Life Sciences Commons^™

A Vegetation Based Approach To Biodiversity Gap Analysis In The Agastyamalai Region, Western Ghats, India, B. R. Ramesh, Shaily Menon, Kamaljit S. Bawa

Shaily Menon

Protected areas in India have historically been established on an ad hoc basis with little attention to the conservation value of an area. This study focuses on a set of protected areas in the Agastyamalai region of the Western Ghats (WG), India. We examine forest loss and land-use changes in the study area from the early 1900s to 1960 and from 1960 to 1990. We use GIS to perform a biodiversity gap analysis of the protected areas in the study site. We produce a detailed map of existing floristic types and use it to generate layers corresponding to floristic species …

Evolutionary Genetics And Genetic Variation Of Haplodiploids And X-Linked Genes, Philip W. Hedrick, Joel D. Parker

Joel D Parker

The evolutionary genetics of haplodiploids and X-linked genes share many features and are different from diploid (autosomal) genes in many respects. For example, the conditions for a stable polymorphism, the amount of genetic load, and the effective population size are all expected to be quite different between haplodiploids or X-linked genes and diploids. From experimental data, the genetic load for X-linked genes is much less than autosomal genes and appears less for haplodiploids than for diploids. The observed amount of molecular variation for haplodiploids is much less than that for diploids, even more so than predicted from the differences in …

Cloning And Conservation Of Biological Diversity: Paradox, Panacea, Or Pandora's Box?, Shaily Menon, Kamaljit Bawa, Leah Gorman

Shaily Menon

The success of a Scottish team in cloning a mammal from an adult tissue cell has generated considerable speculation in the popular press about potential applications to conservation biology. Possibilities that have been mentioned include cloning endangered species and creating gene banks for the germplasm of rare species. Sensational or inaccurate reports might encourage the mistaken notion that cloning technology is more advanced or reliable than it actually is. More important, such reports might foster the myth that there is no longer an urgency to conserve endangered species or their habitats as long as we have frozen germplasm and cloning …

Applications Of Geographic Information Systems, Remote-Sensing, And A Landscape Ecology Approach To Biodiversity Conservation In The Western Ghats, Shaily Menon, Kamaljit S. Bawa

Shaily Menon

The mountains along the west coast of peninsular India, the Western Ghats, constitute one of the unique biological regions of the world. Rapidly occurring land-cover and land-use change in the Western Ghats has serious implications for the biodiversity of the region. Both landscape changes as well as the distribution of biodiversity are phenomena with strong spatial correlates. Recent developments in remote-sensing technology and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allow the use of a landscape ecology and spatial analysis approach to the problem of deforestation and biodiversity conservation in the Western Ghats. Applications of this approach include analyses of land-cover and land-use …

Crows Do Not Use Automobiles As Nutcrackers: Putting An Oft-Repeated Anecdote To The Test, Daniel A. Cristol, Paul V. Switzer, K L. Johnson, L S. Walke

Paul V. Switzer

No abstract provided.

Discovery And Classification Of Ecological Diversity In The Bacterial World: The Role Of Dna Sequence Data, T. Palys, L. Nakamura, Frederick Cohan

Frederick M. Cohan

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Elevated Co2 And Defoliation On Grasses: A Comparative Ecosystem Approach, Brian J. Wilsey, James S. Coleman, Samuel J. Mcnaughton

Brian J. Wilsey

Three plant species from each of three grassland ecosystems were grown under elevated (700 mL/m3) and ambient (350 mL/m3) CO2 and were defoliated or left undefoliated to test whether species response to elevated CO2 and grazing is related to evolutionary grazing history or to mode of photosynthesis. The three ecosystems represented a tropical grassland dominated by C4 species (the Serengeti of Africa), a temperate grassland dominated by a mixture of C3 and C4 species (Flooding Pampa of South America), and a northern temperate grassland dominated by C3 species (Yellowstone National Park of North America). Plants were grown in growth chambers …

Recreational Impacts In Alaskan Ecosystems: Abstracts Of Presentations. University Of Alaska, Fairbanks, April 15-‐‐17, 1997, Christopher Monz

Christopher Monz

No abstract provided.

Population Thinking And Tree Thinking In Systematics, Robert O’Hara

Robert J. O’Hara

Two new modes of thinking have spread through systematics in the twentieth century. Both have deep historical roots, but they have been widely accepted only during this century. Population thinking overtook the field in the early part of the century, culminating in the full development of population systematics in the 1930s and 1940s, and the subsequent growth of the entire field of population biology. Population thinking rejects the idea that each species has a natural type (as the earlier essentialist view had assumed), and instead sees every species as a varying population of interbreeding individuals. Tree thinking has spread through …

Effectiveness Of The Protected Area Network In Biodiversity Conservation: A Case-Study Of Meghalaya State, M. Latif Khan, Shaily Menon, Kamaljit Bawa

Shaily Menon

The North-Eastern region of India is significant for biodiversity conservation because of its floristic richness and high levels of endemism. Deforestation levels are high in the region due to anthropogenic pressures. We accessed various literature sources to create a database for Meghalaya state containing information on plant species, habit, altitudinal distribution, endemism, and endangered status. Information on the existing protected area network (type, extent, and altitudinal representation) was added to the database. The database was used to assess the effectiveness of the existing protected area network in conserving the floristic biodiversity of the state. Of a total of 3331 plant …

Biodiversity Monitoring: The Missing Ingredient, Kamaljit Bawa, Shaily Menon

Shaily Menon

With mounting losses in biological diversity, inventorying and monitoring of biodiversity to assess the magnitude and rate of losses are emerging as dominant themes in conservation biology. Inventorying has been defined as the surveying, sorting, cataloging, quantifying and mapping of entities ranging from genes to landscapes1 and monitoring has been defined as the surveillance of the compliance with or deviation from a predetermined standard2. Renner and Ricklefs3 argued that rushed inventories will compromise scientific rigor and have little influence on decision making. More recently, Stork et al.4 argued that losses in biological diversity are so severe that inventorying and monitoring …

The Tadpole Of Bula Kelaartii Gunther 1859 From Sri Lanka, Edgar Lehr, Winfried Haas, Gunther Kohler

Edgar Lehr

No abstract provided.

Revision Of The Southeast Asian Leaf Turtle Genus Cyclemys Bell, 1834, With Description Of A New Species, Edgar Lehr, Uwe Fritz, Maren Gaulke

Edgar Lehr

Within the genus Cyclemys, four species are recognised and diagnosed, based upon more than 200 specimens. One is described as a new species. For the other three species, the nomenclatural history is discussed and several lecto- or neotypes are designated. In addition, a key for all species is presented. Cyclemys dentata (GRAY, 1831) sensu stricto is characterised by a reddish, intensely striped head and neck pattern and a predominant or entirely yellow plastron with a short interfemora1 and a long interanal seam. It is distributed from Thailand over the Malay peninsula to Sumatra and Java. Its range includes Borneo and …

Anpassung - Kernpunkt Oder Mißverständnis Der Evolutionstheorie? [Adaptation - Essential Concept Or Misconception Of Evolutionary Biology?], Dieter Stefan Peters, Winfried Peters

Winfried S. Peters

Factors Influencing Maternal Behaviour In A Burrower Bug, Sehirus Cinctus (Heteroptera: Cydnidae), Scott Kight

Scott Kight