Pollinator Diversity in Bitter Gourd Ecosystem in the Central Tamil Nadu, India | Chapter 3 | Research Perspective on Biological Science Vol. 8

 

Bitter gourd is a tropical vine belonging to the family Cucubitaceae grown mainly in India, China and Southeast Asia. The past two decades have seen unprecedented interest in pollinators and pollination ecology, stimulated in part by concerns about the decline of pollinator abundance and diversity in some parts of the world. Bees are the most studied and utilised pollinators for cucurbit crops throughout the world and provide the greatest contribution to the pollination of cucurbits. The study aimed to document the diversity of insects (floral visitors/pollinators) visiting bitter gourd flowers. A total of 51 species of flower visitors/pollinators were recorded visiting the bitter gourd flowers when recorded from 000 to 1800 hours during the day time, for various needs like the pollen and nectar rewards, to prey on the flower visitors, and to feed on the flowers too. Field surveys were conducted at weekly intervals in two locations in Tiruchirapalli district, Tamilnadu to study the diversity of insects visiting bitter gourd flowers. This includes 19 Hymenopteran insects, 15 Lepidopterans, seven Dipterans and six Coleopterans. Tetragonula iridipennis was the most abundant pollinator, followed by Apis florea, Halictus sp. and Apis cerana indica; while Syrphus ribesii was the dominating Dipteran pollinator. Among the Lepidopterans, Pachliopta hector was the major pollinator, followed by Danaus chrysippus, Tirumala limniace and Delias eucharis. Species richness (S) was at its maximum (26 species) at 0800 – 1000 hours and minimum (07 species) at 1600-1800 hours. Diversity indices were also calculated based on the data, which shows the distribution of a specific group of pollinators at particular hours of the day. All the indices represented the even and uniform distribution of the pollinator groups. Shannon’s and Simpson’s diversity indices were maximum at 1000-1200 hours with 2.52 and 9.18, respectively. Shannon’s evenness ranged from 0.44 – 0.86, and Simpson’s evenness was 0.28 – 0.54 with a maximum at 1000-1200 hours. The study suggests that pesticide applications should be avoided during morning hours to conserve pollinator populations and optimise pollination services in bitter gourd cultivation.

 

 

Author(s) Details

 

Yogapriya Adaikkan
School of Agriculture and Animal Sciences, The Gandhigram Rural Institute - DTBU, Gandhigram, Dindigul, Tamil Nadu, India.

 

B. Usharani
Department of Agricultural Entomology, Agricultural college and Research Institute, TNAU – Madurai, India.

 

K. Suresh
ICAR-KVK, Agricultural College and Research Institute, TNAU – Madurai, India.

 

Please see the book here :- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/rpbs/v8/6400

 

Floral Resource Availability of Key Afromontane Trees as Predictors of Sunbird Distribution and Abundance in Ngel Nyaki Forest, Nigeria | Chapter 8 | Research Perspective on Biological Science Vol. 6

 

Background: Species diversity is an important indicator of ecosystem productivity and trophic structure. The distribution of birds in different habitats depends largely on the availability of critical resources. Birds contribute substantially to the overall species richness of West African forests, currently recognised as biodiversity hotspots of global importance. Birds mirror changes in other biodiversity (for example, other animals and plants) and are highly responsive and sensitive to environmental change, making them very useful in studies designed to address the effects of human and other environmental disturbances on community stability and productivity.

 

Aim: The study assessed the abundance and diversity of sunbird species at Ngel Nyaki forest reserve, Taraba State, Nigeria. during and after peak periods of flowering of key bird-visited tree species.

 

Methods: The study was conducted at Ngel Nyaki Forest Reserve. The line transect method was used to assess sunbird species abundance and distribution. A pair of Nikon binoculars (8 x 10) was used to confirm the identity of birds located by eye. Mist-nets placed strategically in places of high abundance and diversity of floral resources were used to capture and identify sunbird species that eluded observers during focal observations. Nineteen (19) transects cutting across two distinct habitat classes were used to record the abundance and diversity of sunbird species. Data were analysed using SPSS version 15.0 (2013) and Excel. Specific analyses include: An Independent sample T-test was used to compare the differences in diversity between the two habitat classes.

