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The effect of invasive species on biodiversity is a major issue of world. This study was conducted at the Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park. This study assessed the invasive species status factor associated with it and their impact on seedling and sapling of trees. Modified Whittaker Nested sampling stratifies was adopted for vegetation sampling. A total of 15 plots were taken with 195 subplots between 1409 m to 2140 m. altitudinal ranges. A total of 32 tree species and nine invasive species were recorded from the studied sites. The pine forest was having significantly (W = 3, p = 0.03) more coverage of invasive species than mixed forest, the coverage of invasive species was also significantly (W = 50, p = 0.009) more with more invasive species than plot with single invasive types. Beside this coverage was also affected by canopy cover, trampling and altitude but not significantly different. The invasive species have impact on numbers of seedling, sapling and their diversity species coverage. We recommend removing these invasive species.

Melogale personata I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1831, Large-toothed Ferret Badger (Mustelidae), is distributed from Nepal to Vietnam with very few records. It historically is known by only one recent sighting record from an unspeci-fied area of Nepal. The IUCN species distribution map shows this species in the Okhaldhunga District. We confirm the presence of M. personata in Nepal based on a sighting of a juvenile individual. This is the first record of this species from Syangja District, Nepal. The geographical range of this species is extended farther west in Nepal.

Tourism is the act of spending time away from home. Nepal has remained an exotic tourist location for several decades, and wetlands are among the major areas of tourism in Nepal. Located in the far-western Tarai of Nepal, Ghoda Ghodi Lake is among the major wetlands in terms of both biodiversity and tourism. This study has assessed the ecotourism status in Ghoda Ghodi Lake of Nepal and to understand the current condition and possible inferences. A total of 40 households were surveyed, and 80 visitors were interviewed for collecting primary data. Most of the respondent visitors have visited wetlands more than five times. It is important to point out that fifty percent of the respondent visitors have visited the wetland for natural purposes indicating that the naturalness of the wetland has more capacity to attract tourists. Visitors perceived to enhance economic activities and increase employment opportunities to attract locals to promote ecotourism. The local people were engaged in homestay earning around NRs 2 to 4 lakh per year as well most of the local respondents (50%) were participating in tourism promotion activities.

The community forest program in Nepal is one of the successful conservation initiatives. Tree species in a forest ecosystem have a fundamental role in maintaining the vegetation structure, complexity, and heterogeneity. This study analyzes the composition and regeneration of tree species in five community forests (CFs) of the sub-tropical region, Lamjung district, Nepal for preparing baseline data for long-term research projects and helps the community to manage their CFs scientifically. Tree species data were generated by stratified random sampling using 35 quadrate plots (size: 20 m × 20 m). The density of adult trees in the forests ranged from 575 Ind ha–1 (Tilahar CF) to 1196 Ind/ha (Deurali Thadopakha CF). The sapling ranged from 2533 Ind ha–1 (Tilahar CF) to 4000 Ind ha–1 (Thuliban CF) and seedling from 19583 Ind ha–1 (Tilahar CF) to 37500 Ind ha–1 (Thuliban CF). Similarly, the adult tree basal area varied from 28.34 m2 ha–1 (Tilahar CF) to 49 m2 ha–1 (Deurali CF). The adult tree diversity index (Shannon-Weiner's H) also ranged from 1.08 (Thuliban CF) to 1.88 (Tilahar CF). The tree species such as Sapium insigne, Ficus benghalensis, Lagerstroemia parviflore, Albizia sp. and Pinus roxburghii were weak regeneration. In general, the forests have good regeneration status except for Tilahar Community Forest, but based on the DBH size class distribution diagram, there is no sustainable regeneration. Among the five community forests the DBH size of adults was significantly different, and the DBH of Deurali Thadopakha was the lowest. But only few species have good regeneration and most of the species have weak, poor to no regeneration. The dominancy of fewer species like Shorea robusta, Castanopsis indica, and Schima wallichii accordingly maintain the overall regeneration of tree of CFs, so further plantation needs to be done inside the CF by triage accordingly those species whose regeneration has poor.

Ecotourism is a growing arena of tourism industry and is a potential tool for sustainable development. This study focuses identifying potentials of ecotourism in Tinjure-Milke-Jaljale (TMJ) area in Eastern Nepal via assessing flow of tourists, purpose for visits, major natural attractions, physical infrastructures and human resources available in the region. Direct interviews were conducted with respondents purposively selected from 50 households using structured questionnaires. Demographic variables and visit purpose were expressed in numbers and percentage using MS-Excel soft ware. A descriptive analysis was performed for the natural features, human resource, physical infrastructures and cultural entities which were collected using standard checklist. Results showed that TMJ was visited by approximately 1, 00,000 internal and 600 international tourists throughout the year in 2018.Th e main purpose of visit to TMJ was to adhere the beauty of rhododendron or landscape followed by religious, study and recreational purposes respectively. While 80% percent of the respondents were aware of the need towards biodiversity conservation focusing Rhododendron forests which listed as a major attraction in the region and 78% agreed to impacts of tourism the area, 75% were unfamiliar with the concept ecotourism. The region with more than 80% forest coverage harbors natural and cultural attractions such as Deurali Bhulke picnic spot, Rock and Rhododendron Garden, Basantapur Botanical garden and view Tower, Tinjure Dada Pathivara Temple, Gupha Pokhari, Singhabahini Devi Temple, Gaunkhuridham, Siddhakali, Sabhapokhari. The present natural and culturally important areas in TMJ show good prospects for ecotourism. However, a detailed study focusing number of seasonal flow of tourists and services provided addressing visitor’s perception is seen important to improve ecotourism.

