Forest Officials Research Articles

A Comparative Study of Some Morphological and Microscopic Identifying Features of Genuine Rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) Horns and Fake Horns

Rhino horn is hard, elongated, conical structure composed entirely of keratin but lacking bony core. Illegal trade of rhino horn has high financial rewards. Both genuine and fake horns are confiscated by authorities and sent for identification. Various morphological and microscopic features of 214 genuine horns of one horned Rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) stored at Armed Forest Protection Training Centre, Tikauli and Office of the Chitwan National Park, Kasara, Nepal were studied. The studied morphological parameters were color, surface texture, height, mass, basal circumference, frontal groove, basal elevation, porosity, light penetration capability at the base and density. Similarly, microscopic features like shape, size and frequency of filamentous units, Interfilamentous space, ratio of medulla and filamentous unit and laminae were studied after thin transverse sections made from the tip of 140 genuine horns. Some of these features were compared with that of 65 fake horns which were received in the laboratory and identified as fake samples. The distinctive filamentous units were observed in all studied genuine rhino horns with varied number, shape and sizes. Based on this study, identifying features of genuine rhino horns were properly established. The study also reveals the possibility of approximation of maturity of rhino horns.

Studies on the variation in germination and seedling growth of Abies pindrow Spach. (Royle) in Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, India

Abies pindrow species is facing a problem of natural regeneration and the absence of adequate regeneration in Indian fir forests has drawn the attention of forest officers, researchers and scientists for a long time. The present study was undertaken in the state of Uttarakhand where four sites bearing A. pindrow forests were selected. The study was conducted to compare the seeds of the four sites to draw relevant conclusions. Two sites Mundali and Deoban fall under Chakrata forest division and Bhukki and Dharali sites fall under Uttarkashi forest division. The aim of the study was to determine variation in germination of seeds of A. pindrow collected from four locations in the state of Uttarakhand. A significant variation was observed in seed germination (germination percent, mean germination time, peak value, germination energy, germination value, germination speed) and seed growth parameters (seedlength, seed width and seed thickness). The seed source of Dharali site was found as the best source followed by Deoban in comparison to other two sites. Dharali site showed highest germination percentage (25%), highest germination value (2.664) and highest germination energy (25.00) from its seed source, thereby concluding to be the best seed source site. The viable and healthy seed source can be considered to be most fruitful in propagation and regeneration techniques.

People's Biodiversity Register [PBR]: A Community Based New Venture in Odisha to Document Natural Resources

The Government of India introduced the Diversity Act 2002, in the year 2002 and the Diversity Rules in the year 2004. Accordingly all state governments would have to constitute biodiversity boards and frame their own state specific Biological Diversity Rules. With this enforcement, the Government of has published the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 in the local vernacular language and constituted the Biodiversity Board. Apart from this the Government framed the Odisha Biological Diversity Rules, But, there still wasn't any initiative by the State Government to document traditional knowledge & biological resources, though is rich in biodiversity. In the year 2009-2010, an initiative was taken up by the Forestry Sector Development Project (OFSDP), an external aided project of Forest & Environment Department and its General Consultants (GC) to document the biological diversity of Satkosia Tiger Reserve and its periphery areas with the participation of local people by use of their traditional wisdom & grassroots level forest officials much before the publication of the Biological Diversity Rules, 2012. This article articulates the complexities, objectives , modules, pitfalls , benefit sharing and challenges of the experiment as stated above by using People Biodiversity Register to document the biodiversity resources.

