scholarly journals Heronry distribution and site preference dynamics of tree-nesting colonial waterbirds in Tamil Nadu

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e12256
Author(s):  
Sadrack Jabaraj Dhanaraj Frank ◽  
Govindan Veeraswami Gopi ◽  
Bivash Pandav

Anthropogenic disturbance and climate change have significantly affected the distribution of wetlands globally and particularly in Asian countries. Various types of wetlands are harboured across all the biogeographic zones in India. These wetlands provide vital ecological services and are rich in biodiversity. However, anthropogenic pressures continue to be a threat to these wetlands by affecting the flora and fauna that depend on them. Tree-nesting colonial waterbirds are vulnerable to these pressures as their colonies are typically located in wetlands and associated areas. Disturbances to these areas have resulted in the loss or shifting of many heronries. The present study was conducted in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu during the period of 2017–2019 to document the existing and previously unknown heronries of the landscape. A total of 101 heronries were documented in 22 districts. The Little Cormorant was the most dominant species, occurring in 79% of the sites, with relative abundances of 24% and 26% during 2017–2018 and 2018–2019, respectively. A total of 23 tree species were utilized by the birds for nesting and Vachellia nilotica trees were used for nesting in about 25% of the heronries. 19% of the heronries were situated inside protected areas and 81% were located outside protected areas. Out of the 58 active nesting sites reported in 2005, 43 have been lost or are no longer active. Species distribution modelling with presence only data indicated that the sites with a high probability of occurrence were confined to the major waterbodies and rivers. Spatial correlation showed that the heronries were dispersed randomly across the landscape. The population dynamics within heronries and colonial nesting waterbirds’ response to various environmental factors must be monitored continuously to conserve these heronries.

2005 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 2100-2107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dunston P. Ambrose ◽  
D. Senthil Raj

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santhi Madhavan Samyuktha ◽  
Devarajan Malarvizhi ◽  
Adhimoolam Karthikeyan ◽  
Manickam Dhasarathan ◽  
Arumugam Thanga Hemavathy ◽  
...  

In the present study, fifty-two mungbean (Vigna radiata) genotypes were evaluated for seven morphological traits at three different environments in South Indian state Tamil Nadu, namely Virinjipuram (E1), Eachangkottai (E2), and Bhavanisagar (E3) during Kharif 2017, 2018, and 2019, respectively. The data collected were subjected to variability and correlation analyses, followed by stability analysis using additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) model, genotype and genotype × environment interaction effects (GGE) biplot. Variablility was observed among the genotypes for the following traits viz., plant height, days to fifty per cent flowering, number of pods per plant, pod length, number of seeds per pod, hundred seed weight and grain yield. Correlation analysis showed that the trait number of pods per plant was significantly associated with grain yield. The G × E was smaller than the genetic variation of grain yield as it portrayed the maximum contribution of genotypic effects (61.07%). GGE biplot showed E3 as a highly discriminating and representative environment. It also identified environment-specific genotypes viz., EC 396111 for E1, EC 396125 for E2 and EC 396101 for E3 environments. The genotypes with minimum genotype stability index (GSI) viz., V2802BG (7), HG 22 (13), and EC 396098 (13) were observed with wide adaptation and high yields across all the three environments. In summary, we identified stable genotypes adapted across environments for grain yield. These genotypes can be used as parent/pre-breeding materials in future mungbean breeding programs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 392-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Cody

With the arrival of the satellite television news channel Puthiya Thalaimurai (New Generation) in 2011 and the contemporaneous proliferation of smartphone-enabled social media, a democratic politics long dominated by the world of popular cinema has found it difficult to reproduce itself in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Focusing on digitally targeted caste violence and mass protests in the name of the Tamil nation, this article argues that the networked publicity of satellite television and new media have layered themselves over existing infrastructures of mass-mediated populism. Many of the political challenges to existing structures fueled by newer media forms appear as shorter-term events, consisting of tighter, sometimes explosive temporal loops intersecting with longer-term formations. New media have thus taken advantage of the affective and narrative potentials within cinematic populism, all the while reflexively marking themselves as “new” in relation to the forms they have become parasitic upon.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-154
Author(s):  
Roshan Babu Adhikari ◽  
Mina Shrestha ◽  
Ganesh Puri ◽  
Ganga Ram Regmi ◽  
Tirth Raj Ghimire

In this article, we have described the urgency of research on CDV in the domestic and feral dogs roaming in and around the protected areas of Nepal where the already threatened wildlife have been struggling for their existence from the immense anthropogenic pressures.


