Biodiversity Prospecting Research Articles

Prospects and Challenges for Biodiversity in the Anthropogenic-Induced Cold Arid Landscape of Ladakh, India

Ladakh, a high-altitude cold arid region, exhibits conspicuous signs of climate change across its vast landscape. The unique biodiversity of Ladakh faces various challenges due to both exponential anthropogenic activities and the significant threat of climate change to the region's environmental landscape and physiographical variations. The region's unique topography, from high-altitude deserts to soaring Himalayan mountains, makes it a biodiversity hotspot. However, biodiversity is under threat from climate change, infrastructure development, the upward movement of invasive species, and water scarcity due to glacial retreat. There is enough potential to combine traditional ecological knowledge with modern conservation strategies. Climate change, with rising temperatures and glacial retreat, poses a significant threat to Ladakh's biodiversity, particularly that of alpine flora and fauna. Infrastructure development, including roads and hydropower projects, can fragment habitats and dislocate wildlife corridors, leading to reduced genetic diversity. Long-term field observations form the basis for an indepth exploration of prospects and potential threats to the biodiversity of Ladakh's cold arid zone, emphasizing the role of anthropogenic factors in this study.

Extractions: Data Infrastructures and the Public Good

This special issue invites reflection on digital forms of resource extractivism, through thinking-with microbes, fish, smart energy, and human bodies. We examine the confluence of infrastructure building, public good enactment, and nature datafication to account for novel forms of resource economies. The articles in this collection empirically investigate the various ways in which nature is turned into resource in laboratory and experimental sites including database retrievals and data mining. Our empirical cases, ranging from biodiversity prospecting, clinical biobanking to the digitalized electric grid and from digital fish to biodigital transformations in yeast technology, offer insights into the nexus of data, economy, nature, and information. Contributing to the literature on datafication of natural resources, these studies re-situate information infrastructures and biodigital extractions as part of emerging info-economies.

Biodiversity prospecting for phytoremediation programs intended for utilizing polluted lands and obtaining bioeconomy

AbstractLand degradation and soil contamination have become global problem due to irresponsible anthropogenic activities and the overutilization of natural resources by humans. Land degradation and contamination due to toxic heavy metals have adversely impacted not only crop productivity but also the overall environmental health of our planet. Mitigation and management of polluted land are urgently required to achieve the goal of sustainable development because of the continuous human population explosion. In recent years, the biodiversity under phytoremediation is gaining scientists' attention for utilizing polluted lands and obtaining a bio‐based economy aimed at economically valuable and nonedible native plants. In the present review, we have focused on the biodiversity prospecting and phytoremediation potentials of economically important native plants, which may open up new horizons for sustainable development and redevelopment of polluted land sites.

Situation and prospects of biodiversity of agricultural ecosystem conservation and utilization in China

Situation and prospects of biodiversity of agricultural ecosystem conservation and utilization in China

Review on Plant Biodiversity and Conservation in Bangladesh: Drawbacks and Prospects

Biodiversity has become the talk of topic for so many years of its rapid decrease worldwide. Due to the geographical position and soil fertility Bangladesh is exceptionally endowed with a huge variety of plant species. In Bangladesh, the destruction of plant species in the forests and protected areas is a continuous process due to increasing population pressure, rural poverty, joblessness, lack of knowledge, absence of public awareness and other natural calamities etc. which pose a serious threat to the plant biodiversity. The Government and researchers of Bangladesh have undertaken several surveys, scientific researches, and monitoring, which helps to document related databases, to protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity. This paper is based on the literature survey of some renowned researchers’ studies and applications in biodiversity conservation in Bangladesh. Thus, this study attempts to review the present scenario of plant diversity, causes of loss or depletion of plant diversity, initiatives taken for the conservation by the government and last but not least the prospects of plant biodiversity in Bangladesh.

Review on Plant Biodiversity and Conservation in Bangladesh: Drawbacks and Prospects

Biodiversity has become the talk of topic for so many years of its rapid decrease worldwide. Due to the geographical position and soil fertility Bangladesh is exceptionally endowed with a huge variety of plant species. In Bangladesh, the destruction of plant species in the forests and protected areas is a continuous process due to increasing population pressure, rural poverty, joblessness, lack of knowledge, absence of public awareness and other natural calamities etc. which pose a serious threat to the plant biodiversity. The Government and researchers of Bangladesh have undertaken several surveys, scientific researches, and monitoring, which helps to document related databases, to protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity. This paper is based on the literature survey of some renowned researchers’ studies and applications in biodiversity conservation in Bangladesh. Thus, this study attempts to review the present scenario of plant diversity, causes of loss or depletion of plant diversity, initiatives taken for the conservation by the government and last but not least the prospects of plant biodiversity in Bangladesh.