임상도 특성에 따른 임목축적 및 탄소저장량 추정: 강원도를 중심으로

본 연구는 임상도 상의 특성인 영급, 경급 및 수관밀도를 이용하여 임목의 축적 및 탄소저장량을 추정하는 기법을 개발하고자 하였다. 먼저 국가산림조사(강원도 중심)를 바탕으로 한 임목축적 자료를 임상도 제작 당시의 축적으로 전환하였으며, 이 자료와 임상도 특성과의 관계를 수량화I방법을 통하여 임목축적 추정 모형을 개발하였다. 임상도 특성이 임목축적 추정에 기여하는 바를 알 수 있는 제곱 편상관계수의 크기를 비교해 본 결과, 영급이 가장 큰 기여를 하고 있었으며, 다음이 수관밀도, 임상, 경급의 순이었다. 임목축적 추정치 중 최소치는 활엽수림의 영급 II, 경급 '소', 수관밀도 '소'인 분류기준에서 ha당 <TEX>$20.0m^3$</TEX>이고, 최대치는 침엽수림의 영급 VI, 경급 '대', 수관밀도 '밀'인 분류기준에서 ha당 305.0이었다. 임상별로 침엽수림은 ha당 <TEX>$30.5{\sim}305.0m^3$</TEX>, 활엽수림은 ha당 <TEX>$20.0{\sim}200.4m^3$</TEX>, 혼효림은 ha당 <TEX>$23.8{\sim}238.1m^3$</TEX>로 추정되었다. 임상별 탄소저장량을 비교해 보면, 임상에 무관하게 경급 '대', 수관밀도 '밀'인 분류기준에서 임목축적에 따른 영급별 탄소저장량이 최대인 것으로 나타났다. 본 임상도 특성을 이용한 임목축적 추정은 산지 전용 또는 산지 재해에 의한 임목축적의 감소 및 탄소저장량 변화를 충분히 추정할 수 있을 것이며, 일선 산림관계자 또는 정책입안자의 산림경영 의사결정에도 유효한 도움을 줄 수 있을 것이라 판단된다. This research aimed to provide a method to estimate growing stock and carbon stock using the characteristics of forest type map such as the age-class, DBH class and crown density class. We transformed the growing stock data of national forest inventory (mainly Kangwon-do province) onto those of time when the forest type map was established. We developed a simulation model for the growing stock using the transformed data and the characteristics of forest type map by the quantification method I. By comparing partial correlation coefficient, we found that quantification of growing stock was largely affected by age-class followed by crown density class, forest type and DBH class. The growing stock, was estimated as minimum in the broadleaved forest with age-class II, DBH class 'Small', and crown density class 'Low' as <TEX>$20.0m^3/ha$</TEX>, whereas showed maximum value in the coniferous forest with age-class VI, DBH class 'Large', and crown density class 'High' as <TEX>$305.0m^3/ha$</TEX>. The growing stock for coniferous, broadleaved, and mixed forest were estimated as <TEX>$30.5{\sim}305.0m^3/ha$</TEX>, <TEX>$20.0{\sim}200.4m^3/ha$</TEX>, and <TEX>$23.8{\sim}238.1m^3/ha$</TEX>, respectively. When we compared the carbon stock by forest type, the carbon stock by age class based on growing stock was maximum when DBH class was 'Large' and crown density class was 'High' regardless of forest type. This estimation of growing stock by using characteristic of forest type can be used to estimate the changes in growing stock and carbon stock resulting from deforestation or natural disaster. In addition, we hope it provide a useful advice when forest officials and policy makers have to make decisions in regard to forest management.

Conflict betwen Bankariya and other Stakeholders for the use of Forest Product

Socio-culturally and economically every rural community of Nepal are associated with forest for their livelihood and identity but simultaneously governmental policy for the protection of forest is not in the favor of people, which has been creating conflict between people and other stakeholder including governmental organization. This research tries to know the causes and consequences of conflict between Bankariya and other stakeholders. This research was carried out between the period May to December 2013. According to nature of the problem descriptive research design has been applied. Handikhola VDC of Makwanpur district has been selected as an universe purposively. Both primary and secondary sources of data were applied in this study. Case study, key informant interview and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) methods were applied for primary data collection. The findings shows that the living condition of Bankariya has changed after the government has provided them 6 hectors land for 40 years at Mushedhap. Still date forest based products are extremely beneficial for the enhancement of their livelihoods. The major problems faced by Bankariya community regarding to use of forest based resources are; not having their own permanent land for settlement and agriculture purpose, provision of present rules and regulation, and attitude of other elite persons/groups for dominating them. Forest resource based conflicts of Bankariya is mainly related with local people and other forest user group committee members as compared to Parsa Wild Life Reserve and District Forest Office of Makawanpur. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v3i3.11080 International Journal of Environment Vol.3(3) 2014: 210-221

