Feature Article

The report of the expert group (EG) on "Development Issues to Deal with the Causes of Discontent, Unrest and Extremism' associated with the Naxalite movement, set up by the Planning Commission two years ago, has the merit of making the relevant issues visible in an official milieu blinded by a "security-centric' view of the movement. But will the powers that be heed the change in "policy perspective and strategy to deal with the movement' that the EG recommends in its report, Development Challenges in Extremist Affected Areas? (Editorial)

The combine harvesting technology which has become common in the rice

Kappaphycus alvarezii (Doty) Doty (Rhodophyta: Solieriaceae) is a Philippine-derived macroalga introduced into the Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve, South India for mariculture in 2000. Here we report its bioinvasion on branching corals (Acropora sp.) in the Kurusadai Island. Qualitative data collected using underwater photography clearly indicated its invasion and establishment on live and dead corals as well as coral rubbles and pavements. It specifically invaded Acropora sp.

The tsunami at Goa (west coast of India) and Kavaratti Island (Lakshadweep archipelago) in the Arabian Sea, caused by the 12 September 2007 Sumatra earthquake, was reported from cellular-based sea-level gauges in real-time on the Internet designed and established by the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa.

The present study aims at assessing the influence of different vegetal covers, changes in landuse pattern and heterogeneity of physical fractions of the soil organic carbon (SOC) pool on soil carbon. A tropical sanctuary area with some anthropogenic activities was taken as the study area.

The term bioprospecting has been widely used to assess the economic potential of different plant species and their value-addition. Our folklore with embedded cultural heritage has tremendous possibilities and potential for bioprospecting. Among the over 8000 species of flowering plants growing in the Himalaya, nearly 4000 are identified from the Garhwal Himalayan region. This part of region enjoyed a significant place throughout its history.

There is a need for identifying some additional effective pest management strategies, which could also augment integrated pest management (IPM). In this scenario, RNA interference (RNAi) offers a great deal of hope in successful mitigation of various insect pests. RNAi has been increasingly used in establishing the gene functions in various spheres of research in entomology after its discovery in the free-living nematode, Caenorhaditis elegans.

THE Chichewa people in Malawi have a saying: Njala ndi chilombo. It means "Hunger is a beast". Today, the beast is rampaging around the world and particularly Africa, where shortage of food threatens to undo recent economic and political gains. Climate change is partly to blame. But there is another less well recognised cause: long-term neglect has left African agriculture in a woefully inadequate state.

Trouble is brewing in the waters off the Chukotka Peninsula in the far east of Siberia. In the past few years, the aboriginal whalers of the eastern coastline who hunt grey whales for meat have reported that an increasing number of the creatures they catch smell so foul that even dogs won't eat them. The few people who have tried the meat suffered numb mouths, stomach ache and skin rashes.

Tropical insects, amphibians and reptiles will probably never enjoy the status of an environmental poster child, but global warming's impact on them can't be ignored. So say Josh Tewksbury of the University of Washington in Seattle and his colleagues.