Biodiverse neighborhoods: an ex-situ conservation tool

Urban forests are responsible for a lot of benefits, and can be used as a tool to ex-situ conservation of native species. Our study investigated a public urban forest aiming to provide subside to management projects in order to allow the accurate fulfillment of social, aesthetic and ecological functions displayed by trees. Our survey was conducted in 6 public squares and 5 gardens in the Jardins neighborhood. We classified the trees according to their phytogeographic origins and seed dispersal habit. The Shannon-Weaver (H’) index, Simpson’s dominance (D’) and Pielou’s equability (J) were determined. A total of 507 individuals were sampled, located in 12 botanical families and 29 species, and 13 of them were classified as native and 16 as exotic. The family with higher species richness and number of species was Fabaceae (36%). Regarding the seed dispersal syndrome, the most representative was zoochory (52%). The ecological index showed medium species diversity (H’=2.2284), high dominance (D’=0.7899) and medium number of individuals (J) 0.6552. Although the Jardins neighborhood was planned, the urban forest in this area still needs improvement; such as incentive measures that can promote biodiversity and the application of ex-situ conservation.

Casting the Net Widely for Change in Animal Welfare: The Plight of Birds in Zoos, Ex Situ Conservation, and Conservation Fieldwork

This paper discusses paradoxes in our relationship to and treatment of birds in captive and conservation contexts. The paper identifies modern and new challenges that arise from declining bird numbers worldwide. Such challenges have partly changed zoos into providers of insurance populations specifically for species at risk of extinction. They have also accelerated fieldwork projects, but by using advanced technological tools and in increasing numbers, contradictorily, they may cause serious harm to the very birds studied for conservation purposes. In practice, very few avian species have any notable protection or guarantee of good treatment. The paper first deals with shortcomings of identifying problematic avian behavior in captive birds. It then brings together specific cases of field studies and captive breeding for conservation in which major welfare deficits are identified. Indeed, the paper argues that avian welfare is now an urgent task. This is not just because of declining bird numbers but because of investment in new technologies in field studies that may have introduced additional stressors and put at risk bird survival. While the paper documents a substantial number of peer-reviewed papers criticizing practices counter to modern welfare standards, they have by and large not led to changes in some practices. Some solutions are suggested that could be readily implemented and, to my knowledge, have never been considered under a welfare model before.

Comparative analysis of phenolic content in Solanum indicum L. harvested from different locations of Madhya Pradesh state of India

Phenolics are well distributed secondary metabolites in the plant kingdom and cure various ailments in human beings. In the present study, total phenolic (TP) and caffeic acid (CA) contents in fruits, leaves and stem of Solanum indicum species collected from different locations of Madhya Pradesh state of India were studied. Results showed the following trend for TP and CA contents; fruits> leaves> stem. Fruits (28.52±0.29) from Chhindwara & Betul area (Satpura plateau agroclimatic region) contained maximum TP content trailed by leaves (16.29±0.07) and stem (11.79±0.03) belonging to Amarkantak area (Northern Hill’s Zone of Chhattisgarh agroclimatic region). CA content was observed maximum in fruits (0.0192±0.00) followed by leaves (0.0187±0.01) and stem (0.0154±0.01) of Seoni area (Kymore Plateau & Satpura Hills agroclimatic region). The variation in the populations will be helpful for in-situ as well as ex-situ conservation of this reagionally threatened dashmool species and its further utilization in Ayurvedic formulations.