Piper is an economically and ecologically important genus of plant that includes a fascinating array of species for studying natural history, natural products chemistry, community ecology, and evolutionary biology. The diversification of this taxon is unique and of great importance in understanding the evolution of plants. The diversity and ecological relevance of this genus makes it an obvious candidate for ecological and evolutionary studies, but surprisingly, most research on Piper spp. to-date has focused on the more economically important plants P. nigrum (black pepper), P. methysticum (kava), and P. betle (betel leaf). While this book does address the applied techniques of studying Piper, its focus is more on Piper in its natural setting. Piper: A Model Genus for Studies of Phytochemistry, Ecology, and Evolution synthesizes existing data and provides an outline for future investigations of the chemistry, ecology, and evolution of this taxon, while examining its key themes of Piper as a model genus for ecological and evolutionary studies, the important ecological roles of Piper species in lowland wet forests, and the evolution of distinctive Piper attributes. This volume has a place in the libraries of those studying or working in the fields of ecology, evolutionary biology, natural products chemistry, invasive species biology, pharmaceutics, and ethnobotany.

Piper is the representative genus of family Piperaceae. Piper species are pan-tropical in distribution and found in both the hemispheres. As the king of all spices, black pepper, Piper nigrum, led to the global expeditions culminating in the discovery of India and the new world. Piper species have been reported to possess various pharmacological activities such as insecticidal, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiplatelet, anti-hypertensive, antithyroid, antitumor activities and hepatoprotective properties. Botanical authentication of the plants of Piper species is difficult because of the morphological similarity among the species. This book describes ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole electrospray tandem mass spectrometry in multiple reactions monitoring (MRM) mode to study the quantitative variation of thirteen bioactive markers in different plant parts of ten Piper species. Features: Collection of Ayurvedic features and scientific evidence of the most important medicinal plants of Piper species. Describes chemical signatures for identification of Piper species. Provides easy-to-use analytical procedure for quality control of Piper species and its products.

Historically, tropical ecology has been a science often content with descriptive and demographic approaches, which is understandable given the difficulty of studying these ecosystems and the need for basic demographic information. Nonetheless, over the last several years, tropical ecologists have begun to test more sophisticated ecological theory and are now beginning to address a broad array of questions that are of particular importance to tropical systems, and ecology in general. Why are there are so many species in tropical forests and what mechanisms are responsible for the maintenance of that vast species diversity? What factors control species coexistence? Are there common patterns of species abundance and distribution across broad geographic scales? What is the role of trophic interactions in these complex ecosystems? How can these fragile ecosystems be conserved? Containing contributions from some of the world’s leading tropical ecologists, Tropical Forest Community Ecology provides a summary of the key issues in the discipline of tropical ecology: Includes contributions from some of the world’s leading tropical ecologists Covers patterns of species distribution, the maintenance of species diversity, the community ecology of tropical animals, forest regeneration and conservation of tropical ecosystems

Essential oils, well-known for their remarkable properties, have played a ubiquitous role throughout human history. They connect us to our past, invoking memories of childhood places and the aromas of our grandparents' kitchens. From the fragrant scents of ancient Egypt to the natural preservatives found in 15th century Oriental spices, essential oils have the ability to stimulate, numb, and captivate our senses through their effects on the central nervous system. This book presents several innovative studies on the isolation, biological, and pharmacological properties of essential oils, conducted by multidisciplinary groups from different countries.

Black pepper (Piper nigrum) the flowering wine belongs to the family piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as spice and seasoning. The black pepper high variability was also noticed for yield contributing characters like runner shoot production, holding capacity, adventitious root production, lateral branch habit, spike length, number of spikes per lateral branch, fruit set, dry weight. Pharmacological, toxicological, clinical applications and general uses of pepper are bioavailability enhancement, carminative, anti-cancer, natural antioxidant, black pepper as an anti-Inflammatory drug, cholesterol lowering and Immune enhancer, anti-pyretic, anti-periodic and rubefacient, black pepper Improves digestion and promotes intestinal health, preservation of the flavour content. Four different pepper varieties in Kerala were selected based on a baseline survey. The proximate composition includes estimation of dry matter and moisture content, estimation of crude protein, estimation of crude fibre, estimation of crude ash and insoluble ash, ether extract, determination of dietary fibre, gross energy, analysis of component of different varieties of Piper nigrum were determined. The sample Munthirimunda fruit has high moisture content. The sample Chengannor leaf has high dry matter content. The sample Chenganoor leaf has high crude protein content. The sample Panniyor leaf has high crude fibre content. Ether Extract is high in sample Chenganoor leaf. The sample Munthirimunda leaf has high comparatively high Total Ash content. Gross Energy is high in sample Panniyor fruit. A wide gap in the nutritional properties of Piper nigrum varieties exist in Kerala which could be further explored.

The average kilometer of tropical rainforest is teeming with life; it contains thousands of species of plants and animals. As The Ornaments of Life reveals, many of the most colorful and eye-catching rainforest inhabitants—toucans, monkeys, leaf-nosed bats, and hummingbirds to name a few—are an important component of the infrastructure that supports life in the forest. These fruit-and-nectar eating birds and mammals pollinate the flowers and disperse the seeds of hundreds of tropical plants, and unlike temperate communities, much of this greenery relies exclusively on animals for reproduction. Synthesizing recent research by ecologists and evolutionary biologists, Theodore H. Fleming and W. John Kress demonstrate the tremendous functional and evolutionary importance of these tropical pollinators and frugivores. They shed light on how these mutually symbiotic relationships evolved and lay out the current conservation status of these essential species. In order to illustrate the striking beauty of these “ornaments” of the rainforest, the authors have included a series of breathtaking color plates and full-color graphs and diagrams.