 

Results: A total of 3,035 individuals from 11 species, drawn from 8 genera in the Nectrinidae family, were sighted and recorded during 1680 minutes (28 hrs) of focal observation. Sixteen (16) Afro-tropical tree species were sampled for interactions between sunbird species and their floral resources. Ninety-nine (99) individuals of 8 sunbird species were captured after about 209 hours and 4 minutes of trapping. Bird traps revealed three species that were not seen during focal observations. Results indicated that the reserve accounts for about 46.2 % of the total species of sunbirds in Nigeria and about 36.4% in the West African sub-region. The distribution and relative abundance of C. venustrus at the edge compared to the fragment may also be an indication of its sensitivity and vulnerability to fragmented landscapes such as the riparian fragments of Ngel Nyaki.

 

Conclusion: Although a greater total number of individual sunbirds of various species were sighted in the Core forest than in the riparian fragments, sunbird species diversity did not differ significantly between the two habitat classes.  Floral resources and flowering phenology appear to be major drivers in the distribution and abundance of sunbird species at Ngel Nyaki Forest Reserve.

 

 

Author(s) Details

 

Charles Ayuk Nsor
Department of Biological Sciences, Gombe State University, Gombe, Nigeria.

 

Hazel M. Chapman
School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.

 

William Godsoe
Bio-Protection Centre, Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand.

 

Amina Haruna Aliyu
Department of Biological Sciences, Gombe State University, Gombe, Nigeria.

 

Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/rpbs/v6/5936

Spider Diversity (Arachnida: Araneae) at Sree Krishna College Campus, Thrissur (Dist), Kerala, India | Chapter 9 | Innovations in Biological Science Vol. 9

 

Spiders are the most diverse groups of censoriously analysed biological species in diversity on the planet. The present study surveyed and listed out the spider fauna inside the campus of Sree Krishna College, Kerala, India to reveal the distribution and diversity of spider fauna. There were 51 species of spiders belonging to 37 genera of 14 families collected from different locales of Sree Krishna college campus. For the study the entire campus has been surveyed, by dividing the area into four sites, Site A (main block of the campus), Site B (south region of the campus), Site C (botanical garden) and Site D (the women’s hostel and its premises). Site C showed the highest species richness and the lowest species richness was recorded from Site B. Salticidae was the dominant family with twelve species followed by Araneidae (10 sps.), Oxyopidae (5 sps.), Theridiidae (4 sps.), Lycosidae, (3 sps.), Tetragnathidae (3 sps.) and Sparassidae (3 sps.), Thomisidae (2 sps.), Pholcidae (2 sps.). But, a single species of spider has been identified within the families Hersilidae, Linyphiidae, Uloboridae, Cheiracanthiidae, and Sicariidae. Diversity indices, including evenness, richness, and diversity, were calculated. The evaluated values for the Shannon, Simpson, Margalef Richness, Berger-Parker, and Menhinick's indices were 3.423, 0.9580, 9.540, 0.9101, and 3.709, respectively. It is concluded that the study site had a good abundance and evenness index (e = 0.871). There was variation in the distribution of the various spider species, as indicated by their abundance and % occurrence. Seven functional groups were identified by analysing the guild structure of the spiders that were collected: stalkers (32.28%), orb-web builders (31.75%), space-web builders (15.87%), foliage runners (13.76), ground runners (3.70%), ambushers (1.59%), and wandering sheet-web builders (1.06%). This work establishes a biodiversity database to support future investigations into the spider fauna and provides useful data on the predominance of the spider population in the study area.

 

Author(s) Details

Raji R.
Department of Zoology, Sree Krishna College, Ariyannur, 680102, Thrissur, Kerala, India.

 

Aja M.
Department of Zoology, Sree Krishna College, Ariyannur, 680102, Thrissur, Kerala, India.

 

Jaya M.
Department of Zoology, Sree Kerala Varma College, Thrissur, Kerala, India.

 

 

Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/ibs/v9/1447

Beach-shore Plastic Pollution Along the Limbe Coastline, Cameroon: Using Quantitative Analysis | Chapter 8 | Emerging Issues in Environment, Geography and Earth Science Vol. 8