Village Level Actors in Sustainable Forest Management: A Study in Madhya Pradesh

Forests play a very important role in the lives of communities living in and around forests and hence have evolved mechanisms for its sustainable use. But the species composition of forests is not uniform leading to differential NTFP outflow. In an action situation on sustainable forest use by the communities of three different forest types of Madhya Pradesh, the actors identified-households, women, graziers, informal and formal leaderships, plantation watchers, settlers, forest department officials, first purchaser of NTFPs, agents of Bidi industry, wood cutters or poachers, Gram Panchayat functionaries, etc.- are internal or external, individual or composite. Although the study does not show much of variation in actors across the three forest types of the State but the power wielded by these actors vary from village to village. Their roles, as individual or composite actors, also change depending upon the situation.

Confusion vs. clarity: Property rights and forest use in Uganda

Projects and policies targeted at reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) frequently emphasize the articulation of property rights that are new, formalized or revised. A major question for successful REDD+ implementation, and forest sector reform more broadly, is how changes in formal rights are understood and internalized by resource users. This paper explores the determinants of knowledge of formal rights, and whether accurate knowledge of rights influences forest clearing and forest product harvesting behavior in Uganda. We find limited awareness of rules surrounding clearing forest, and mixed levels of awareness regarding rights to harvest specific forest products. Harvesting behavior is variably correlated with awareness of rights depending on the product and capacity of district forest officials.

SURVEILLANCE AND TRACKING OF ELEPHANTS USING VOCAL SPECTRAL INFORMATION

Human-elephant conflict is a major problem which leads to crop damage, human death and injuries caused by elephants, and elephants being killed by humans. Elephant Intrusion has been on the rise in the forest border areas with herds of elephants straying into human habitation and creating a great loss to their properties. The surveillance and tracking of elephants are difficult due to their size and nature of movement. In this paper, a method for detecting and tracking elephants along the forest border areas using the vocal communications of elephants is presented. Two approaches are used one is to find the spectral energy magnitude and the other to determine highest pitch frequency produced by elephants. A threshold is identified for the two approaches; once the elephant vocal communication signal crosses the limit an alert will be sent to the forest officials notifying them about the elephant intrusion to redirect the elephant back to the forest.

Remarkable gall-inducing Beesonia dipterocarpi (Hemiptera: Beesoniidae) and their equally remarkable galls on Dipterocarpus tuberculatus (Dipterocarpaceae) described from the Indian subcontinent in the 1920s

Cyril Beeson in his volume Ecology and control of forest insects of India and neighbouring countries, published in 1941, refers to the remarkable galls developing on the shoots of Dipterocarpus tuberculatus. These galls were found in Burma (Myanmar) in the 1920s and sent to the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun (FRI-D), India for determining the inducing agents. The entomology division staff, FRI-D, determined that the agents were coccoids (then referred to as ‘coccids’) of Insecta, Hemiptera. Edward Green who knew the coccoids of the Indian subcontinent well, because of his studies of the insects of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) earlier, determined the inducing coccids as Beesonia dipterocarpi in 1926 publishing his paper in the Bulletin of Entomological Research (BER) (London) in 1926. He named the coccoid B. dipterocarpi after Beeson and the host plant Dipterocarpus. Due to the complexity in the morphology of the coccoid, Green published his amended notes on B. dipterocarpi in BER in 1928. Green did not assign B. dipterocarpi to any family of the Coccoidea (‘Coccidae’ then). Gordon Ferris, Stanford, California, erected Beesoniidae in 1950, as a distinct family based on his finding of a novelty Beesonia napiformis from Quercusacutissima in China. From the 1980s, the Beesoniidae, a family of remarkable coccoids, has been in the limelight, thanks to the work of Sadao Takagi, Sapporo, Japan. Several species of the Beesoniidae, both suspected due to their affinity to the tropical Dipterocarpaceae and confirmed, are known today. In such a context, we, the authors of this paper, got access to the correspondence between the forest officials of Burma in the 1920s and the staff of the entomology division of FRI-D, then led by Beeson, pertaining to the finding of the Chrysanthemum flower-like galls on the shoots of D. tuberulatus. In this paper, we have chronicled the events that led to the description of these galls and the inducing insects, using copies of letters archived at FRI-D in the context of this material. At appropriate points, we have inserted our remarks, in the light of the present understanding of galls in general and those induced by the Beesoniidae in particular, to explain the complex morphology of the galls of D. tuberculatus induced by B. dipterocarpi. Host relationships of the Beesoniidae are equally complex and confusing. This paper, hopefully, will trigger interest in entomologists, so that this group of insects will be investigated more closely and their biological details are clarified in the near future.

