Feature Article

India is a paradise for butterflies with a record of nearly 1501 species, of which, the presence of nearly 962 species is known from the biodiversity rich hotspot sectors of North East India. Records of the Zoological Survey of India published under the state fauna series have shown the occurrence
of 106 species from Manipur.

Savannas worldwide are vital for both socioeconomic and biodiversity values. In these ecosystems, management decisions are based on the perception that wildlife and livestock compete for food, yet there are virtually no experimental data to support this assumption. We examined the effects of wild African ungulates on cattle performance, food intake, and diet quality. Wild ungulates depressed cattle food intake and performance during the dry season (competition) but enhanced cattle diet quality and performance during the wet season (facilitation).

Industrial development and rapid urbanisation are taking a toll on the freshwater species of the Western Ghats. Close to 16 per cent of freshwater fish, molluscs, dragonflies, damselflies and aquatic plants found along the length of peninsular India are threatened with extinction due to water pollution from agricultural and urban sources and overharvesting, says a new study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Due to its diverse, wondrous plants and unique topography, Western China has drawn great attention from explorers and naturalists from the Western World. Among them, Ernest Henry Wilson (1876 –1930), known as ‘Chinese’ Wilson, travelled to Western China five times from 1899 to 1918. He took more than 1,000 photos during his travels. These valuable photos illustrated the natural and social environment of Western China a century ago. Since 1997, we had collected E.H. Wilson's old pictures, and then since 2004, along the expedition route of E.H.

Aditya Batra in conversation with Keshab Sthapit, a mayor famous for muscling his way to urban renewal.

The Tehri Hydro Electric Project in Uttarakhand has entered a new phase of litigation. On Thursday, the Supreme Court declined to allow increase in Tehri dam's water level to 830 metres (mts) as sought by the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC). The order practically negates an earlier order of August 2010 which granted temporary permission for increasing the water level to 830 mts. The Additional Solicitor General of India, arguing for the THDC, had sought final order confirming the earlier permission.

A World Trade Organisation (WTO) panel has ruled, on September 15, the “dolphin safe” labels used to market tuna in the United States are illegal because they restrict trade. The labels are used to inform consumers that the tuna fish has been caught without harming or killing dolphins.

Protected areas are effective at stopping biodiversity loss, but their placement is constrained by the needs of people. Consequently protected areas are often biased toward areas that are unattractive for other human uses. Current reporting metrics that emphasise the total area protected do not account for this bias. To address this problem we propose that the distribution of protected areas be evaluated with an economic metric used to quantify inequality in income— the Gini coefficient.