Species diversity of adult odonata in selected areas of Lanao Del Sur, Philippines - JBES

• Fathma Aliah Dimapinto1, Olga M. Nuñeza1*, Reagan Joseph T. Villanueva2

1. Department of Biological Sciences, Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology, Iligan City, 9200, Philippines
2. Forestal Healing Homes and Therapeutic Milieu, Forestal Road, Cabantian, Davao City, 8000 Philippines

Odonata (dragonfly and damselfly) plays an important role in the ecosystem. It is considered an indicator group in determining fluvial habitat status. Fieldwork in selected areas in Lanao del Sur was conducted to determine the Odonata fauna present in the area. Adult Odonata samples were collected using sweep netting and hand-picking methods from four sampling sites. Biodiversity indices, similarity index, and canonical correspondence analysis were determined using Paleontological Statistics Software Package (PAST) version 2.17c. Twenty-one species (10 damselflies and 11 dragonflies) were documented with relatively low endemism of 42.86%.

High relative abundance of 37.28% was observed in site 4. Sites 1 and 3 were observed to have high species diversity while sites 2 and 4 had moderate species diversity. There was a more or less even species distribution in the areas sampled. The dominance of Pseudagrion pilidorsum pilidorsum was recorded in Marawi City. Canonical correspondence analysis showed that environmental factors such as elevation, air temperature, and relative humidity affect the abundance of species. It appears that human-induced activities limit the occurrence and abundance of the Odonata, especially the endemic species. This article originally published at: Volume 6, Number 5, May 2015 – JBES

Journal Name: Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences (JBES)

Publication Name: International Network For Natural Sciences (INNSPUB)

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Composition of farmyard chicken, production practices and season effect on the reproductive parameters of local hens in the regions of Eastern Chad - IJAAR

• Mopate Logtene Youssouf1*, Zeuh Vounparet2, Issa Adoum Youssouf3

1. Zootechnical and Veterinary Research Laboratory, NDjamena, P.O.Box. 433, Chad
2. Livestock Polytechnic Institute of Moussoro, Moussoro, Chad
3. University Institute of Sciences and Techniques, Abeche, Chad

This study was about the composition of the farmyard chicken, to evaluate the production practices and the reproduction performance of the hens of the Eastern Chad .The transversal retrospective survey covered 113 villages chosen at random in 12 Departments of three (3) regions (Wadi Fira, Ouaddai and Salamat). It was about 732 chicken farms with a total number of 18197 chickens. The average number per chicken farm was 25±17 chickens.The females were 62% of the total number and the males 38%. The sex ratio was 4.7 in favor of the females. 

The hen houses with a roof were the majority (95%) among the ones with no roof (5%). Many producers (91%) distributed the cereal ban in some troughs for the chicks and 98% of the grains were thrown straight on the floor for the young chickens and the adult ones. The average total number of the hens clutch per year was 3.6±0.7 and the average total number of eggs per hen clutch was 11.7±1.7. The yearly average production was 41±9 eggs;  the average hatching rate was 86.6% and the average survival rate when chicks were two months was 60%. According to the seasons, the low reproduction performances were noted during the dry hot season (P<0.05). The loss was important after the weaning. Some practices aiming to reduce that loss would permit the numerical increase of the numbers. The characterization of the initial state of the hens production allows to evaluate the  impact of the improvement and innovation practices which were introduced in the concerned regions.

Source of Articles: Volume 4, Number 1, January 2014 – IJAAR

Journal Name: International Journal of Agronomy and Agricultural Research (IJAAR)

Publication Name: International Network For Natural Sciences (INNSPUB)

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Management of root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne spp.) on okra (Abelmoschus esculuntus (L.) Moench) with aqueous sesame seed extract - IJAAR

• Frederick Kankam, Elias Nortaa Kunedeb Sowley*, Mohammed Alhassan

1. Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana

Abstract

Okra (Abelmoschus esculuntus (L.) Moench) is a popular vegetable in Ghana but its production is limited by nematode infestation of soils. Pot experiments were carried out in a plant house at the Nyankpala campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale to assess the effect of aqueous sesame seed extract on rootknot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) of okra. 

The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with each of the four treatments replicated four times.Treatments consisted of three levels of sesame seed extract (10, 20 and 30 g/50ml) per pot and a control (0 g/50ml).All pots were inoculated with 1000 root-knot nematode eggs a week before the application of the treatments. Data collected included plant height, number of leaves, stem girth, fruit weight, fresh root weight, number of fruits, nematode eggs per 50 g of fresh soil and root galling index.