Histological characteristics of hair follicle pattern in Indian bison (Bos gaurus), black buck (Antelope cervicapra) and nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus)

Background and Aim: Indian bison, Black buck and Nilgai are in danger of extinction because people are hunting them for their meat and horns for sports, trophies etc. These animals are also protected under International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) and Conservation on International trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Taking note of the vulnerability of these animals to extinction, we characterized the hair follicle pattern of these animals for future reference. This study included a total of 30 skin samples comprised of 8 samples of bison, 10 samples of black buck and 12 samples of nilgai. Materials and Methods: Skin samples were obtained from Sri Jayachamarajendra Zoological Park, Mysore, Karnataka, India and Bannerghatta Biological Park, Bangalore, Karnataka, India and also from confiscated skins from forest and police officials of Karnataka. The skin samples were processed and horizontal section of 6-7 µm thickness was used for the routine histological technique using different special staining techniques. Observation such as hair follicle pattern, sebaceous glands and sweat glands distribution, blood vessels, nerve fibre, collagen and elastic fibres were noted. Results: In the bison, compound hair follicles were uniformly distributed and were rectangular in shape comprising of a primary hair follicle associated with 3-4 secondary hair follicles in addition to their sebaceous glands. Uniformly distributed coiled tubular sweat glands were also noticed which were lined by simple cuboidal epithelium. In the black buck, the compound hair follicles were densely distributed and were arranged linearly in the dermis of skin. Within the compound follicle, linear arrangements of primary and secondary follicles were observed. Each primary hair follicle was supported by 24 secondary hair follicles and the primary hair follicle was always present at the centre when it was present with 2 secondary hair follicles. In nilgai, the compound hair follicles were densely distributed in the dermis of skin. The primary hair follicles were bilaterally surrounded by 2-3 secondary hair follicles. Each primary and secondary hair follicle was associated with sebaceous glands. Conclusion: The histological pattern of the hair follicle data was established and the hair follicle pattern will be of use in the identification of the wild ruminant skins which are commonly poached by the poachers. It will also be useful to compare the histological characteristics amongst the wild ruminants.

THE GENUS BORASSODENDRON (PALMAE) IN MALESIA

In April 1968 while I was botanising in the Fourth Division of Sarawak, I was shown by Mr. David Senada, District Forest Officer, Bintulu, a tall fan palm growing by the new Bintulu to Miri road, about 15 km from Bintulu.

Gibbon Wild Life Sanctuary Assessment of Local Interference and Natural Resource Management

Man's interference on the ecological system often creating imbalance of ecosystem beyond tolerance level of the natural regenerative process. Such a situation thereby seriously enervates the life support mechanism of the ecosystem. To meet the increasing human's need, an alternative to the man's interference into the existing ecological system is becoming more essential, which simultaneously can withstand the regenerative and recoverable limit of the ecosystem. Alike Kaziranga and other sanctuaries of Assam, Gibbon Wild Life sanctuary of Jorhat District is exorbitantly suffering from disorderliness of ecosystem. This turmoil of the ecological set up is caused due to the large scale human interference in the forest resources, incompetent forest management policy and the mal practices of the few forest officials. The aggravating situation of the sanctuary calls for a detailed analysis of the major constrains including feasible measures or initiatives to sort out the shortcomings of the sanctuary. As such, an attempt has been made to assess the impacts of the human interference taking into account, in-depth semi-structured interviews and group discussions with local inhabitants of two villages viz Lakhipur and Gobindpur, and with forest officials, upon the sanctuary and also to evaluate the initiatives taken to combat the issues by the local peoples and the existing Forest cum government officials.