Oryx ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan C. J. Walker ◽  
Tsilavo H. Rafeliarisoa

AbstractThe Madagascar spider tortoise Pyxis arachnoides is endemic to the coastal dry forests of south-west Madagascar. In recent years its range has been reduced by c. 71%, with the species now confined to eight fragmented populations occupying a total of 2,464 km2. These remaining populations are facing a significant threat of extinction because of habitat destruction and other anthropogenic pressures. We developed methodology for a line transect distance sampling survey and applied it systematically across the species' range. The resulting distance model estimated a mean density of 226.9 tortoises km−2 (95% confidence interval, CI, 168.1–306.3) and a total population of 664,980 (95% CI 492,680–897,550). Fragmentation of the species’ range suggests the current population could be <30% of the historical population. Of the remaining population 73.5% falls within protected areas. However, nine of these 12 protected areas are designated as IUCN category III, V or VI parks, allowing some extractive activities to be undertaken. The most effective strategy for the conservation of P. arachnoides would be to reduce the threats to this species and its habitat, and to develop and expand the current community-based conservation and poverty alleviation programmes in the region.


Oryx ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 656-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Maurício Barbanti Duarte ◽  
Ângela Cristina Talarico ◽  
Alexandre Vogliotti ◽  
José Eduardo Garcia ◽  
Márcio Leite Oliveira ◽  
...  

AbstractThe small red brocket deer Mazama bororo is endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, a biome that has been greatly fragmented and altered by human activities. This elusive species is morphologically similar to the red brocket deer Mazama americana and the Brazilian dwarf brocket deer Mazama nana, and genetic typing is necessary for reliable identification. To determine the geographical range of M. bororo more accurately, we conducted non-invasive genetic sampling using scat detection dogs trained to locate deer faeces. We surveyed 46 protected areas located within the species’ potential distribution and collected a total of 555 scat samples in 30 of the protected areas. Using a polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism approach, we genotyped 497 scat samples (89%) and detected M. bororo in seven localities in three Brazilian states. The results support a range extension of the small red brocket deer to latitudes 23 and 28°S and longitudes 47 and 49°W. We show that the species’ distribution is associated with 37,517 km2 of the Ombrophilous Dense Forest in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, and this conclusion is supported by species distribution modelling. The small red brocket deer is the largest endemic species in Brazil and may have the smallest geographical distribution of any Neotropical deer species. This species occupies fragmented landscapes and is threatened by human encroachment, poaching, and predation by dogs, and based on our findings we recommend policy intervention for conservation planning of the Ombrophilous Dense Forest.


2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rupa Viswanath

AbstractIn 2002, the Indian state of Tamil Nadu passed a law that illustrates the centrality of what may be called “authentic religious selves” to postcolonial Indian statecraft. It banned religious conversions brought about by what it termed “material allurement,” and it especially targeted those who might attempt to convert impoverished Dalits, descendants of unfree laborers who now constitute India's lowest castes. Conversion, thus conceived, is itself founded upon the idea that the self must be autonomous; religion ought to be freely chosen and not brought about by “allurement.” Philosophers like Charles Taylor have provided accounts of how selfhood of this kind became lodged in the Western imaginaire, but how was it able to take hold in very different social configurations, and to what effect? By attending to this more specific history, this essay brings a correlated but widely overlooked question to center stage: under what distinctive circumstances are particular selves called upon to actively demonstrate their autonomy and authenticity by divulging putatively secreted contents? In colonial South India, I will argue, the problem of authentic conversion only captured the public imagination when Dalit conversions to Christianity in colonial Madras threatened the stability of the agrarian labor regimes to which they were subject. And today, as in nineteenth-century Madras, it is Dalit selfhood that remains an object of intense public scrutiny and the target of legal interventions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (23) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Teguh Nagir ◽  
Tri Atmowidi ◽  
Sih Kahono

