Death crawl

MANY new taxa of colourful terrestrial Streptaxidae snails have been found in Thailand, a biodiversity hotspot. They live in rock crevices of limestone.

Missing the grass for the trees

I looked out from the observation hut and took in the soothing vision of lush green grasslands in the autumnal light of an October evening. A male great Indian bustard (GIB) had been displaying in a bare patch, puffing out his neck feathers and bobbing his neck in synchrony with his impressive booming call. Just then, I saw two wolves trotting through the grass about 300 metres from the bustard.

Species census

Fascinating numbers

Undone

Invasive Alien Species

70 years ago, a species called the yellow crazy ant (Anoplolepis gracilipes) turned up at the Christmas Islands off Australia, perhaps stuck to a piece of timber. For a long time, it remained dormant. Then in the mid 1990s, its population began to explode. Yellow crazy ants began to form super colonies, some as grotesquely large as 700 hectares (ha). The species swarmed the island, colonising -- by 2003 -- 2000 ha of tropical forest.

Acid rain arriving soon in India

When it rains it burns Acid rain has already been reported in some parts of India, and the situation is likely to get worse

Dwarfed by climate change

IF YOU thought climate change causes only sea level rise and intensifies natural disasters, think again. Several species of plants and animals are getting smaller over generations due to rising global temperatures and shifting weather patterns, according to a compilation of fossil records and studies by scientists of National University of Singapore. Though humans are not growing shorter, the trend could profoundly affect food security in years ahead, they warn.

The secret garden

Worlds can change within minutes, or kilometres. It was the bumpy six-hour ride from Kolkata to a tiger reserve in the largest riverine delta in the world, that told me this. Hopping islands in the Sundarbans onboard Rs 1 ferry rides, on rickety cycle vans dancing on puddles, and walking on slippery brick ways, the arduous journey is not for the big cat though. I am to witness the beginning of a stupendous task: documentation of life in its myriad hues.

Court raps environment ministry

ON SEPTEMBER 9, the Supreme Court ordered detergent company Nirma to file its reply to the show cause notice issued by the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) within three months. MoEF had issued the notice in May, asking the company to explain within two weeks why the environmental clearance granted to its cement plant in Gujarat should not be revoked. The site is believed to be on wetlands.

Science & Technology - Briefs

Biology Histamine cracked