Ecological Studies of Ecosystem Health Indicators at Nayagram of Paschim Medinipur District in Lateritic forests of Southwest Bengal, India

The present article reflects the vegetation structure in diverse eco-habitats along with health indicators to conserve the ecosystem in Nayagram areas of Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, India. It broadcasts phyto-diversity and dynamics of vegetation which need to study or not in the present day scenario in lateritic forests of Southwest Bengal of West Bengal. The diverse types of natural resources of the said area are going under threat due to illegal felling and unscientific management which continuously causing serious loss of the biodiversity due to loss of resources in the said area. Ultimate goal is destruction of vegetation and habitats which lead to environmental degradation. Example is critically cited as the wild life and man conflict in the said area which is going on year after year. The elephant and wild quadrupeds are the vivid examples after the report collected from forest range office this year. So, it needs the conservation following global management along with the management of local people and forest officers in the said area. Our study signifies the probable goal to cope the global degradation of environment and suggestions forwarding to establish a relationship between ethnic, non-ethnic versus plants and wildlife of the said area to justify the questions of problematic kind. It aims to study more regarding soil and water as resource of the said area. Not only the above one it reflects the total economic value and total environmental value (TEV and TEnV) to mitigate the problem in the said area as model study. A total 10 steps for flow chart are incorporated in this paper which may be used to make the environment eco-friendly and solve the problem in near future through holistic approach using pilot plan.

Forest road network development project in Tohoku regional forest office(&lt;SPECIAL ISSUE&gt;Technical challenges of roads development II)

Forest road network development project in Tohoku regional forest office(&lt;SPECIAL ISSUE&gt;Technical challenges of roads development II)

Deer Damage Control in the Kyushu Regional Forest Office

Deer Damage Control in the Kyushu Regional Forest Office

Deer Damage and Control in the Nanshin Regional Forest Office

Deer Damage and Control in the Nanshin Regional Forest Office

Operative situation of forest GIS in prefectures and regional forest offices in Japan

Operative situation of forest GIS in prefectures and regional forest offices in Japan

An improved real time image detection system for elephant intrusion along the forest border areas.

Human-elephant conflict is a major problem leading to crop damage, human death and injuries caused by elephants, and elephants being killed by humans. In this paper, we propose an automated unsupervised elephant image detection system (EIDS) as a solution to human-elephant conflict in the context of elephant conservation. The elephant's image is captured in the forest border areas and is sent to a base station via an RF network. The received image is decomposed using Haar wavelet to obtain multilevel wavelet coefficients, with which we perform image feature extraction and similarity match between the elephant query image and the database image using image vision algorithms. A GSM message is sent to the forest officials indicating that an elephant has been detected in the forest border and is approaching human habitat. We propose an optimized distance metric to improve the image retrieval time from the database. We compare the optimized distance metric with the popular Euclidean and Manhattan distance methods. The proposed optimized distance metric retrieves more images with lesser retrieval time than the other distance metrics which makes the optimized distance method more efficient and reliable.

Factors influencing the illegal harvest of wildlife by trapping and snaring among the Katu ethnic group in Vietnam

AbstractThe harvest of wildlife through hunting, trapping and snaring is illegal in Vietnam but remains widespread and is understood to be the major threat to many species. Clandestine activities such as trapping and snaring, which are deeply embedded in the culture and economy, are difficult to investigate and this study is the first to carry out in-depth research into the illegal capture and sale of wildlife by a major ethnic group in Vietnam. The research focused on two villages of the Katu, a forest-dwelling people living close to the boundary of the newly created Saola Nature Reserve, and involved collecting data from a focus group, 30 semi-structured interviews with trappers, and a number of informal, unstructured interviews with local forest rangers, forest officers and village headmen. We find that trapping is widespread and motivated by financial gain and non-pecuniary benefits such as social esteem and enjoyment, rather than by poverty per se. Trappers’ awareness of wildlife protection law was low and animals were killed indiscriminately in traps and snares designed to catch a range of animal species. With demand for wildlife and wildlife products expected to increase we believe that new approaches will be required to protect threatened species in Vietnamese protected areas.

Spread of Kyasanur Forest Disease, Bandipur Tiger Reserve, India, 2012–2013

Spread of Kyasanur Forest Disease, Bandipur Tiger Reserve, India, 2012–2013