The giant honey bee, Apis dorsata binghami is subspecies of Apis dorsata. This species of bee was only found in Sulawesi and its surrounding islands. This study is aimed to study the distribution and characteristics of nest and nesting trees, nesting behavior of Apis dorsata binghami  in the forests of Maros, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The distributions of nests were observed using a survey method to record the species and characteristics of nesting trees, as well as the conditions around the nest. Results showed that 102 nests (17 active nests, 85 abandoned combs) of A. d. binghami were found. We found 34 species belong to 27 genera in 17 families of plants as nesting sites of giant honey bee. The common tree species used as nesting sites were Ficus subulata (Moraceae), Adenanthera sp. (Fabaceae), Spondias pinnata (Anacardiaceae), Artocarpus sericoarpus (Moraceae), Alstonia scholaris (Apocynaceae), Knema cinerea (Myristicaceae), Litsea mappacea (Lauraceae), and Palaquium obovatum (Sapotaceae). The nests were found in 0-11 meters (11 nests), 11-20 meters (40 nests), and more than 21 meters (51 nests) from ground level. The nests of giant honey bee were found in sturdy and woody branches, hard to peel, the slope of the branches was <60°, and nests were protected by liane plants, foliage, or both them.


Oryx ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 336-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanjay Gubbi ◽  
Kaushik Mukherjee ◽  
M.H. Swaminath ◽  
H.C. Poornesha

AbstractConservation of large carnivores is challenging as they face various threats, including habitat loss and fragmentation. One of the current challenges to tiger Panthera tigris conservation in India is the conversion of habitat to uses that are incompatible with conservation of the species. Bringing more tiger habitat within a protected area system and in the process creating a network of connected protected areas will deliver dual benefits of wildlife conservation and protection of watersheds. Focusing on the southern Indian state of Karnataka, which holds one of the largest contiguous tiger populations, we attempted to address this challenge using a conservation planning technique that considers ecological, social and political factors. This approach yielded several conservation successes, including an expansion of the protected area network by 2,385 km2, connection of 23 protected areas, and the creation of three complexes of protected areas, increasing the protected area network in Karnataka from 3.8 to 5.2% of the state's land area. This represents the largest expansion of protected areas in India since the 1970s. Such productive partnerships between government officials and conservationists highlight the importance of complementary roles in conservation planning and implementation.


Author(s):  
A. Z. M. Manzoor Rashid ◽  
Sharif Ahmed Mukul

Establishment of protected areas (PAs) is one of the key global conservation strategies that currently cover approximately 15% of the earth&rsquo;s land surface. Globally, PA networks are designed to curb the growing anthropogenic pressures in areas with high biological diversity. Despite the importance of PAs in conserving the vanishing biodiversity and unique habitats, many of them are in critical condition due to poor governance thus functioning below the expected level. Moreover, in many developing countries, the PA coverage is below the global standard. Recognizing their contemporary role in conservation, governments have recently agreed to expand the global PA coverage to 17% by the year 2020 (Aichi target 11). This book with eight chapters from different regions of the world provides an overview of the PAs governance, institutional mechanisms, conservation benefits, limitations and challenges associated with their respective policy discourse, integrated management, and functional attributes. Protected areas expect to to play an important role in the long rn in conservation and protection of biodiversity and ecosystems particularly in countries where population pressure and habitat loss are high. Regular intervention, political commitment, and effective governance are essential for the sustainability of PAs across the world. Here, we also attempted to shed some light on future development clues for the sustainable management and monitoring of PAs worldwide.


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