Pollination often brings to mind bees and butterflies and long-beaked sunbirds buzzing about fragrant flowers, hungry for nectar. But a largely unrecognised fact is the role of lesser glamorous beetles…
Previous research has examined the impact of invasive plant species on the diversity, population dynamics and richness of native woody species and its impact on wildlife and ecosystems. However, a recent study…
In the right conditions, a liana — a long-stemmed, woody vine — can opportunistically ride up a tree and smother it as it climbs to the forest canopy. The plant…
At the turn of the millennium, Kodaikanal, a quaint South Indian hill town in Tamil Nadu, found itself engulfed in angst as protests erupted across various parts of the town.…
Once firm in their base camps on the lower reaches of the mountains, alpine treelines in the Himalayas and Hengduan regions are now in a slow-motion race towards the mountaintops…
The Gujarat forest department, in September last year, banned the Conocarpus tree species in forest and non-forest areas such as nurseries and plantations, citing harm to the environment and human…
During a field visit in the Kumaon region of the Central Himalayas, a team of researchers was surprised to find clusters of white flowers growing on dead tree trunks and…
Early snow-melting triggers complex responses in alpine plant species, influencing traits like leaf composition and resource acquisition strategies, a recent study finds. The study analysed species’ response to experimentally induced…
In 2009, with hopes to curb the spread of the vibrant flowering shrub lantana (Lantana camara), one of the world’s worst invasive species, the NGO Shola Trust started a long…
In 1986, the Kerala forest department took a decision that they would come to regret decades later. The social forestry wing of the department raised a few saplings, planted them…
“It is just like a human being,” said Mahipatsinh Sodha, a farmer from Gujarat’s Kachchh district, about guggal, a native plant species in the region, which the International Union for…
The spread of invasive species is one of the five major threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services. These animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms, that establish themselves in an environment outside…
There were once 188 orchid species known to science found in Bangladesh. In the last few decades, 32 of them went extinct, according to a 2020 study. Theocostele alata, Anoectochilus roxburghii,…
A recent study has revealed that most gymnosperm species that thrive in cold, high-elevation areas in northwestern Himalayas in Jammu and Kashmir may be at higher risk of losing their…
On August 3, 2021, a flood washed over several villages in the Bundelkhand region of central India. It is speculated that this flood was caused by the unprecedented rainfall coupled…
Botanist Pervaiz Dar spent a good amount of time in 2012 and 2017 squatting and walking along roadsides in Kashmir, including at mountain pass Sinthan Top, surveying invasive alien plant…
The dazzling yellow bloom of the gul toor, has been a sight to soothe sore eyes in Kashmir. After a protracted winter where this colour is largely missing, this yellow…
Mass flowering is an enchanting phenomenon that occurs across the world. In India, the neelakurinji (Strobilanthes kunthiana) bloom, where swathes of the landscape become carpeted in flowers, is a well-known…
Climate change will worsen the spread of invasive species that tend to show a robust resilience to warming and spread across landscapes, scientists report. A team from the Institute of…
Who can forget the image of Tarzan swinging from tree to tree, crossing streams hanging on woody vines? Tarzan's natural bridges and ladders in the forest are a category of…