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The present investigation aims to explore the importance of some traditional black rice varieties with their nutraceutical properties. The beneficial properties of these varieties remain unknown to the majority of the population due to the inadequate data. Decorticated rice grains of four black rice varieties were evaluated and compared with two commonly consumed white rice varieties - Gobindabhog (traditional aromatic) and BPT 5204 (modern high yielding variety). The sugars and total lipid levels were similar in Gobindabhog and BPT 5204. The black rice varieties, however, had considerably greater protein, thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, and antimicrobial activities compared to the two selected white rice varieties. The ICPMS analysis of black rice grains showed that the former also had higher levels of Mn, Fe, and Zn than the white rice varieties. However, BPT 5204 contained a greater amount of Cu than the black rice varieties. Total flavonoid and phenolic content, as well as antioxidant potentiality of black rice varieties were also considerably higher than those of the white rice varieties.

An estimated 15,000 folk landraces of rice are reported to have been cultivated in undivided Bengal in the 1940s. With the advent of the Green Revolution, a handful of high-yielding varieties (HYVs) replaced, and continue to replace, thousands of traditional farmer varieties (also called “landraces”). In the 1970s, the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute documented a total of 12,479 names, including synonyms. In West Bengal, the recorded number of landraces cultivated before the 1970s is 5,556 (Deb 2005, 2019a). Most of these old landraces of Bengal, from both sides of the international border, are now available in only a few gene banks, no longer cultivated in the region. The loss of the thousands of rice landraces from farm fields entails the erosion of a vast body of folk knowledge pertaining to the distinctive properties of different varieties, derangement of local food cultures, and food insecurity for poor and marginal farmers, who no longer have the stock of landraces fine-tuned to local soil and climatic conditions, nor are able to buy the costly inputs. Just as the traditional rice fabric of the Philippines has disappeared with the extinction of the special rice variety that yielded the fiber, many of the culinary delicacies and the cultural significance of many rituals have vanished with the disappearance of special rice varieties throughout Bengal. Moreover, the loss of traditional knowledge associated with folk rice varieties, together with the abolition of the tradition of seed exchange within communities, has disintegrated the communitarian ethos among Bengali farmers, who are now dependent on external agencies for the supply of seeds, machinery, and knowledge.

There is a natural floral organ mutant of rice (var. Jugal) where the florets, popularly known as spikelet bear multiple carpels and produce multiple kernels in most of its grain. In our earlier work a detailed study has been done on its morpho-anatomical structure with allelic diversity and expression study of the major genetic loci associated with floral organ development. In present study high throughput whole genome sequencing was done which generated about of 3.7 million base pair genomic data for downstream analysis. The reads were about 101 bases long and mapped to the Oryza sativa var. Nipponbare as reference genome. Genome wide variant analysis detected 1,096,419 variants which included 943,033 SNPs and 153,386 InDels. A total of 24,920 non-synonymous SNPs were identified for 11,529 identified genes. Chromosome-wise distribution of uniquely mapped reads onto reference genome showed that maximum reads were mapped to 1st chromosome and least to 9th chromosome. 10th chromosome showed highest density of variations (about 325.6 per 100 kb genome sequence). Detailed sequence analysis of 23 floral organ developmental genes detected 419 potent variants where DL (Drooping Leaf) and OSH1 (Oryza sativa Homeobox1) genes showed highest number (32) of variants; whereas, MADS21 (Minichromosome Agamous Deficient Serum Factor 21) gene have lowest number (5) of variants. The information generated in this study will enrich the genomics of floral organ development in indica rice and cereal crops in general.

A large body of evidence indicates that SRI can enhance rice grain yield with substantially less water input than in conventional indsutrialized rice farms. While SRI conserves a large amount of wa...

Rice cultivar Jugal is a unique floral organ mutant from South Bengal and Odisa, the two sister states of Eastern India, carries more than one kernels in most of its spikelet. Most of the mature florets of this line possess more than one carpal which later developed into more than one kernels within a single grain on maturity. In order to study the role of floral organ development genes commonly involved, expression study of five selected floral organ developmental genes (OsMADS3, OsMADS13, OsMADS21, OsMADS58, and DL) were studied through real time based quantitative PCR for three consecutive flower organ developmental stages (Sp5, Sp6, and Sp7) with reference to a normal rice line (IR36). All the studied genes showed differential relative expression in respect to the reference gene both in mutant and normal rice lines for the studied genes and stages and individual distinct pattern except DL gene which was almost similar in both Jugal and IR36 at early stage of floral organ development viz Sp5 and Sp6 stage. However, after Sp6 stage the expression is reduced in the normal rice (IR36) but in case of the mutant rice (Jugal) the expression started to increase and at Sp7 the expression level was much higher in the mutant line. The information resulted from the investigation form the basic idea on regulatory aspects of floral organ development in rice.