In recent years, increased interest in investigating the accumulation of sized ranged plastic debris has been observed on beaches along coastlines. The abundance and distribution of the 4M’s sized class plastic debris were quantitatively assessed on five sandy beaches, in Cameroon. Duplicates of 2 × 2 m (4m2) quadrants were sampled in each beach/month with a total of 80 quadrants. Collected plastic samples were washed, sieved and dried. Particles of size, ≥2 mm, were sorted and measured using a 30 cm ruler, and converted to mm. Overall, 12,822 particles by number (530.59 g) with a mean abundance of 40.07 items/m2 (1.66 g/m2) plastic debris was recorded. ANOVA (p = 0.05) shows a linear relationship between the meso- and micro-sized classes with significantly higher abundance recorded in LDB sites. The highest abundance by weight was recorded in August and June numerically. 80% of the plastic particles were between the size range, of 5 - 20 mm by number and 6 - 100 mm by weight. Moreover, in all beaches micro-sized class plastics were dominated by number 42.40% with fragmented debris dominant, in number/weight, 54.86% (25.69%) while meso-sized class plastics were 29.28% dominated by weight, with fragmented debris type, the most prevalence in number and weight as 46.11% (26.18%). On average, color and shape fractions revealed, colored (singly; white color plastics had the highest with 48.87±22.87 items/m2 (1.83±0.23 g/m2)) and irregularly shaped plastics were dominant with an abundance of 80.45 ± 18.17 items/m2 (2.58 ± 0.68 g/m2) and 47.24 ± 20.40 items/m2 (1.39 ± 0.66 g/m2). Finally, the 0.0001 g plastic debris was dominant with a concentration, of 33.68 ± 7.23 items/m2. The intense use of beaches for recreation and poor waste disposal has increased the potential for plastic contamination.

Author(s) Details:

Eric Esongami Ndumbe,
Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, P.O. Box 63, Molyko-Buea, Cameroon.

Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/EIEGES-V8/article/view/13708

Variation of Density and Biomass of the Ichthyofauna Associated to Soft Bottoms of a Western Coastal Lagoon of B.C.S., Mexico: A Recent Study | Chapter 6 | Research Aspects in Biological Science Vol. 3

From November 2016 to September 2017, a study of the variance in density and biomass of fish populations in the lagoon of La Paz, Mexico, was done. A total of 2763 organisms were gathered in an area of 5022 m2 with a total biomass of 211,422.93 g, a density and biomass of 0.550 lnd/m2 and 44.091 g/m2, respectively. The highest biomass was found in Zacatecas (11.179 g/m2), which is located north of the lagoon, while the lowest biomass was found in Grand Plaza (2.732 g/m2). The highest density was found in Yate Hundido, located northwest of the lagoon (0.129 lnd/m2), while the lowest was found at Las Palmas, located north of the lagoon (0.036 lnd/m2). The most common species was Diapterus peruvianus. with 683 individuals and 37,507.57 g of biomass The physicochemical parameters indicated two seasons with substantial variation, with higher summer temperatures (average of 27.45°C.) and lower winter temperatures (average of 22.49°C.). The Shannon-Weaver diversity index (H' = 2.133 bits/ind) showed a month-to-month difference (p = 0.050), with the highest value (H' = 2.133 bits/ind) in April and the lowest value (H' = 1.041 bits/ind) in June. The overall goal was to determine the biomass and density of resident and transitory fish species in the La Paz lagoon, and it was discovered that the biomass and density values recorded in the lagoon were linked to the spatio-temporal variation of the lagoon's temperature, as well as the resident and transient species found there the research field.

Author(s) Details:

Bruma R. Castillo-Rosas,
Departamento Académico de Ciencias Marinas y Costeras, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, CP 23080, La Paz, B.C.S. México.

Emelio Barjau-González,
Departamento Académico de Ciencias Marinas y Costeras, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, CP 23080, La Paz, B.C.S. México.

Juan Manuel López-Viva,
Departamento Académico de Ciencias Marinas y Costeras, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, CP 23080, La Paz, B.C.S. México.

José Ángel Armenta-Quintana,
Departamento Académico de Ciencia Animal y Conservación del Hábitat, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, CP 23080, La Paz, B.C.S, Mexico.

Javier Aguilar-Parra,
Departamento Academico de Sistemas Computacionales, Universidad Autonoma de Baja California Sur, CP 23080, La Paz, B.C.S, Mexico.

Elvia E. Aispuro-Felix,
Departamento Academico de Sistemas Computacionales, Universidad Autonoma de Baja California Sur, CP 23080, La Paz, B.C.S, Mexico.

Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/RABS-V3/article/view/7048

Estimation of the Wild Boar Population in Southern Italian Apennines by Pellet Count Group Technic: A Preliminary Study | Chapter 05 | Emerging Challenges in Environment and Earth Science Vol. 2

 Today, the evolution of wild ungulates is one of the most significant developments in Italian wildlife over the previous few decades. Damage caused by wild boars has increased substantially in recent decades, amounting to hundreds of thousands of Euros annually in various European nations. Knowing the location, abundance, and population dynamics of wild boar (Sus scrofa) is critical for proper management, especially given its impact on the natural and agricultural ecosystem. This research presents a wild boar population estimate for a study area in the Italian Apennines' south / south-eastern region. Using GiS software and the Pellet Count Group technique, the census technique was planned through field inspections and cartographic elaborations. The Pellet Group's findings were recorded on customised field cards. 12 Pellets Group was discovered after crossing 7.010 linear metres and 14.020 m2. The existence of around 7/8 creatures per 100 ha was found using this information and knowing the extent of each given habitat. These densities, calculated based on the number of hectares in each investigated habitat, imply the presence of 187 to 164 animals. Given that the ideal density for the study region would be around 47 animals per 100 ha, the actual density exceeds these values by a large margin. As a result, the Park's population should be lowered by establishing a true census plan based on various sorts of censuses conducted over multiple years.

Author(S) Details

Di Brita Aldo
Department of Agriculture, Environment and Feeds, Molise University, 86100 Campobasso (I), Italy.

Miraglia Nicoletta
Department of Agriculture, Environment and Feeds, Molise University, 86100 Campobasso (I), Italy.

View Book:- https://stm.bookpi.org/ECEES-V2/article/view/5734

Assessment of Abundance, Diversity and Distribution of Freshwater Fishes of Tropical Rainforest Rivers, Southeast Nigeria | Chapter 13 | New Visions in Biological Science Vol. 7

 From January to December 2013, three stations along the Oramiri-Ukwa River were studied to determine the fish variety and distribution. The examination uncovered the presence of 25 fish species from 16 different families. Local fishermen assisted in collecting fish samples twice a month using hook and line, Gill net, cast net, Bagnet, and local traps. Tilapia zilli was the most prevalent and highest-caught species, accounting for 12.5 percent of the total catch. The smallest species were Brycinus leuciscus, Fundulopanchax gardneri, Petrocephalus bane bane, Parailia pellucida, Malapterurus electricus, Polypterus senegalus, Parachanna africana, and Shilbe mystus. Shannon-Weiner (H), Simpson's index of dominance (D), and Simpson's index of diversity (1-D) were 0.0083, 0.0028, 0.084 and 0.027, 0.091, 0.281 and 0.973, 0.909, 0.719 for the three stations, respectively. According to the findings, increased human activities are limiting fish variety and distribution in the studied area. This is because the study's species composition was lower than that of other studies in the same body of water. To sustain the ecosystem's environmental health and integrity, autogenic and anthropogenic risks, as well as detrimental activities that predispose fish species to extinction within the river's floodplain and catchment area, should be submitted to environmental inspection.

Author(S) Details

G. S. Adaka
Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B.1526, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.

View Book:- https://stm.bookpi.org/NVBS-V7/article/view/5178

Distribution of Proteoforms Numbers in a Human Cell according to Their Abundance is Following Zipf’s Law | Chapter 7 | Current Advances in Chemistry and Biochemistry Vol. 3

 The complex functional mechanisms of the cellular proteome are provided by the collaboration of thousands of protein components, protein species/proteoforms. Although recent methods do not yet enable us to obtain a complete picture of this collaboration, they do allow us to create a description of the proteome size and quantitative distribution of proteoforms within the proteome. We investigated the quantitative distribution of different proteoforms in human cells using 2DE analysis, accompanied by protein staining and ESI LC-MS/MS analysis. We looked at many human cancer cell lines (HepG2, glioblastoma, MCF7) as well as primary liver cells from tissue samples and discovered that Zipf's law describes the relationship between the number of proteoforms and their abundance:

y = ax^-1                                                                                                                                                     (1),

where y stands for the number of proteoforms (N), x stands for the abundance. In the case where the abundance is expressed as %V, and a = 14, the final equation is:

N=14/%V                                                                                                                                                              (2).
It is highly likely that this type of distribution reflects the fundamental functional organization of the human cellular proteome since it is the same in all types of cells analyzed.

Author(s) Details

Stanislav Naryzhny
Orekhovich Institute of Biomedical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Pogodinskaya 10, Moscow, 119121, Russia and B. P. Konstantinov Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, National Research Center 'Kurchatov Institute', Orlova Roscha, Gatchina, Leningrad Region, 188300, Russia.

Maria Maynskova
Orekhovich Institute of Biomedical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Pogodinskaya 10, Moscow, 119121, Russia.

Victor Zgoda
Orekhovich Institute of Biomedical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Pogodinskaya 10, Moscow, 119121, Russia.

Аlexander Archakov
Orekhovich Institute of Biomedical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Pogodinskaya 10, Moscow, 119121, Russia.

View Book :- https://stm.bookpi.org/CACB-V3/issue/view/57