We assessed distribution and abundance of mammals in dense, rugged eastern Himalayan habitats of Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve (BR), Sikkim, India, from April 2008 to May 2010, using field methods and remote cameras under varying rain and snow conditions. We report the occurrence of 42 mammals including 18 species that have high global conservation significance.

Satellite-based estimates of the aerosol indirect effect (AIE) are consistently smaller than the estimates from global aerosol models, and, partly as a result of these differences, the assessment of this climate forcing includes large uncertainties. Satellite estimates typically use the present-day (PD) relationship between observed cloud drop number concentrations (Nc) and aerosol optical depths (AODs) to determine the preindustrial (PI) values of Nc.

With impacts of climate change becoming increasingly visible locally, identification of areas vulnerable to climate change risks is emerging as an urgent policy need. The present study responds to this requirement by identifying the most vulnerable villages using a rapid, cost-effective and highresolution methodology. We provide a preliminary, village-level, climate-related vulnerability assessment of the rural communities in Sikkim, India.

Researchers like to work on projects that start small and slowly scale up. They must think bigger and faster, says Sandy J. Andelman, to tackle today's problems in time.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v475/n7356/full/475290a.html

Rainfall variability and associated remote sensing indices for vegetation are central to the development of early warning systems for epidemic malaria in arid regions. The considerable change in land-use practices resulting from increasing irrigation in recent decades raises important questions on concomitant change in malaria dynamics and its coupling to climate forcing.