Himalayan Ethnobotanical Exploration: An Overview of Selected Studies of Kangra District in Himachal Pradesh

Ethnobotany gives an understanding of interrelationships between people and plants. It deals with the documentation of the indigenous traditional knowledge of plants possessed by ethnic people and primitive communities who also are the custodians of this knowledge. They practice the traditional way of treatment for various ailments. Now, this knowledge holds both cultural as well as scientific value. The ethnobotanical knowledge also provides the source for the discovery of many drugs. Usage of Himalayan plant species for food and medicine has been well known for a long time. This knowledge is depleting rapidly in recent times due to globalization and modernization. This investigation provides ethnobotanical information from selected studies that truly focuses on the traditional medicinal plants used by the local people of the Kangra district. Information for the present study was collected through publications available on the ethnobotanical studies of the area. These studies provide relevant literature and inventories of useful plants. As the search for natural products and new drugs from plants is an important element, it becomes important to create awareness about biodiversity conservation as well as their role in healthcare. Measures are needed to support biodiversity prospecting and for conserving useful plants which are harvested only from the wild. Paying special attention to sustainable use of the ethnomedicinal plants found in the area may help lessen the impact of harvesting specific plant resources.

Prospects of biodiversity and distribution of mushroom fungi in India

Mushrooms are precious fungi, which exists as an important and integral component of the ecosystem. They are the macro or larger fungi which possess fleshy, subfleshy, or sometimes leathery, umbrella like fructifications, which bear their spore producing surface either on lamellae (gills) or lining the tubes, opening out by means of pores. Usually the lamellate members are called ‘mushrooms’ or “toadstools’ depending upon whether or not they are edible or poisonous and therefore the tube bearing poroid members, as boletes. Mushrooms are seasonal fungi, which occupy diverse niches in nature within the forest ecosystem. Different types of edible mushrooms are cultivated on large scale for commercial use and many more species of mushrooms grow wildly in nature which has much nutritional and medicinal value. They predominantly occur during the season and also during spring when the snow melts. In the globe, biodiversity includes not only many species that exist, but also the range of populations that makeup a species and the genetic diversity among individual life forms. Macrofungi are important economically due to their importance in food, medicine, biocontrol, chemical, biological and other industries. Macrofungi are diverse in their uses as food and medicine and a number of other species function as decomposers and also form mycorrhizal associations.

Prospects of biodiversity and distribution of mushroom fungi in India

Prospects of biodiversity and distribution of mushroom fungi in India

Implications of zero‐deforestation commitments: Forest quality and hunting pressure limit mammal persistence in fragmented tropical landscapes

AbstractZero‐deforestation commitments seek to decouple agricultural production and forest loss to improve prospects for biodiversity. However, the effectiveness of methods designed to meet these commitments is poorly understood. In a highly fragmented tropical landscape dominated by oil palm, we tested the capacity for the High Carbon Stock (HCS) Approach to prioritize forest remnants that sustain mammal diversity. Patches afforded high priority by HCS protocols (100 ha core area) provided important refuges for IUCN‐threatened species and megafauna. However, patch‐scale HCS area recommendations conserved only 35% of the mammal community. At least 3,000 ha would be required to retain intact mammal assemblages, with nearly 10 times this area needed if hunting pressure was high. While current HCS protocols will safeguard patches capable of sustaining biodiversity, highly fragmented tropical landscapes typical of zero‐deforestation pledges will require thinking beyond the patch toward strategically configured forest remnants at the landscape level and enforcing strict controls on hunting.

Value chains and soft commodities in Amazonia. Regulatory prospects for commodified biodiversity according to the glocal production chain of açaí

ABSTRACT This triple case study attempts, from the viewpoint of economic and environmental anthropology, to take into account and to assess pertinent cultural, political, institutional, and economic factors that have an impact on how the açaí value chain develops or restrains according to the given regulatory frameworks. Based on the common-pool resources approach (CPR), the study examines how institutional actors negotiate in a local/global (glocal) dynamic and how from these different scales, they contest and intertwine while pursuing use, access, and management strategies for the açaí production. The article aims to contribute with anthropological insights to the LULC research by underlining the agency of the subjects of land use and tenure policies in Amazonia; to enhance the prominence of local actors and to promote the cultural and economic value of their traditional practices and institutions.

