The book, ‘Distribution of trees across the Western Ghats in Karnataka’, provides an analytical overview of how trees and other plants are distributed across various forests of the Western Ghats region in the state of Karnataka in India. The analysis is based on feedback provided by field functionaries of the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) in pursuance of a project initiated by KFD in collaboration with the Karnataka State Remote Sensing Applications Centre (KSRSAC), Bengaluru, to study various aspects of the state’s forests. Given the enormity of the data regarding trees and other plants adorning the forests of the entire state, the analysis in the present book is limited to the western half of the state’s Western Ghats region comprising the five districts of Belagavi, Uttara Kannada, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu. Range-wise segregation of the data has thrown light on various attributes such as forest types, tree distribution, tree association, tree dominance, tree preponderance, etc. in each forest range. Comparative analysis of such information for a cluster of ranges enables understanding of how these attributes change across a larger landscape such as a forest division or a forest circle. Analysis of the data has also provided information about the extent of fragmentation of natural forests due to plantations. Such information can be quite useful in rehabilitating monoculture patches back to natural forest.

The book Forests and Trees of Karnataka - A Journey in Time through Buchanan's Eyes attempts at providing a pen picture of the forests and trees of Karnataka as seen by Dr. Francis Buchanan during his journey undertaken in 1800 and 1801. As Buchanan’s narrations contained in his three-volume journal ‘A Journey from Madras through the Countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar (1807)’ cover a wide range of subjects, his observations specifically on trees and other plants have been culled out with a view to visualizing the forest scenario of Karnataka more than 200 years ago. The book also highlights the important role trees were assigned in the distant past to complement agricultural operations and industrial activities leading to economic development and general welfare. Buchanan in his writings had underscored the ingenious ways through which the farmer, with the help of trees and other plants, conserved water, increased soil organic content and improved soil fertility. In fact there was an intrinsic relationship between water, agricultural crops, and the sylvan surrounding. Among the messages which Buchanan’s writings convey, the most pertinent one for the present times is perhaps that of the ancient wisdom of the farmer that the surest way to keep the earth cool is to keep it green.

Growing human populations and higher demands for water impose increasing impacts and stresses upon freshwater biodiversity. Their combined effects have made these animals more endangered than their terrestrial and marine counterparts. Overuse and contamination of water, overexploitation and overfishing, introduction of alien species, and alteration of natural flow regimes have led to a 'great thinning' and declines in abundance of freshwater animals, a 'great shrinking' in body size with reductions in large species, and a 'great mixing' whereby the spread of introduced species has tended to homogenize previously dissimilar communities in different parts of the world. Climate change and warming temperatures will alter global water availability, and exacerbate the other threat factors. What conservation action is needed to halt or reverse these trends, and preserve freshwater biodiversity in a rapidly changing world? This book offers the tools and approaches that can be deployed to help conserve freshwater biodiversity.

Biodiversity most commonly refers to the number and variety of distinct organisms (species) living on the Earth. Biological variety encompasses all life forms on earth including species of plants, animals and microorganisms and the ecosystem and ecological processes. Biodiversity stands for the number, variety and variability of living organisms. Biodiversity areas are featuring outstanding concentrations of species, and experiencing incomparable loss of habitat. It was observed recently that the present 25 hotspots of the world have been raised to 34 hotspots with a new list of 9 new hotspots in the great range of the Himalayas and the island nation of Japan. In general, the 34 important areas once covered 15.70% of the Earth’s land surface. In total, 86% of the hotspots have already been destroyed, such that the intact remnants of the hotspots now cover only 2.30% of the Earth’s land surface. These areas together, now cover 1.4% of the land on the Earth. Tropical forests appear in 15 hotspots, Mediterranean-type zones in 5 and 9 hotspots are majorly of islands. 16 hotspots are in tropical area, about 20% of the human population lives in the hotspot regions. India is one of the leading hotspots in terms of endemics. The three hotspot of Biodiversity in India are i) Eastern Himalaya harbouring 9,000 species of plants with 3500 endemic species; ii) Western Ghats possessing 5800 plant species with about 2000 endemics; and iii) The Andaman and Nicobar Islands harbour about 83% endemic species. The Western Ghats of India extends upto 1,80,000 sq km, extraordinarily rich in biodiversity. The existing forests are highly fragmented and facing the prospect of increasing degradation. The Western Ghats cover the portion of the Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamilnadu. Keeping all these in minds, the present book Plant Biodiversity, Ethnobotany and Anthropogenic Interventions of Western Ghats Forests – Saputara and Purna covers an in-depth and systematic study of forest vegetation in terms of community structure analysis, qualitative community structure, quantitative community structure, ethnobotanical studies, and anthropogenic pressures in biodiversity rich forests (Saputara and Purna), a northern extreme regions of Western Ghats. The book would definitely be the need of an hour for forest managers, forest conservationists, policy makers, and decision authorities to prevent the unrestrained exploitation of forest biodiversity and resources, destruction of potential forested habitats, and uncontrolled interactions of man and technology with forest ecosystems of the world.

Syzygium is a well-known source of the globally traded clove as well as the widely cultivated jambolan, water apple, rose apple, wax apple, mountain apple, and several other underutilized species. These plants have multiple uses as edible fruits, medicine, spice, food colorants, and flavorings. The Genus Syzygium: Syzygium cumini and Other Underutilized Species provides an updated, comprehensive account of S. cumini and other underutilized species from a multidisciplinary perspective. This book covers all relevant aspects including the botany, systematics, phylogeny, life history, traditional medicinal uses, phytochemical constituents, pharmacology, pharmacopeia standards, horticulture, genetic resource conservation, biocontrol, and bioremediation values. It demonstrates how Syzygium cumini and other underutilized species hold great prospect for global pharmaceutical and horticultural trade. The Genus Syzygium will serve as the standard reference for a broad range of researchers interested in the various uses of S. cumini and eight underutilized Indo-Malaysian and Australasian species of Syzygium.

Invasive alien species are a major threat to biodiversity and ecosystems throughout the world. In India, a country with four of the world's most important 'biodiversity hotspots', the invasion of alien plants means risking a national ecological disaster with major social and economic consequences. Currently, there is insufficient information about invasive alien plants; their distribution, rate of spread and adaptability to new environments. This book reveals existing and potential invaders, evaluates the level of risk they pose to native species and suggests steps to manage spread and limit damage. Invaluable to policy-makers, this book is also required reading for researchers of invasive plants worldwide.