Soil organic carbon (SOC) is the largest among three major carbon pools of global ecosystems. During the past few years, global warming and forcible land-use changes have resulted in a huge loss of this major carbon pool and as a consequence, concentration of atmospheric CO2 has increased. To mitigate the potential risks arising from atmospheric abundance of CO2, adoption of carbon sequestration strategies at different landscape scales is a major option. For this

Rajasthan is the largest state of India experiencing recurrent forest fires. The present study determines forest burnt areas through remote sensing-based time series analysis. IRS P6 AWiFS satellite data covering March, April and May of six years (2005–2010) were used to cover all forest-fire events. The total forest burnt area was assessed as 53,023.5 ha in 2005; 44,681.5 ha in 2006; 57,689 ha in 2007; 89,655.2 ha in 2008; 199,837 ha in 2009 and 144,816 ha in 2010. Forest fires were observed only in the southern Aravallis.

Clay minerals are natural materials well known for their role in retention and persistence of organic and inorganic compounds in soil. Clay minerals are being modified through different processes to alter their charge and surface properties tailored for specific purposes. Modified clays in general include pillared layered clays, organoclays, nanocomposites, acid and salt-induced and thermally and mechanically induced modified clays. Pillared organoclays and nanocomposites constitute a novel class of materials, mainly one kind of modification of expanding 2 : 1 clay minerals.

Rice and wheat, being the staple food, play a crucial role in the food security of India. Increase in temperature, atmospheric greenhouse gases, and soil degradation and competition for land and water resources will have multiple impacts on the rice–wheat cropping system of northwest India.

‘Jhum kheti’, commonly known as slashand-burn or shifting cultivation, is the most predominant farming system practised by the hilly communities of North East (NE) India, where the jhumias transform forests into rural landscapes. This farming system still persists and plays an important role in providing subsistence livelihoods to at least 300–500 million people worldwide, which is intricately linked to socio-cultural, ecological and economic aspects of the ethnic hill communities. (Correspondence) .

The subject of the ‘mixed bag’, which proposes non-Bt-cotton seeds be mixed with Bt-cotton seeds in the same bag, has raised an interesting debate in this journal. It was flagged by Hanur, who recommended that the mixed bag should be allowed in India. He made this proposal pointing out that the extent of adoption of structured refuge in this country was unsatisfactory. Later, Muralimohan and Srinivasa conveyed their reservations against the recommendation.

Book Review - Biodiversity of Sikkim: Exploring and Conserving a Global Hotspot. M. L.Arrawatia and Sandeep Tambe (eds).

The earthquake and tsunami of 2004 resulted in the devastation of marine and coastal ecosystems across the Indian Ocean. However, without adequate baseline information it has been difficult to properly gauge its full impact. The reefs of the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal lie on a path that ranges from 190 to 500 km from Banda Aceh, the epicentre of the 2004 tsunami. In 2008, we recorded benthic damage as a result of the tsunami to reefs off 14 Nicobar Islands across a gradient of distance from the epicentre.

Pollen record of an AMS radiocarbon dated lacustrine sediment profile underlying the Chandra peat deposit in Himachal Pradesh, yielded signatures of the globally reported Younger Dryas (YD) cold event. This report of the YD event in NW Himalaya, substantiated by mineral magnetic variations, also records significant wet and warm conditions prior to 12,880 cal yrs BP, depicting the Ållerød interstadial preceding YD.

We have utilized satellite images of 1975 and 2001 to reveal the slow response of glaciers to climatic warming in the Great Himalayan Range, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Correlation of various glacier morphometric parameters with reference to glacier area change and shift in the snout position revealed that morphometric parameters exert prime control on area changes over glaciers, but do not have much control on the snout retreat or advancement of glaciers. The