Environmental Science

Soil samples, collected after the fire operations at agricultural sites under shifting cultivation in northeast India, were subjected to physico-chemical and microbial analysis. The fire affected various physico-chemical properties of the soil. Significant differences in pH and electrical conductivity were recorded in soil of fired and fallow plots. Significantly higher amounts of total organic carbon and nitrogen were estimated in fallow plots as compared to the fired. Difference in total phosphates was not significant. The fire operations resulted in stimulation of microbial communities. The bacteria were the most affected group followed by actinomycetes and fungi, respectively. The bacterial and actinomycetes counts were significantly higher in fired plots as compared to the fallow plots. The representative bacterial species recovered from the ‘fired plots’ belonged to the genus Bacillus and Pseudomonas. 16S rRNA analysis revealed their maximum similarity with B. clausii, B. licheniformis, B. megaterium, B. subtilis, B. thuringiensis, P. aeruginosa and P. stutzeri. Most of these species were found to be positive for phosphate solubilization and antagonism in plate based assays. In view of the importance of Bacillus and Pseudomonas species in plant growth promotion and biocontrol, recovery of these species after fire operations is indicative of the microbiological merit of shifting cultivation.

"Along with the Greater Himalaya, in the eastern Himalayan region there has been increased efforts to bring more areas under the Protected Area Network. Protected areas including conservation areas in Arunachal Pradesh are mostly located in the low and mid-elevation forest areas. To address the need of having a protected area in the higher altitudes of the State, of late a biosphere reserve has been proposed in the western Arunachal Pradesh. This paper aims to document the existing human-wildlife conflict and prioritize the conflicts, in an effort to promote conservation in the Tsangyang Gyatso Biosphere Reserve. The paper also attempts to understand the complexity of land transfer and regulations of community, particularly pasture lands in the Biosphere reserve. This study was carried out between September 2007 and July 2008 in the proposed biosphere reserve. A total of 13 species were recorded to be in direct conflict with humans, and based on the conflict intensity mapping nine were screened as high to moderate conflicting species. Conflict intensity as per the local perceptions was recorded high for 38% species and 31% species showed moderate intensity of conflict with humans. As per the local perception, causes for human-wildlife conflict in order of importance were: increased population, non-timber forest products (NTFP) collection, road construction and increased predators. Local people perceived four major factors, namely compensatory schemes, reducing prey hunt, reducing pressure on forest and increasing vigil to safeguard crops and livestock to mitigate the existing conflicts."

The Eastern Himalayan region has been identified as one of the 18 mega-biodiversity 'hotspot' areas of the world . Arunachal Pradesh constitutes 60.93% of the Eastern Himalayan region. Some documentation exists on the flora, but documentations on faunal aspects are still scanty, with scattered reports, mostly on birds and some large mammals. Although contributions to the fish fauna of the State have also been made, accounts of species compositions of many water bodies still remain undocumented awaiting explorations and studies of such aquatic systems. Descriptions of most faunal works have been added with special emphasis on fishes. The preliminary findings suggest 7 first reports for the district and 3 first reports for the State. Senkhi stream contributed 31.37% of the icthyofaunal families of the district and 29.52% of genera while the species representation was found to be 27.32%. The correlation matrix reveals an interesting fact that Dikrong and Pachin have more common species than Senkhi, which is a hill stream. The striking feature is the even distribution of species under family Badidae, Psilorhynchidae and Olyridae though their contribution of each lotic (Senkhi, Pachin and Dikrong) water body is merely a single species and hence these species will be most vulnerable once a mega dam comes in-between, restricting the migration of already threatened population.