572 research outputs found
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Mammals of Papfikonda Hfills, northern Eastern Ghats, Indfia
Full text linkPapikonda National Park covering an area of 1,012km2 holds high conservation value as the only national park in the geographically vast northern Eastern Ghats. The tropical moist deciduous forests support species assemblages characteristic of the Eastern Ghats. We conducted the first comprehensive assessment of the mammal diversity in Papikonda National Park using camera traps, sign surveys and community interviews between October 2014 and March 2015, combined with a comprehensive literature review of research articles, field guides and IUCN species range reports. A total of 55 species from 46 genera belonging to 24 families were enumerated. There was a high diversity of carnivores (15 species), followed by chiropterans (13 species) and rodents (11 species)
The global impacts of domestic dogs on threatened vertebrates
No full textDomestic dogs (Canis familiaris) have a near-global distribution. They range from being feral and free-ranging to owned and completely dependent on humans. All types of domestic dogs can interact with wildlife and have severe negative impacts on biodiversity. Here, we use IUCN Red List data to quantify the number of threatened species negatively impacted by dogs, assess the prevalence of different types of dog impact, and identify regional hotspots containing high numbers of impacted species. Using this information, we highlight key research and management gaps and priorities. Domestic dogs have contributed to 11 vertebrate extinctions and are a known or potential threat to at least 188 threatened species worldwide. These estimates are greater than those reported by previous assessments, but are probably conservative due to biases in the species, regions and types of impacts studied and/or reported. Predation is the most frequently reported impact, followed by disturbance, disease transmission, competition, and hybridisation. Regions with the most species impacted are: South-east Asia, Central America and the Caribbean, South America, Asia (excluding SE), Micro/Mela/Polynesia, and Australia. We propose that the impacts of domestic dogs can be better understood and managed through: taxonomic and
spatial prioritisation of research and management; examining potential synergisms between dogs and other threatening processes; strategic engagement with animal welfare and human health campaigns; community engagement and education; and mitigating anthropogenic effects such as resource subsidies. Such actions are essential for threatened species persistence, especially given that human and dog populations are expected to increase both numerically and geographically in the coming decades
Shaping landscapes through development interventions
No full textGRASSLANDS used by pastoral communities for open range grazing contain extremely dynamic ecology and land use patterns. These landscapes are complex, messy and difficult
to understand, but interventions that take place for the betterment of these landscapes often focus on a very simplified view of the larger complex system. The normative values behind the interventions, and their goals, depend on the actors that are making those decisions, the biophysical nature of the landscape, the management history of that landscape, and most importantly, the larger political economy
Data Discrepancies: interpreting rural water data in the Decadal census
No full textThe census provides data on access to drinking water sources in urban and rural areas. The data are used by government departments to assess the status of water supply in India, and by researchers to understand access to water sources across regions and among different sections of society. Census 2011 reports that 30.8% of households
in rural India access taps for drinking water, and the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) uses this
as an indicator of piped water coverage (Government of India 2013). While “access to taps” is the terminology used by the census, “piped water coverage” is the terminology used by the MDWS. The ministry aims to cover 90% of rural
households with piped water supply by 2022, at 70 lpcd (litres per capita per day), which includes both potable and non-potable water. In this article, we point out aspects that should be considered while interpreting decadal census data on rural water, drawing upon different
components of the census data itself, and a year-long fi eld study conducted in 2013–14 covering 518 households
in 16 villages around Bengaluru in Karnataka. First, we show that there are discrepancies in data on water sources
between house listing data and village amenities data, both from the 2011 Census for the 16 villages that we surveyed.
Second, we discuss whether census data on access to taps can be used as an indicator of piped water coverage. Third, we look at the reliability of data collected from households related to treated water
Forest Governance From Co-option and Conflict to Multilayered Governance?