Background: Medicinal plants are the fundamental unit of traditional medicine system in Nepal. Nepalese people are rich in traditional medicine especially in folk medicine (ethnomedicine) and this system is gaining much attention after 1995. The use of medicinal plants have increased during COVID-19 pandemic as a private behavior (not under the control of government). Lot of misinterpretations of the use of medicinal plants to treat or prevent COVID-19 have been spreading throughout Nepal which need to be managed proactively. In this context, a research was needed to document medicinal plants used, their priority of use in society, cultivation status and source of information people follow to use them. This study aimed to document the present status of medicinal plant use and make important suggestion to the concern authorities.Methods: This study used a web-based survey to collect primary data related to medicinal plants used during COVID-19. A total of 774 respondents took part in the survey. The study calculated the relative frequencies of citation (RFC) for the recorded medicinal plants. The relationship between plants recorded and different covariates (age, gender education, occupation, living place, and treatment methods were assessed using Kruskal Wallis test and Wilcox test. The relationship between the information sources people follow and respondent characteristics, were assessed using chi-square test.Results:The study found that the use of medicinal plants has increased during COVID-19 and most of the respondents recommended medicinal plants to prevent COVID-19. This study recorded a total of 63 plants belonging to 42 families. The leaves of the plants were the most frequently used. The Zingiber officinale was the most cited species with the frequency of citation 0.398. Most of the people (45.61%), were getting medicinal plants from their home garden. The medicinal plants recorded were significantly associated with the education level, location of home, primary treatment mode, gender, and age class. The information source of plants was significantly associated with the education, gender, method of treatment, occupation, living with family, and location of home during lockdown caused by COVID-19.Conclusions:People were using more medicinal plants during COVID-19 claiming that they can prevent or cure COVID-19. This should be taken seriously by concerned authorities. The authorities should test the validity of these medicinal plants and control the flow of false information spread through research and awareness programs.

Urbanization and linear infrastructure are reported to influence amphibian assemblages and populations. In areas undergoing rapid infrastructure development and urbanization, the mounting threats to biodiversity are evident. Although protected area coverage and focus on charismatic species conservation are well recognized, non-charismatic species such as amphibians are far from mainstream conservation actions and policies in Nepal. Studies on pattern and distribution of amphibians are limited, as are the roles of environmental variables in amphibian diversity in the urban landscape. This study was designed to assess the frog species richness and correlates of amphibian occurrence in Kathmandu valley. Visual encounter survey of 161 belt transects was carried out in August 2018. Data analysis used two part or Hurdle regression methods where the richness of frogs was considered a response variable. A total of 10 frog species belonging to six families were recorded. The occurrence of frogs was negatively associated with the dry soil conditions and positively associated with increased distance from roads. Occurrence of frogs along road distance gradient depicts the influence of urban infrastructure in amphibian distribution. This entails consideration of systematic conservation planning for rapidly urbanizing areas.

Hamamelidaceae (Saxifragales, previously Rosales) comprises approximately six subfamily, 30 genera and 140 species, most of which are Tertiary relicts. Exbucklandia is the only genus of the subfamily Exbucklandioideae, Hamelidaceae, containing only 2–4 species. Of them, the species E. longipetala H. T. Chang is endemic to China and listed as endangered in The Biodiversity Red List of China: Higher Plant, yet some taxonomists put forward that E. longipetala should be merged into E. tonkinensis (Lecomte) H. T. Chang. Currently, there was nearly no phylogeographic studies on this genus possibly due to the deficiency of efficient molecular markers. In this study, we sequenced the genome of E. tonkinensis based on high throughput sequencing technology, and obtained approximately 6 G raw data, which was further de novo assembled into 303,481 contigs. Based on them, 15,326 SSRs were identified from 13,596 contigs, and primers were successfully designed for 10,660 SSRs. A total of 139 paired primers were synthesized, 106 of them were successfully amplified in six Exbucklandia individuals with expected PCR product size, and 24 demonstrated to be polymorphic among three Exbucklandia populations. Accordingly, the expected and observed heterozygosity were between 0.097–0.717 and 0.098–0.583. Based on these efforts, future researches on genetic diversity and population structure of Exbucklandia can be performed to understand its phylogenetic origins and phylogeographic pattern.