Center for Environmental Sciences & Engineering

<p>Shiv Nadar University is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, research-focused, and student-centric University offering a full range of academic programs at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level. With state-of-the-art infrastructure, the University comprises of academic wings, sophisticated labs, international standard sports facilities, amphitheaters, auditorium, conference rooms and smart classrooms. The University&rsquo;s goal is to become internationally recognized for the quality of its research and creative endeavors and their applicability to improving quality of life, generating new insights and expanding the boundaries of human knowledge creativity. Committed to excellence in teaching, research and service, the University aims to serve the higher education needs of India and the world beyond.</p>

Shiv Nadar University

Botryodiplodia theobromae is the predominant fungus causing sapstain in rubberwood in Kerala, India. The fungus causes up to 12.2 percent weight loss in rubberwood over a period of sixteen weeks. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) of sapstained rubberwood provided evidence on hyphal invasion of cells by B. theobrormae through the pit region, facilitated by its ability to degrade pit membranes. The study also revealed that B. theobromae caused degradation of lignified cell walls by erosion of the cell wall surfaces of wood elements.

World University root node

Fulltext

Holzforschung

Weight loss and cell wall degradation in rubberwood caused by sapstain fungus botryodiplodia theobromae

The morphology of highly braided large alluvial stream like the Brahmaputra river is fraught with great deal of complexities. Due to the inherent intricacies involved, conventional approach for morphological modelling for a river like the Brahmaputra will not be suitable due to intricate relationships between the channel geometrical variables. In this study, an attempt has been made to apply the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) technique, to develop ANN model of Brahmaputra river to predict cross-section profile and top width. The interpolated and extrapolated cross-section profile in the past, present and future with respect to time as predicted by ANN models are found to be encouraging which merits more further study.

Water and Energy International

Modelling of Brahmaputra river cross-sections using ANN technique

KFRI Re search Report, Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi

Studies on the biodiversity of New Amarambalam reserved forests of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve

Tropical forestry research: challenges in the new millennium. Proceedings of {\ldots}

Genetic variation study in Acacia nilotica (L.) Willd. Subspecies complex using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA markers

JOURNAL OF TROPICAL FOREST PRODUCTS

Effect of humidity, temperature and wood moisture content on the growth of Botryodiplodia theobromae on rubberwood

Biodiversity of predatory acarina (Acarina: Phytoseiidae) in the Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India.

To improve the productivity, foresters have faced many problems to establish; plantations of desired characteristics. Normally forest trees are raised through seed route origin seedlings, which have lot of variation because of cross-pollination. This variation is desirable from the point of view of the pest and disease resistance, but the variation results in lower yields. If selected phenotypes are multiplied asexually, the yields can be increased. If enough care is taken to widen the genetic base of plants raised through vegetative means, risk of pest and disease can be controlled simultaneously with increasing yields. Recently, vegetative cuttings have also been tried in the plantations by Eucalyptus and Acacia in several countries and increase in yield up to 100% have been obtained. The various methods of vegetative propagation are adopted for different species; but prove to be costly because of investments in infrastructure and chemical etc. The paper describes about the cost effective, user-friendly technology for vegetative propagation of Acacia hybrid, which will help the farmer in enhancing the yield when grown on their unproductive agricultural land. Farmers themselves can produce quality seedlings by using this method for further planting.

IPPTA: Quarterly Journal of Indian Pulp and Paper Technical Association

Vegetative propagation of Acacia hybrid - A user friendly technology

Diversity and importance of vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in teak (Tectona grandis) and gomar (Gmelina arborea) plantations of Assam.

The progressive degradation of tropical forest ecosystems in many parts of the world has, in addition to undermining biodiversity conservation efforts, negatively impacted human societies and economies at the local, national and regional scales. In countries such as India facing acute shortages of highly productive agricultural land, the continued demands placed on natural forests for timber, fuelwood, fodder and a variety of other non-wood forest products are placing severe stresses on these ecosystems that exceed their capacity to recover both structurally and functionally, leading to their decline and eventual replacement by unproductive, biologically impoverished wastelands. Forest scientists have the opportunity (as well as a professional obligation) to contribute in a significant way to the reversal of forest degradation by applying the knowledge gained in recent decades to develop and promote innovative approaches to forest rehabilitation that blend local and national social and economic development goals with environmental protection objectives. In this paper, recent developments in tropical silviculture and restoration ecology are discussed with special reference to their application for rehabilitating degraded landscapes. Specifically, the role of planted forests as a tool for large-scale restoration of tropical forest ecosystems, as well as strategies that can be used to meet both socio-economic and environmental goals by adapting our current knowledge to specific local situations, are considered.

Tropical forestry research: challenges in the new millennium. Proceedings of the International Symposium, Peechi, India, 2-4 August, 2000

Restoration forestry for multiple objectives

The consequences of biotic activities with reference to exotic plant invasions were studied in natural forest and savannah and man-modified ecosystems such as Albizia plantation, rubber plantation, teak plantation and wastelands of the Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu at Kodayar in India. Exotic plants contributed to approximately 17 and 35 per cent of the total importance value indices to the plant community structure in natural and man-modified ecosystems, respectively. Lantana camara and Chromolaena odorata were found to be the dominant exotic perennial weeds in both of the ecosystems studied. The high importance value indices of exotics in the man-modified ecosystems could be attributed to frequent disturbance and resource rich transient open environment. The disturbance regime and the type of exotic plant invasions were analysed. It was found that frequent fire incidence in the ecosystem resulted in monotypic savanna grasslands. C. odorata and L. camara invaded the sites where mechanical disturbance and occasional fires occurred. The density and weed composition varied considerably in different agroecosystems and agroforestry systems practiced by 'Kani' tribals in the region. This may be due to variation in the number of weedings and light availability to the forest floor through the crop canopy cover. During the secondary succession suppression of exotic weeds in 8- and 20-year-old fallows could be attributed to light availability decreased by the larger shrubs and trees.