RATIONALE Documentation of the metabolite profiles of rice landraces is essential as most of them have been lost due to the conventional practices of cultivation. Therefore, application of mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) will be an appropriate analytical platform for molecular profiling, as it can provide a detailed understanding of the site-specific localization patterns of biomolecules, and the cues concerning metabolic pathways in organisms. METHODS Desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DESI-MS) is a relatively non-destructive analytical technique for surface sampling in natural conditions. Here, we report the spatial distribution of diverse molecules in the grains of different rice landraces of India using DESI-MSI. Molecules were identified by ESI-MS and tandem MS analysis of rice extracts. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were used for the elemental mapping on the rice grains. RESULTS DESI-MSI showed a uniform distribution of choline (m/z 104.1), sucrose in the form of its sodium (m/z 365.1) and potassium (m/z 381.0) adducts, linoleic acid (m/z 279.2), 13-HODE-9-HODE (m/z 295.2), unidentified molecules with m/z 535.3, 559.5, and 561.5 and isoschaftoside (m/z 563.1) in the endosperm of rice grains. Gluconic acid (m/z 195.0) and signalling phospholipid intermediate molecules were localized in the embryo whereas oryzanol A (m/z 601.5) and oryzanol C (m/z 615.5) had a restricted localization in the bran region of the grain. SEM-EDS mapping showed the localization of potassium and phosphorus along the bran and embryo. CONCLUSIONS DESI-MSI revealed the distribution of lipids and sugar molecules in the specific regions of the rice grains. Thus, molecules unique to some rice varieties were identified with this analytical platform. Mass spectrometry imaging of rice along with the elemental mapping by SEM-EDS will be of use in understanding the localization pattern of certain molecules in the context of metals present in the grain.

Jugal is a natural mutant which produces more than one seed in most of its grain. In rice, development of floral organs is directly linked with seed production; thus, to elucidate the underneath mechanism of multiple seeded trait of Jugal, floral organ development was investigated. Microscopic study showed that most of the Jugal flowers bear more than one carpel; the presence of multiple carpels in Jugal flowers was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) study. To understand the mechanism of multiple carpels in Jugal flowers, floral meristems of Jugal and IR36 were investigated, and Jugal floral meristem was found enlarged in comparison to IR36. Fourteen floral organ developmental genes of Jugal were sequenced partially, of which seven were sequenced successfully. Six among the successfully sequenced genes found to have variations and of them three genes showed changes in their corresponding amino acid sequences. Three out the seven genes possess unique variations. Expression study showed Jugal flowering genes expressing differently when compared to normal rice IR36.

We have identified a hitherto undescribed tree, locally known as Sitapatra, which has never been mentioned in any publication of the region’s flora. However, by using morphological and molecular an...

Uptake of noble metals by cereal plants is not reported in literature. Our study of 505 native rice landraces showed that nine of them accumulate silver at a high concentration when grown in the same soil. Among these, a medicinal rice landrace from West Bengal, Garib-sal was found to accumulate silver at an especially high concentration in the grains. Cultivation of Garib-sal rice in three successive years in Basudha farm in the rice growing period of June–October confirmed that for the same concentration of silver in the soil (∼0.15 mg/kg), Garib-sal accumulates it in the grains to the extent of ∼15 mg/kg. Laboratory experiments also demonstrated that silver uptake by Garib-sal is significantly greater than for other varieties grown on the same soil, and that the metal accumulates mostly in the grain. To detect the location of deposition of silver in the grains, secondary ion mass spectrometry was performed. The images reveal that the silver is concentrated in the aleuronic layer of the rice bran. Its c...

The candidature of 8-bp deletion in badh2 gene as the predominant cause for aroma development in rice was investigated in 84 subsp. indica rice landraces. Presence of this functional mutation was detected in 80 % of aromatic samples and in three non-aromatic landraces which were found to be heterozygous at this locus. However, 11 landraces did not show its presence despite being aromatic during qualitative assessment. None of the wild ancestors possessed this deletion. Finally, we have discussed implications of our findings in the broader context of aroma evolution.

