A variety of birds flock the recovered stream within 48 hours

For the past couple of weeks Rakesh Kumar with his borrowed binoculars and relentless patience has been busy tracking and keeping record of the varieties and number of birds that have begun to flock to a small water body inside a park in Dwarka's Pochanpur village. The water body that has become home to the winged visitors has been revived in a park maintained by the Delhi Development Authority.

‘Spread of the Bt gene could make brinjal a problematic weed'

An independent enquiry has revealed that the cultivation of genetically engineered (GE, also called genetically modified, or GM) Bt brinjal poses risks to the environment and possibly to human health. The occurrence of wild, weedy and also cultivated relatives presents a likelihood that the GE Bt gene will spread to these relatives but, so far, this has largely been overlooked in the risk assessments for GE Bt brinjal, it says.

Task force is involving forest-dwellers and farmers to protect biodiversity

Ananth Hegde Ashisar, chairman of the Western Ghats Task Force, said on Monday that the task force was drawing farmers, forest-dwellers and students to join it in its drive to protect biodiversity in the Western Ghats.

Exotic plant species, unsustainable constructions among challenges: survey. Introduction of exotic species, reckless harvesting of plant resources, and ecologically unsustainable methods of construction are threatening the fragile ecosystem and rich biodiversity in Idamalakkudy, the only tribal panchayat in Kerala, located in Idukki district.

A week-long biodiversity assessment programme conducted by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board revealed that the community, spread over 28 settlements in Idamalakkudy, was facing a threat to its sustainable method of living from external factors.

Help of local self-government institutions to be sought

The Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) is preparing to launch a campaign highlighting the need to prevent the destruction of plants during sanitation drives taken up by local self-government institutions.Board chairman R.V. Varma told The Hindu that directions would be communicated to local bodies to sensitise workers engaged for projects taken up under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) .

A team of researchers from the University of Calicut has discovered a new species of wild ginger endemic to the Silent Valley National Park on the Western Ghats, one of the biodiversity hotspots in India.

The discovery, reported by M. Sabu, V.P. Thomas, and K.M. Prabhu Kumar of the Department of Botany, has been published in a recent issue of Phytokeys , a journal on biodiversity research. The new species, named Amomum nilgiricum , is a member of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae) consisting of 53 genera and over 1,200 species, many of which are widely used as spices, in medical formulations, or simply for decoration.

The hydel project will cause loss of biodiversity and significant environmental impact