Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

Inhana rational farming (IRF) technology was studied as an organic package of practice in farmers' field using green gram (Samrat: PDM-84-139) as test crop. The study was conducted at Binuria village in Birbhum district of West Bengal during the crop season of 2013-14. The study area lies in 23.66°N and 87.63°E at about 179 ft above MSL, with level to nearly level landscape. The experiment was laid down as per randomized block design (RBD) with seven treatments replicated three times. The treatments included local farming practice with chemical inputs, organic package of practice (Inhana Rational Farming [IRF] Technology developed by Dr. P. Das Biswas, Founder, Inhana Biosciences, Kolkata) as well as integrated farming practice (combination of chemical and organic inputs for both soil and plant management). Compost application was an integral part of soil management under the studied organic package of practice (POP) and the same was produced on farm using Novcom composting method (developed by Dr. P. Das Biswas, Founder, Inhana Biosciences, Kolkata). Evaluation of the biodegradation process along with quality analysis of its end product (Novcom compost) indicated that Novcom composting method could serve as an effective alternative for conversion of agro waste into good quality end product. Highest greengram production was obtained under chemical and organic soil input integration @ 75:25 along with organic plant management (Yield: 715 kg/ha) followed by 100% organic (Yield: 699 kg/ha) and chemical farming practice (Yield: 665 kg/ha). At the same time, gross income under organic POP was higher than that that obtained under conventional farming practice. Comparison of value cost ratio (VCR) under integrated management vis-à-vis chemical practice confirmed better scope for economic sustainability when chemical pesticides/growth parameters were replaced by organic plant management inputs; as compared to application of chemical alone. Post harvest soil analysis showed that the plots receiving Novcom compost showed an overall positive trend in soil quality specially in terms of soil biological parameters. The findings indicated that IRF technology as an organic POP can serve as an economically viable option for large scale adoption in farmers' field.

Satellite remote sensing and GIS have emerged as the most powerful tools for inventorying, monitoring and management of natural resources and environment. In the special context of wetland ecosystems, remotely sensed data from orbital platforms have been extensively used in India for the inventory, monitoring and preparation of action plans for conservation and management. First scientific inventory of wetlands in India was carried out in 1998 by Space Applications Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad using indigenous IRS (Indian Remote Sensing Satellite) data of 1992e93 timeframe, which stimulated extensive use of geospatial techniques for wetland conservation and management. Subsequently, with advances in GIS, studies were carried out for development of Wetland Information System for a state (West Bengal) and for Loktak lake wetland (a Ramsar site) as a prelude to National Wetland Information System. Research has also been carried out for preparation of action plans especially for Ramsar sites in the country. In a novel research, use of the geospatial technology has also been demonstrated for biodiversity conservation using landscape ecological metrics. A country-wide estimate of emission of methane, a Green House Gas, from wetlands has also been made using MODIS data. Present article critically reviews the work carried out in India for wetland conservation and management using geospatial techniques.

1. Bee populations and other pollinators face multiple, synergistically acting threats, which have led to popula- tion declines, loss of local species richness and pollination services, and extinctions. However, our understanding of the degree, distribution and causes of declines is patchy, in part due to inadequate monitoring systems, with the challenge of taxonomic identification posing a major logistical barrier. Pollinator conservation would benefit from a high-throughput identification pipeline.

2. We show that the metagenomic mining and resequencing of mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomics) can be applied successfully to bulk samples of wild bees. We assembled the mitogenomes of 48 UK bee species and then shotgun-sequenced total DNA extracted from 204 whole bees that had been collected in 10 pan-trap samples from farms in England and been identified morphologically to 33 species. Each sample data set was mapped against the 48 reference mitogenomes.

3. The morphological and mitogenomic data sets were highly congruent. Out of 63 total species detections in the morphological data set, the mitogenomic data set made 59 correct detections (937% detection rate) and detected six more species (putative false positives). Direct inspection and an analysis with species-specific primers sug- gested that these putative false positives were most likely due to incorrect morphological IDs. Read frequency significantly predicted species biomass frequency (R2 = 249%). Species lists, biomass frequencies, extrapolated species richness and community structure were recovered with less error than in a metabarcoding pipeline.

4. Mitogenomics automates the onerous task of taxonomic identification, even for cryptic species, allowing the tracking of changes in species richness and distributions. A mitogenomic pipeline should thus be able to contain costs, maintain consistently high-quality data over long time series, incorporate retrospective taxonomic revi- sions and provide an auditable evidence trail. Mitogenomic data sets also provide estimates of species counts within samples and thus have potential for tracking population trajectories.

Purpose: Farmers hold a key to reaching biodiversity targets, but will only carry out this service to society if they are sufficiently motivated to do so. The aim of this study is to evaluate the potential of on-farm advice as a tool for motivating farmers to take action to preserve or even to enhance biodiversity on their farms. Design/methodology/approach: To address this aim, we surveyed 133 farmers (response rate 43.9%), of whom 23 had received onfarm advice about farmland biodiversity conservation over a period of six years. Findings: The results showed that key beliefs and motivations were positively influenced by farmer advisory services. Farmers who had received advice agreed significantly more strongly in the compatibility of biodiversity conservation and production; that biodiversity is important; and that nature conservation on farms is appreciated by society. Practical Implications: These results allow the conclusion that onfarm biodiversity advice might be a useful way of positively influencing the beliefs and enhancing motivations of farmers to contribute to biodiversity conservation on their farms. Theoretical implications: Although several papers have examined the influence of agricultural extension on farmer behaviour, the results of this study contribute to explaining some of the contradictions in the literature about the effectiveness of advisory services. Furthermore, this study addresses [Batary, P., L. V. Dicks, D. Kleijn, and W. J. Sutherland. 2015. "The Role of Agri-Environment Schemes in Conservation and Environmental Management." Conservation Biology 29: 1006-1016.] challenge that there has been insufficient research on the link between farmer advice and the effectiveness of agri-environmental schemes.