Allelic diversity for five genetic loci (DL, FON4, OsMADS24, OsMADS45 and Spw1) associated with floral organ development were investigated among a small heterogeneous rice population which included one wild species (O. rufipogon Griffiths), one indigenous less popular natural floral organ mutant (O. sativa var. indica cv. Jugal), one indigenous normal line (O. sativa var. indica cv. Bhutmoori) and one improved high yielding line (O. sativa var. indica cv. IR 36). Detailed spikelet morphology showed that var. Jugal had variable number (1 - 3) of carpels within a single spikelet which was unique and resulted in variable (1 - 3) number of kernels within a single matured spikelet (grain). The genomic DNA of each investigated line was amplified with primer sequences designed from the selected genetic loci and the derived polymorphism profiles were used for study of allelic diversity for the studied loci. The derived genetic distances among the rice lines were used for dendrogram construction. In constructed dendrogram, the mutant genotype (Jugal) showed highest similarity with the wild rice (O. rufipogon) instead of the rice lines. To verify this finding, the genomic DNA of each studied line was also amplified with four SSR loci, tightly linked to saltol QTL, mapped to rice chromosome 1. The amplified products were screened for polymorphism and another dendrogram was constructed to reveal the genetic distance among the lines for selected salt tolerance linked SSR loci. In SSR derived dendrogram, the wild rice (O. rufipogon) got totally separated from the all three rice genotypes though all the studied four lines showed equal sensitivity for salt sensitivity in a physiological screening experiment. From the combined experiment, it can be concluded that genetic architecture of floral organ development loci in var. Jugal may have some uniqueness which is not present in normal rice but common to O. rufipogon, a species which is regarded as immediate progenitor of present day modern rice (O. sativa). Though this uniqueness was not confirmed by second set genetic loci associated with salt tolerance in rice, the information resulted from this experiment was preliminary and based only on allelic size (molecular weight of amplicon), which should be confirmed through sequence analysis for further analysis.

An expanding body of literature informs that biochar improves soil quality and agricultural productivity. However, there are some reports of little, or even negative, effect of biochar on crop yield, depending on the type of biochar feedstock, pyrolysis process, soil nutrient status, and crop species. Biochar is known to adsorb ammonia and phosphates in soil and facilitate growth and activities of phosphorus (P) solubilizing microbes (PSM), which mobilize P for uptake by plant roots. Using slow-pyrolyzed wood biochar and PSM in different soil conditions in three countries, our experiements show that soil nutrient status is more determinant of beneficial agronomic effect of biochar than the feedstock species and the type of crop. Treatments with biochar and PSM entail significant yield increase in P-deficient soil, whereas in soils with high P content, biochar has no significant effect on crop yield, regardless of addition of PSM. Based on published empirical data as well as our own findings, we also present a mathematical model of plant uptake of bioavailable P at different soil P concentrations, which explains that biochar is ineffective to enhance PSM activity for P mobilization in phosphate-rich soil, but significantly improves crop productivity in P-deficient soil.

A total of ten rare indigenous rice landraces of West Bengal were screened for germination potential and seedling growth under varying concentrations of sodium chloride (NaCl) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) solutions as osmotic stress inducing agents. Among the studied rice landraces Kelas and Bhut Moori showed highest degree of tolerance to induced osmotic stresses. Proline content of the studied lines was also determined. Genetic relationship among the studied rice landraces was assessed with 22 previously reported osmotic stress tolerance linked Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers. The identified allelic variants in form of amplified products size (molecular weight) for each SSR marker were documented to find out allele mining set for the linked markers of the studied genotypes in relation to osmotic stress tolerance. A Microsatellite Panel was constructed for the different allelic forms (size of amplified products) of each used marker. Among 22 SSR markers, ten showed unique alleles in form of single specific amplified product for the studied four genotypes which can be used for varietal identification. Genetic relationship among the studied rice lines was determined and a dendrogram was constructed to reveal their genetic inter-relationship. Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) for each used marker was also calculated for the studied rice lines.

