Similipal Biosphere Reserve (SBR) is a tropical moist deciduous forest dominated by the species Shorea robusta . To the best of our knowledge their rich biodiversity has not been explored in term of its microbial wealth. In the present investigation, soil samples were collected from ten selected sites inside SBR and studied for their physicochemical parameters and culturable soil fungal diversi...

To the Editor: Alter et al. (1) use estimates of genetic diversity in eastern North Pacific gray whales, Eschrichtius robustus, to infer historic levels of abundance of this species in the North Pacific. However, the expected level of genetic diversity within local populations connected by gene flow to other populations is that of the global population (2). Alter et al. (1) assessed the possibl...

Successful extension of agroforestry to areas of the semi-arid tropics where deep reserves of water exist requires that the tree species be complementary to the associated crops in their use of water within the crop rooting zone. However, it is difficult to identify trees suitable for dryland agroforestry because most existing techniques for determining water uptake by roots cannot distinguish ...

in Eastern and Central Nepal. Despite the current situation of the Mikania invasion, quantitative data on the impacts and scale of the problems are lacking for the country. Due to the lack of information regarding scale of invasion, the stakeholders have not put forwarded the proper control mechanism of the species. This paper has made an attempt to analyze the scale of invasion through the com...

Rotylenchus castilloi n. sp., a new bisexual species is described and illustrated based on morphological, morphometric and molecular data. The new species is characterised by having a hemispherical, continuous lip region with an irregular corncob-like appearance under SEM, very long stylet (62-68 µm), vulva located at 49.7-62.2% of body length from anterior end, with a protruding double epiptyg...

Human population pressures upon land resources have increased the need to assess impacts of land use change on soil quality. In order to assess effects of land use changes on soil quality properties in a tropical forest ecosystem of Bangladesh, soil samples were collected from adjacent well-stocked Shorea robusta natural forest, land reforested with Acacia, grassland and cultivated land. Land u...

Tree root pruning is a potential tool for managing belowground competition when trees and crops are grown together in agroforestry systems. We investigated the effects of tree root pruning on shoot growth and root distribution of Alnus acuminata (H.B. & K.), Casuarina equisetifolia L., Grevillea robusta A. Cunn. ex R. Br., Maesopsis eminii Engl. and Markhamia lutea (Benth.) K. Schum. and on yie...

There are a number of reports in the literature of allergic contact dermatitis as a result of exposure to the sawdust and plant parts of Grevillea robusta. While this tree is prevalent in New Zealand, there seems to have been no previous published accounts of contact dermatitis, although anecdotal evidence indicates that such cases may be common. Two brief case reports are provided regarding se...