This is the first formal attempt to update the list of spiders described from states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The World Spider Catalogue by N. I. Platnick is followed to compile the list.

During preliminary investigation of spiders in Milam Valley, Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, the authors documented a total of 86 species/morphospecies under 39 genus and 16 families. Spider fauna in the valley was rich and diverse.

Climate change threatens species’ genetic diversity too. Much has been talked about how climate change poses risk to ecosystems and individual species. But no one has analysed how global warming will affect the genetic diversity hidden within the species. DNA studies have revealed that traditional species contain a vast amount of “cryptic” diversity—such as different lineages or even species within species. “The loss of biodiversity expected in the course of global warming has been greatly underestimated in previous studies, which have only referred to species numbers,” says Steffen Pauls.

Reliable estimates of the impacts and costs of biological invasions are critical to developing credible management, trade and regulatory policies. Worldwide, forests and urban trees provide important ecosystem services as well as economic and social benefits, but are threatened by non-native insects. More than 450 non-native forest insects are established in the United States but estimates of broad-scale economic impacts associated with these species are largely unavailable.

The establishment rate of invasive alien insect species has been increasing worldwide during the past century. This trend has been widely attributed to increased rates of international trade and associated species introductions, but rarely linked to environmental change. To better understand and manage the bioinvasion process, it is crucial to understand the relationship between global warming and establishment rate of invasive alien species, especially for poikilothermic invaders such as insects.