Indian Journal of Biology

The Gautala sanctuary is a reserve for plant biodiversity and wildlife situated in the Marathwada region Dist. Aurangabad Tq. Kannada. The forest is rich in wild and local varieties of plants which are becoming rare due to natural and human activities. It is important to conserve and study plant biodiversity. In this regard, it is decided to collect the seeds of various plants and study the germination percentage and various aspects. The present paper deals with the studies on the collection, ex-situ conservation, and seed germination of five plants. Seeds were collected during respective seasons and germinated. The overall percentages of seed germination between 50- 80 percent are noted.
 

Wild bees are abundant in agricultural ecosystems and contribute significantly to the pollination of many crops. The specialization of many wild bees on particular nesting sites and food resources makes them sensitive to changing habitat conditions. Therefore wild bees are important indicators for environmental impact assessments. Long-term monitoring schemes to measure changes in wild bee communities in agricultural ecosystems are currently lacking. Here we suggest a highly standardized monitoring approach that combines transect walks and pan traps (bowls). The combination of these two methods provides high sample coverage and reveals data on plant-pollinator interactions. We point out that comprehensive methodical, biological, and taxonomical expertise is mandatory. The suggested approach is applicable to diverse monitoring goals in an agricultural context e.g. the impact of land use changes as well as monitoring potential effects of GM crops on wild bees.
 

The study was conducted in the Khordha district of Odisha during the Kharif season of 2014-2019, to see the effect of climate change, especially of temperature on yield, LAI, and yield attributes of Swarna rice variety. Mainly changes in maximum and average temperature i.e (0.5 – 4.0°C) and (0.5 – 3.0°C) respectively through the weather modification window of the DSSAT CERES Rice crop simulation model were tried for the anthesis stage (60-90 DAP) of the crop. The experiment was laid out as a split plot design and replicated three times. The results showed that the yield was decreasing with respect to the increase in temperature after the threshold limit. The interaction of maximum & average temperature with grain yield was significant only for 1st date of sowing and the rest 2nd & 3rd date of sowing showed nonsignificantly. The leaf area index (LAI) interaction with maximum and average temperature did not show signs for only the 2nd date of sowing but in the case of 1stand 3rd date of sowing showed significance. Likewise, the interaction of physiological maturity days with average temperature showed significance for all three dates of sowing, though the comparison between maximum temperature and physiological maturity days showed decreasing order there was no significant relation. The other two yield attributes like the number of panicles/m2 and harvest index also showed decreasing order while interacting with maximum & average temperature but there was no sign.
 

Multiple stressors and interactions between them may be responsible for the decline of global pollinators. Among them, exposure to neonicotinoids has been getting more attention and has been considered a main stressor. The Western honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and the Indian indigenous honey bee (Apis cerana F.) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) are two managed honey bee species in India. These two species are widely used in beekeeping, and many wild A. cerana is widely spread in forests and contributes to the ecosystem. It is predicted that A. cerana is more sensitive to insecticides than A. mellifera due to their smaller mass. Here, we found that although the body mass of A. cerana is significantly lower than A. mellifera, the sensitivity of the two species to neonicotinoids are not associated with their body mass but depended on the chemical structure of neonicotinoids. To dinotefuran, the two species showed similar sensitivity. To acetamiprid, A. mellifera was less sensitive than A. cerana. However, to imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, A. mellifera was more sensitive than A. cerana. These results suggested that the sensitivity of honey bees to neonicotinoids is closely associated with the structure of pesticides, but not with the body mass of bees. It is also indicated that the hazards of pesticides to the different pollinators could not be inferred from one species to another.