No full textThe question of what should be the relative role of, and relationship between, the state and the community in forest governance has been long debated in India. The question
first emerged with the colonial takeover of the country’s forests. It was then reignited in independent India by the Chipko movement (Guha 1989) and protests elsewhere (Krishna 1996), and popped up yet again in the mid-1990s when the
Indian Forest Act (IFA) 1927 was proposed to be revamped (Guha 1994;Hiremath et al 1995). Each time, the state has attempted some redressal. Forest grievance committees set up by the British led to some localised concessions, as in Kumaon and Kanara. TheForest (Conservation) Act (FCA) assed
in 1980 and tree-felling bans were supposedly responses to Chipko. A new National Forest Policy was adopted in 1988, which led to the joint forest management programme. That apart, the Supreme Court has also intervened in a major way. But, all these measures turned out to be either band-aids, incomplete or even misdirected (Lele and Menon 2014)
Trading on conservation: A marine protected area as an ecological fix
No full textMany developing countries have encouraged the expansion of mechanised fishing in order to engage in the lucrative export of seafood. This has caused a rise in the incidental mortality of marine wildlife. In recent years, widespread concern over wildlife deaths has been used by developed consumer countries to insist on mitigation measures or to impose economic sanctions. Hence, many supplier countries have been forced to implement wildlife conservation measures to safeguard their export-driven marine fisheries. In this paper, we present an account of how the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary, an iconic Marine Protected Area in eastern India, was created in such a context. We suggest that it serves as an ecological fix, i.e. a token spatial solution that removes environmental barriers to the accumulation of capital, and we describe how a combination of neoliberal actors has maintained it for more than two decades so as to greenwash subsequent industrialisation along the coast. Finally, we describe its social and ecological repercussions to highlight the contrast between ground realities and the win–win discourse that accompanies such efforts to integrate conservation with capitalistic production
Translating Endophyte Research to Applications: Prospects and Challenges
No full textThe horizontally transmitted fungal endophytes cause symptomless infections of plants. Endophytes synthesize a diverse array of metabolites and enzymes, an attribute that reflects their milieu: the host plant and co-occurring microbes. We illustrate the versatility and utility of endophytes by highlighting examples of how they enhance plant tolerance to abiotic/biotic stressors, produce biomolecules with unique molecular architectures, and elaborate novel enzymes of industrial importance. After considering the challenges that have retarded the translation of these findings to payoffs, we suggest future directions, including the need to understand the ecology and in planta community structure of endophytes, to help fully realize their technological potential
Going with the flow? Urban wastewater and livelihoods change in peri-urban Bengaluru
Full text linkAs cities grow, peri-urban areas and surrounding villages undergo rapid changes in land use, environment and livelihoods. The conventional view on change in peri-urban areas is one of shifts in livelihoods away from agriculture towards urban jobs, as well as keeping lands fallow, to be taken up by real estate or industries. Further, people in peri-urban areas experience huge changes in the nature of and control over local natural resources. This is particularly so in the case of water resources. The demand for water from expanding cities
is often met by sourcing it from peri-urban areas. In addition, domestic sewage and industrial discharges from cities put pressure on lakes and rivers, and the impact of pollution is felt in surrounding landscapes. Planners and policymakers have been grappling with the implications of such transformations for both agricultural production and environmental sustainability. Here we examine the case of peri-urban Bengaluru to ask the questions: is abandoning agriculture inevitable in the wake of urbanisation or can there be other trajectories? How have peri-urban farmers been responding to water pollution and changes in irrigation water quality
Decentralized Wastewater Systems in Bengaluru, India: Success or Failure?
No full textDecentralized wastewater treatment and reuse (DWTRU) using small-scale on-site sewage treatment plants (STPs) is an attractive solution addressing the problems of water pollution and scarcity, especially in rapidly urbanizing cities in developing countries, where centralized infrastructure for wastewater treatment is inadequate. But decentralized systems face several challenges (economic feasibility, public acceptance) that need to be better understood. The city of Bengaluru in India provides an excellent opportunity to evaluate such systems. In 2004, in an effort to curb the alarming levels of pollution in its water bodies due to untreated sewage disposal, the environmental regulatory agency mandated apartment complexes above a certain size to install STPs and reuse 100% of their wastewater, resulting in the installation of more than 2200 on-site STPs till date. This study attempts to analyze the factors influencing the extent of treatment and reuse in such systems, through structured surveys of residential associations, STP experts and government officials. The results are analyzed using a framework that integrates the technology adoption literature with the monitoring and enforcement literature. The study indicates that, while no apartment complex is able to reuse 100% of its treated water, there exists significant variation across apartment complexes in the level of treatment and reuse (from partial to poor) due to a complex mix of economies of scale, the price of fresh water, the level of enforcement and awareness, and technological choices made under information asymmetry. Only apartments dependent on expensive tanker water supply had clear economic incentives to comply with the order. Yet many large complexes that depended on low-priced utility or borewell supply were partially compliant, owing partly to lower (although positive) costs, higher level of formal enforcement and perhaps greater environmental awareness. On the other hand, the high treatment cost pushed smaller complexes to curtail the operation of their STPs (and the lower levels of enforcement further worsened this), resulting in inadequate treated water quality and consequently low reuse levels. The study recommends relaxing the infeasible 100% reuse criterion, and raising the threshold size above which DWTRU should be mandated so as to reduce the cost burden and increase enforceability. Subsidies towards capital costs and enabling resale of treated water will enable wider adoption. DWTRU is an apparently attractive solution that however, requires judicious policy-making and implementation to succeed
New record of Agamid Lizard Trapelus agilis (Olivier, 1804) (Squamata: Agamidae) from Gujarat, India
No full textWe report sightings of the agamid lizard Trapelus agilis (Olivier, 1804) commonly known as the Brilliant Ground
Agama, from the state of Gujarat in India. Trapelus agilis is known to be present in the state of Rajasthan from India,
but its presence in Gujarat had not been confirmed due to absence of substantial records beside one old record
from 1880s. We report sightings of T. agilis on two separate occasions in the years 2014 and 2015 from the region
of Banni grasslands in Kachchh district of Gujarat. The observations and the nature of the habitat are described in
detail. These recent sightings prompt for a systematic survey of T. agilis in the Kachchh landscape in India