The results showed that aqueous extract of S. indicum at 30 g/50 ml (w/v) suppressed root-knot nematodes better than the control. Similarly, okra plants treated with S. indicum had the lowest infection index (root gall). There were significant differences (P<0.05) among the treatment means for number of fruits and fruit weight of okra between aqueous sesame seed extract at 30 g/50 ml and the control. Yield of okra can be enhanced and nematode population reduced through the application of sesame seed extract preferably at 30 g/50ml

Source of Articles: Volume 6, Number 4, April 2015 – IJAAR

Journal Name: International Journal of Agronomy and Agricultural Research (IJAAR)

Publication Name: International Network For Natural Sciences (INNSPUB)

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Investigation of environmental effective factors to distribution of Salvia officinalis (case study: Ghohroud watershed in Kashan, Iran)

Salvia officinalis

• Mojtaba Akhavan Armaki

1. Young Researchers and Elite club, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran

Abstract

This research aims to study the existing relationships between the phytosociology characteristics of Salvia officinalis and environmental factors in order to find the most important factors governing the development of the species in middle Ghohroud rangelands, Iran. Subsequent to indicating the study region, the required flora and environmental data were collected by field survey. Plot size and sample size were determined by minimum area and vegetation procedure methods, using 40 plots along four 100 m transects. The characteristics including floristic list, percentage of canopy cover, number of plants as well as height, the largest and smallest diameter, and freshness of S. officinalis were recorded.

Likewise, bare soil percentage, litter percentage, and stone and gravel percentage of topsoil were recorded in each plot. Moreover, in order to study the soil features, eight soil profiles were taken at each site up to 30 cm depth at the beginning and end of each transect. Classification of vegetation cover was performed by TWINSPAN analysis while factors influencing the change in vegetation characteristics of S. officinalis were determined by PCA analysis. Results demonstrated that factors involving slope, altitude, organic matter, lime content, nitrogen content and soil texture show the highest impact on vegetation characteristics. Overall, variables including elevation ranging between 2300-2500 m, slope in the range of 20% - 40%, and fertile sandy loam textured soils in the presence of nitrogen and high organic matter content as well as low lime content provide the most suitable condition to develop a high production T. kotschyanus.

 

Journal Name: Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences (JBES)

Publication Name: International Network For Natural Sciences (INNSPUB)

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Significance of Trianthema portulacastrum L. in sustenance of Apis florea colonies during dearth period - IJB

• Ujjwal Layek1, Prakash Karmakar2*, Pankaj Kumar Pal3

1. Department of Botany & Forestry, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, India (1 & 2)
2. Department of Botany, The University of Burdwan, Burdwan, India

Abstract

The paper reports flowering phenology, floral visitors of Trianthema portulacastrum and melissopalynological analyses of 8 honey samples and 374 pollen loads of Apis florea, collected during May to August from Bankura district, West Bengal. T. portulacastrum flowers during April to October. Flowers open at 6.30-7.00 am in the morning. Anther dehiscence takes place after 30 minutes from flower opening. Closing of the flower takes place at about 11.30 am – 12.15 pm.

During the opening phase of the flower, a number of visitors viz. Apis cerana, A. florea, Augochloropsis metallica, Halictus sp., Pseudoborbo bevani and Trigona iridipennis visit the flower for nectar or pollen. Melissopalynological analyses revealed that all the honey samples were multifloral in origin and T. portulacastrum present in all the honey samples. Regarding the pollen foraging scenario of the bee species, T. portulacastrum also played an important role during those months. The overall result reflects the importance of T. portulacastrum as a major source of both nectar and pollen grains for A. florea colonies during dearth period.

Source of Articles: Volume 7, Number 1, July 2015 – IJB

Journal Name: International Journal of Biosciences - IJB

Publication Name: International Network For Natural Sciences (INNSPUB)

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Assessment of the vegetation cover of northern high mountains in Jordan - JBES

• Dawud MH Al-Eisawi 1*, Sawsan AS Oran2

Dept. of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, The University of Jordan, Amman, 11942 – Jordan

The vegetation cover of the northern mountains of Jordan was investigated and surveyed. Line transects sampling method as well as walking through methods have been applied in this study. A total area of 15x80 km was studied and divided into grid system, and thus the selected grids have been used for the line transect sampling. The study showed that the natural forest of Aleppo pine, evergreen oak forest, deciduous oak forest, degraded forest and manmade Aleppo pine forest areas are suffering from man interference and continuous encroachment for the uses of agriculture, urbanization, grazing, fire and querying.

The available plant species under forest were collected and herbarium specimens are prepared and deposited. Analysis parameters such as density (D), relative density (RD), frequency (F), relative frequency (RF), abundance (A), relative abundance (RA) and the importance value (IV) are studied. The values of the parameters are recorded for all species, but since the number of collected species is more than 500, then these parameters are listed for the highest 20 species to show clear image about the most dominant and the most abundant and other parameters. From the quantitative ecological analysis using various parameters, the species recoded as having the highest values such as Quercus coccifera, Sarcopoterium spinosum, Asphodelus aestivus, Eryngium creticum, Ononis natrix and others confirm that the study area falls within a Mediterranean biogeographic zone in Jordan. Based on the obtained results, it is highly recommended thus to exert maximum efforts to conserve such limited forest cover, since Jordan, is classified as a country with dry to semidry ecosystem. In addition some of the rare and endemic recorded species occur only under forest cover, particularly the orchid species. This articles originally published at: Volume 6, Number 5, May 2015 – JBES

Journal Name: Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences (JBES)

Publication Name: International Network For Natural Sciences (INNSPUB)

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