Modern rice farms are characterized by the use of synthetic agrochemicals, which eliminate a large segment of biodiversity on-farm. In contrast, organic rice farms tend to preserve much of natural biodiversity. While biodiversity- productivity relationship in organic vs. chemicalised rice farms is contested, the relationship of on-farm biodiversity with food web structural properties and ecosystem services remains to be explored. To understand the functional significance of species richness and ecosystem complexity of rice farms, I examine here the architectural properties of rice food webs from West Bengal, based on replicated plots of folk variety (organic) and modern (chemicalised) rice systems. All rice food webs, constructed from observational data collected over three years, show prominent scale dependence of dietary links, link density, web height, diversity of natural enemies to pests, predator-pest ratio, and the numbers of omnivores and omnivory levels. Organic folk rice webs tend to have greater mean species richness, predator diversity, predator-pest ratio and chain length than modern rice farm webs, yet both systems show homogeneity of distribution of the web properties. Analyses of 16,400 computerized analog webs, following non-random rules of species association drawn on real-life, seasonally distinct rice food webs, validate the robustness of conclusions.

Synecology of a Rotifer Bloom in A Freshwater Pisciculture Pond in West Bengal

It is common understanding among natural scientists that if development means unlimited growth in production and consumption of materials, sustainable development is an oxymoron. That's because une...

The use of forest products for socio-religious purposes has hardly teen brought into focus in the recent studies concerning indigenous forest use patterns in the Indian context The prelimin...

"The concept of ecosystem services (ES) has taken the environmental science and policy literature by storm, and has become almost the approach to thinking about and assessing the nature-society relationship. In this review, we ask whether and in what way the ES concept is a useful way of organising research on the nature-society relationship. We trace the evolution of the different versions of the concept and identify key points of convergence and divergence. The essence of the concept nevertheless is that the contribution of biotic nature to human well-being is unrecognised and undervalued, which results in destruction of ecosystems. We discuss why this formulation has attracted ecologists and summarise the resultant contributions to research, particularly to the understanding of indirect or regulating services. We then outline three sets of weaknesses in the ES framework: confusion over ecosystem functions and biodiversity, omission of dis-services, trade-offs and abiotic nature, and the use of an economic valuation framework to measure and aggregate human well-being. Underlying these weaknesses is a narrow problem frame that is unidimensional in its environmental concern and techno-economic in its explanation of environmental degradation. We argue that an alternative framing that embraces broader concerns and incorporates multiple explanations would be more useful, and outline how this approach to understanding the nature-society relationship may be implemented."

Crop domestication is a remarkable example of evolution of wildly growing plants into cultivable forms through human selection. Following the domestication of rice almost 10,000 years ago, ancient farmers selected many rice lineages for diverse agronomic and cultural traits, like grain size, shape and colour; awn length; pest resistance; and aroma etc. In this study, examining phenotypic traits of a large collection of Indian rice landraces (all accessed from Vrihi, rice seed bank, www.cintdis.org/vrihi) we characterize the huge phenotypic diversity, and find that a few grain, panicle and leaf traits are major drivers of this diversity. We also demonstrate the existence of short grain aromatic landraces perhaps with independently evolved aroma trait; unlike introgression from japonica into indica group, as evidenced in Basmati-type long grain varieties. The independent origin of aroma in indica rice is fascinating as it explores lesser known aspects of indica rice domestication and diversification., Rice landraces are lineages developed by farmers through artificial selection during the long-term domestication process. Despite huge potential for crop improvement, they are largely understudied in India. Here, we analyse a suite of phenotypic characters from large numbers of Indian landraces comprised of both aromatic and non-aromatic varieties. Our primary aim was to investigate the major determinants of diversity, the strength of segregation among aromatic and non-aromatic landraces as well as that within aromatic landraces. Using principal component analysis, we found that grain length, width and weight, panicle weight and leaf length have the most substantial contribution. Discriminant analysis can effectively distinguish the majority of aromatic from non-aromatic landraces. More interestingly, within aromatic landraces long-grain traditional Basmati and short-grain non-Basmati aromatics remain morphologically well differentiated. The present research emphasizes the general patterns of phenotypic diversity and finds out the most important characters. It also confirms the existence of very unique short-grain aromatic landraces, perhaps carrying signatures of independent origin of an additional aroma quantitative trait locus in the indica group, unlike introgression of specific alleles of the BADH2 gene from the japonica group as in Basmati. We presume that this parallel origin and evolution of aroma in short-grain indica landraces are linked to the long history of rice domestication that involved inheritance of several traits from Oryza nivara, in addition to O. rufipogon. We conclude with a note that the insights from the phenotypic analysis essentially comprise the first part, which will likely be validated with subsequent molecular analysis.

