based on workers, D. sringerensis is most similar to the species described from Malaysia and Australia characterised by 10-segmented antennae
Frugivory of Phyllanthus emblica at Rajaji National Park, northwest India
Get PDFPhyllanthus emblica Linn. (Euphorbiaceae,syn Emblica officinalis Gærtn, vern. Amla, Nelli) is a 10–15 m tall tree, common in tropical deciduous forests of South Asia.
It flowers during March–April and has an extended fruiting period from October to March. The fruit is globose (15–33 mm), greenish-yellow and drupaceous, encasing a hard stony endocarp that on drying dehisces
to release six kidney-shaped seeds (4–6 mm; Figure 1). The P. emblica fruit, one of the richest natural sources of vitamin C1, is edible and is used in pickle, hair-oil and traditional medicine. It is among India’s most important non-timber forest produce (NTFP)