Disappearing darkness means dim prospects for biodiversity

Disappearing darkness means dim prospects for biodiversity

Status, issues and prospects of belowground biodiversity on the Tibetan alpine grassland

Status, issues and prospects of belowground biodiversity on the Tibetan alpine grassland

Poor Prospects for Avian Biodiversity in Amazonian Oil Palm

Expansion of oil palm plantations across the humid tropics has precipitated massive loss of tropical forest habitats and their associated speciose biotas. Oil palm plantation monocultures have been identified as an emerging threat to Amazonian biodiversity, but there are no quantitative studies exploring the impact of these plantations on the biome’s biota. Understanding these impacts is extremely important given the rapid projected expansion of oil palm cultivation in the basin. Here we investigate the biodiversity value of oil palm plantations in comparison with other dominant regional land-uses in Eastern Amazonia. We carried out bird surveys in oil palm plantations of varying ages, primary and secondary forests, and cattle pastures. We found that oil palm plantations retained impoverished avian communities with a similar species composition to pastures and agrarian land-uses and did not offer habitat for most forest-associated species, including restricted range species and species of conservation concern. On the other hand, the forests that the oil palm companies are legally obliged to protect hosted a relatively species-rich community including several globally-threatened bird species. We consider oil palm to be no less detrimental to regional biodiversity than other agricultural land-uses and that political pressure exerted by large landowners to allow oil palm to count as a substitute for native forest vegetation in private landholdings with forest restoration deficits would have dire consequences for regional biodiversity.

Plant taxonomy and biodiversity researches in Bangladesh: trends and opportunities

The progress, problems and prospects of biodiversity and plant taxonomic researches conducted in Bangladesh during the last two decades have been analyzed. The inventory of the flora, threatened taxa and family wise itemization in all groups of plants are progressing at a very slow rate. Only 11.6% of the estimated species (c.5000) were inventoried and only 6.2% of the threatened taxa were listed for conservation management. National Conservation Strategies could not be framed and implemented duly for environmental management. Results of the survey of floristic diversity, inventory of threatened taxa for Red Data Book and discovery of new taxa are discussed and up to date data are presented. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v3i2.10645 International Journal of the Environment Vol.3(2) 2014: 324-344

Legal Challenges Around Access and Benefit Sharing and Application in International and National Legislation

Biodiversity was during the 1990s perceived as 'green gold'. With the emergence of the biotechnology industry, biodiversity prospecting, or bio-prospecting, was perceived to provide opportunities to gain benefits for several purposes. Benefits would attribute towards conservation, development of source countries, new medicines, profits for the industry and welfare to local providers of biogenetic resources and traditional knowledge.Patents on traditional knowledge and the issue of biopiracy has been a debated issue since the Uruguay Round in the early 1990s. In order to handle this problem, the United Nations established the Convention on Biological Diversity and a subsidiary working group on Access and Benefit Sharing. This is supposed to help traditional knowledge holders claim their rights to benefit sharing when commercialization of the knowledge, that they are prime innovators of, is to occur. This paper seeks to give insight into the process of the implementation of Access and Benefit Sharing in the Kani-tribe and Tropical Botanical Garden Research Institute case. In more detail, what is discussed is the process of the agreement making and the outcome of the Access and Benefit Sharing. The analysis is drawn from a qualitative case study in Kerala, India. A theoretical framework based on theories regarding a rights based approach, institutional frameworks and preliminary studies on Access and Benefit Sharing is used together with the collected data. Ideas and conclusions derived from the discussion and the analysis are portraying a rather unequal playing field. In this case, Access and Benefit Sharing appears to be viewed more like an instrument for charity rather than a prerequisite for the use of traditional knowledge.

VALUE ADDITION TO BIODIVERSITY PRODUCTS FOR BIOPROSPECTING AND BENEFIT SHARING

Sri Lanka has been identified as a biodiversity hotspot in the world. This is because of her richdiversity at genes, species and ecosj stem levels and unprecedented rate of loss ofSuch biodiversity. Sharing of benefits and increase in the recognized value of resources havebeen considered as one of the most effective pathways to foster conservation and utilization ofbiodiversity. Bioprospecting is searching for new genes, species and lor products for utilization,which has been practiced for centuries in Sri Lanka and elsewhere. However, to reach theoptimum benefit of bioprospecting and benefit sharing, it is essential to understand the valueaddition processes to biodiversity products. Value addition is considered as a step taken toincrease the value of a raw product any time between the harvesting and sale of the finalproduct. Value added products not only offer a higher return, but also open new markets, createbrand recognition and add variety. Value addition to biodiversity products can be rewarding andbenefits accrue from matching under-utili sed resources with potential markets The objectives of this study were to explore different value addition pathways of biodiversityproducts and identify sharing of benefits in each value addition process using Exacumtrinervium (binara), Salacia reticulate (kotalahimbutu), Munronia pinnata (binkohomba),Santalum a/bum (suduhandun) and Coscinium fenestratum (venival gata). Information wascollected from personal communication (indigenous knowledge), literature survey and brainstorming discussions. Potential value addition pathways were identified for all species. Sharing of benefits occursthroughout the value addition processes, although magnitude of sharing between different stepsvaries with species. In majority of species higher level of benefits is received by middlemanwhere as inM pinnata, collectors share high level of benefits. Results of the study also revealedthat there are no benefits provided in return to the area of conservation, which is a key factor ofdetermining sustainability of conservation. Implications of understanding of value additionprocesses of biodiversity prospecting, requirements of establishment of national legislation onbiodiversity prospecting, value addition and benefit sharing, and development of procedures andinstitutional capacities to implement such legislation are also discussed in this paper.