Two fishing castes, Ambiga and Harikantra, of Karnataka employ different techniques for throwing cast nets in the same habitat. Ambigas throw the net from above the head, as opposed to the far easier Harikantra method of throwing at the waist level. These different techniques are described here as memes, transmitted through learning. A logico- deductive hypothesis is developed here to explain the origin and maintenance of the memetic difference between the castes, with the help of circumstantial semiotic and anthropological evidence.

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich. This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively. A survey of the system of rice intensification (SRI)-related literature indicates that different authors have drawn conflicting inferences about rice yield performances under the SRI, chiefly because the SRI methodology has been variously advocated, interpreted and implemented in the field using different rice varieties, seedling ages at transplantation, cultivation seasons and nutrient management regimes. In particular, the SRI method of single-seedling transplantation (SST) has potential economic advantage due to reduced seed costs, but it is not clear whether SST is an effective management strategy across a range of seedling ages, and whether there is any specific seedling age that is optimal for yield improvement of a given rice variety. This is an important consideration in rain-fed ecosystems where variable rainfall patterns and lack of controlled irrigation make it difficult to reliably transplant at a specific seedling age as recommended for the SRI. We conducted a five year-long experiment on a rain-fed organic farm using a short-duration upland and a medium-duration lowland landrace, following the SRI methodology. Rice seedlings of different ages (6, 10, 14, 18 and 28 days after establishment) were transplanted at 25 cm × 25 cm spacing in three replicated plots. The performance for each landrace was examined with respect to productive tillers, panicle density, total grain counts per hill and grain yield per unit area. Performances of seedlings of different ages were compared with that of control plots that employed all SRI practices with the exception that 28-day-old seedlings were transplanted with three seedlings per hill. The results indicate that (1) the SRI can improve mean panicle density if seedling age ≤ 18 days, but that responses differ between varieties; (2) the number of productive tillers per hill is significantly less in SST than that of multiple seedling transplants (MST) of 28-day-old seedlings of both upland and lowland varieties; (3) the total grain numbers per hill of the lowland variety is significantly greater for 14-day-old SST than 28-day-old MST; (4) the grain yield per unit area from young SRI transplants is significantly greater than that from 28-day-old MST for the lowland variety, although the magnitude of the improvement was small; (5) for the upland variety, grain yields declined with the oldest seedlings, but planting multiple seedlings per hill made the yield of the oldest transplants on par with that of younger seedlings planted singly. Our findings suggest that transplanting younger seedlings under the SRI management may not necessarily enhance grain yields.

Sacred groves (or SGs) are distinct patches of vegetation (ranging in size from a small cluster of a few trees to a large forest stand spanning several hundred acres) which are consecrated in the name of local deities or ancestral spirits. Removal of any living things from the SG is a taboo, although dead logs and leaves are sometimes removed from some SGs. This institution is perhaps the best example of indigenous traditional resource use practices promoting conservation of biodiversity.In West Bengal, most SGs are found in the southwestern districts where the tribal populations are the largest, and where industrial development has not expanded enough to expunge indigenous cultural traditions. The indigenous cultural milieu in the region consists of a strong legacy of animistic institutions including SGs. The lack of industrial growth in the region seems to have facilitated the survival of such institutions. Furthermore, most of the forests in the region belong to the Protected Forest category, allowing villagers virtually free access to a wide range of non-timber forest products (NTFP). This relative freedom of the villagers in these districts to harvest and use NTFP seems to have indirectly allowed the local forest-based cultural traditions to persist, in which SGs occupy a significant space.Protected over centuries, SGs are remnants of pristine forests in climax formation (Malhotra et al., 2001). However, our survey of SGs in West Bengal indicates that along with the indigenous flora, non-native trees like guava (Psidrius guajava), Acacia auriculiformes, Ervatamia divaricata and Polyalthia longifolia also occur in the SGs. This indicates that these trees are often planted in the SGs to replace dead trees in the stand, and therefore the biotic composition of SGs is not necessarily pristine, but is a result of continuous human intervention and management.SGs are known to contain many rare and endemic flora. Our inventory of SGs in four randomly selected administrative blocks of three districts of West Bengal has recorded a total of 117 species of angiosperm trees, among which 15 species have become rare in the State forests of southwest Bengal (Table 1). Specimens of an unidentified species of liana and an unidentified tree of Bombycideae family have been recorded from two SGs in Bankura district. SGs also function as important refugia for many animals. At least four resident birds, including the large Indian parakeet, prefer the SGs over other habitats in West Medinipur district of West Bengal (Deb et al. 1997).Conservation of biodiversity in SGs is a consequence of the sacred physical space of the SG, which is communally shared as commons, and used to observe important social ceremonies in indigenous societies. Several cultural festivals are performed in the SG, which also provide a meeting place on various occasions including social gatherings, marriage, after-death rituals, etc. (Deb and Malhotra 1997).

Many plants and animals are capable of developing in a variety of ways, forming characteristics that are well adapted to the environments in which they are likely to live. In adverse circumstances, for example, small size and slow metabolism can facilitate survival, whereas larger size and more rapid metabolism have advantages for reproductive success when resources are more abundant. Often these characteristics are induced in early life or are even set by cues to which their parents or grandparents were exposed. Individuals developmentally adapted to one environment may, however, be at risk when exposed to another when they are older. The biological evidence may be relevant to the understanding of human development and susceptibility to disease. As the nutritional state of many human mothers has improved around the world, the characteristics of their offspring--such as body size and metabolism--have also changed. Responsiveness to their mothers' condition before birth may generally prepare individuals so that they are best suited to the environment forecast by cues available in early life. Paradoxically, however, rapid improvements in nutrition and other environmental conditions may have damaging effects on the health of those people whose parents and grandparents lived in impoverished conditions. A fuller understanding of patterns of human plasticity in response to early nutrition and other environmental factors will have implications for the administration of public health.

Gut content analysis (GCA) is the most widely accepted method for generalising about a species' food habits. GCA is valuable if the purpose of the study is to determine the frequency or strength of interactions between species, or to establish new food links. However, determining all food links through GCA is impossible for large speciose webs. Furthermore, GCA may not reveal the true nature of linkage dynamics due to environmental and physiological stochasticity. It is therefore parsimonious to assume that linkages between species recorded in the literature will be found in all food webs, if the same prey and predator species occur in those systems. To reveal new linkages, fresh GCA is desirable, but impracticable for large speciose webs containing many rare and endangered species, in which case it may be replaced by several non-dissective methods. High-resolution data for tropical webs could be generated through observations made by trained indigenous peoples.

Two sets of time-specific food webs were constructed using all known details of trophic biology of the 87 component species found in two tropical freshwater pond systems. Analysis of the webs showed that several food web statistics were scale-dependent. To examine the robustness of this finding, 11 500 computerized analog webs were built upon the specified rules of non-random trophic links (L) between the organisms found in the ponds. The structural properties of the analog webs, like the recently published species-rich webs, disagreed with several generalizations made by food web theorists over the last two decades. The magnitude of L and the frequency of long food chains increased with S. Proportions of top, intermediate and basal species showed strong nonlinear variation with S. The mean number of links between different trophic levels seemed to be scale-dependent, though apparently scale-invariant for the pond webs. However, the relative proportions of link fractions appeared to be scale-invariant, with the intermediate-basal links most numerous. The mean predator-prey ratio appeared to be the most scale-invariant of 'all the web properties, but the scale invariance of the ratio may not be directly derived from species fractions. The study represents the largest tropical aquatic food web database, and indicates that (a) as many details of inter-specific interactions as possible within a web are necessary for unraveling the actual complexity of real ecosystems, and (b) computerized analogs of real webs, incorporating all necessary details of interactions, may be fruitfully used to ensure robustness of conclusions about the web features

While a comprehensive economic valuation of all use and non-use values of the forest is impossible, indigenous societies seem to have a clear, albeit inchoate idea of the value of the forest on which they depend for their material and cultural existence. Forests were valued in all ancient civilizations, and often carefully preserved for subsistence as well as esoteric uses. Following the rise of capitalism, governments in Europe and her colonies considered forests first as wastelands, and then a valuable resource for economic development, and abrogated the customary rights of indigenous forest villagers. All governments of ex-colonies have passed laws to conserve forests as national assets, but often consider them as an obstacle to economic prosperity, whenever profits from industrial land use appear to exceed the instrumental value of the forest. Throughout this cycle of the loss and gain of economic importance of the forest, indigenous people and their perspectives are pushed into oblivion.