Introducing irrigation efficiencies: prospects for flood-dependent biodiversity in a rice agro-ecosystem

SUMMARYWorldwide, irrigation development has affected pre-existing natural habitats and created novel aquatic habitats, and future changes in management will continue to influence flood-dependent vegetation and fauna. Irrigated agriculture has had a profound influence on native biodiversity in the Riverina region of temperate Australia. Current irrigation practices provide large amounts of water to the landscape in the form of constructed wetland habitats: irrigation channels, impoundments and flooded crop-growing areas. Flooded rice bays support many species of native wetland plants, and 12 of the 14 species of frog recorded in the region. All constructed habitats provide a food resource for waterbirds, but not breeding habitat. While a species of tortoise benefits from the provision of constructed habitats, terrestrial reptiles and mammals are most abundant in remaining native vegetation. The climate is predicted to become increasingly hot and dry, with a reduced and more variable supply of irrigation water, thus placing increasing stress on farming and on natural ecosystems. The predicted reduction of constructed aquatic habitats may affect the native species using them, but may not have a major adverse impact on biodiversity regionally because the species recorded in constructed habitats tend be abundant and widespread, and such species also occur in natural wetland habitats. Sensitive species that depend on native vegetation persisting in reasonable amounts and in good condition are at greater risk. In the Riverina, the remaining native vegetation should be managed to protect and improve its condition, including appropriate managed inundation events for flood-dependent communities. The landscape should be managed to provide the best context for the function and health of existing vegetation including moderating the effects of soil disturbance, fertilizers and herbicides. The impacts of changed irrigation practices should be mitigated through managed flooding of remnant vegetation. In countries with more evolved, traditional rice-growing systems than the Riverina, there will be greater emphasis on biodiversity coexistence with cultivation. Nonetheless, in all settings there is value in jointly considering the role of both natural and constructed habitats in biodiversity research and conservation.

Anthropogenic impacts on tropical forest biodiversity: a network structure and ecosystem functioning perspective

Huge areas of diverse tropical forest are lost or degraded every year with dramatic consequences for biodiversity. Deforestation and fragmentation, over-exploitation, invasive species and climate change are the main drivers of tropical forest biodiversity loss. Most studies investigating these threats have focused on changes in species richness or species diversity. However, if we are to understand the absolute and long-term effects of anthropogenic impacts on tropical forests, we should also consider the interactions between species, how those species are organized in networks, and the function that those species perform. I discuss our current knowledge of network structure and ecosystem functioning, highlighting empirical examples of their response to anthropogenic impacts. I consider the future prospects for tropical forest biodiversity, focusing on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in secondary forest. Finally, I propose directions for future research to help us better understand the effects of anthropogenic impacts on tropical forest biodiversity.

Recent trends in US patent grants and issues to be considered

AbstractThe life sciences have changed radically since the Convention on Biological Diversity first opened for signatures in 1992. Traditional organism-based approaches to discovery and use of genetic resources have been supplanted by molecular approaches. Biodiversity prospecting is more likely to be a programmatic bioinformatics activity rather than an activity conducted by field scientists. Access to genetic resources is no longer centered on a hunt for novel species. Rather, the hunt is for novel genes and metabolic pathways that can be cloned into well-understood expression systems and readily scaled-up for industrial production. Information about contemporary research, development, and manufacturing practices needs to be addressed, especially when those genes do not need to be associated with their native host at the time of discovery. Information about the research organizations participating in all phases of the discovery and development process also needs to be considered, especially when it involves partnerships between academic and industrial organizations.We present a high-level view of recent trends in the issuance of US patent grants to commercial and non-commercial research organizations, and introduce a technology that is already in place which can be applied to monitoring the use of genetic materials by various stakeholders in an open and transparent manner, as intended under the International Regime for Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS).