Living with a large predator: Assessing the root causes of Human–brown bear conflict and their spatial patterns in Lahaul valley,Himachal Pradesh

Brown bear‐mediated conflicts have caused immense economic loss to the local people living across the distribution range. In India, limited knowledge is available on the Himalayan brown bear (HBB), making human–brown bear conflict (HBC) mitigation more challenging. In this study, we studied HBC in the Lahaul valley using a semi‐structured questionnaire survey by interviewing 398 respondents from 37 villages. About 64.8% of respondents reported conflict in two major groups—crop damage (30.6%) and livestock depredations (6.2%), while 28% reported both. Conflict incidences were relatively high in summer and frequently occurred in areas closer to the forest (<500 m) and between the elevations range of 2700 m to 3000 m above sea level (asl). The dependency of locals on forest resources (70%) for their livelihood makes them vulnerable to HBC. The “upper lower” class respondents were most impacted among the various socioeconomic classes. Two of the four clusters were identified as HBC hot spots in Lahaul valley using SaTscan analysis. We also obtained high HBC in cluster II with a 14.35 km radius. We found that anthropogenic food provisioning for HBB, livestock grazing in bear habitats, and poor knowledge of animal behavior among the communities were the major causes of HBC. We suggest horticulture crop waste management, controlled and supervised grazing, ecotourism, the constitution of community watch groups, and others to mitigate HBC. We also recommend notifying a few HBB abundant sites in the valley as protected areas for the long‐term viability of the HBB in the landscape.     

Trichomes: their Diversity,Distribution and Density in Acclimatization of Teak (Tectona grandis L.) Plants Grown in vitro

Diversity, distribution and density of trichomes were studied in relation to other morphological and physiological parameters of in vivo and in vitro teak (Tectona grandis L.) plants with the objective to understand their role in hardening and acclimatization of micropropagated plants. Less diversity and scanty distribution of trichomes of in vitro leaves in comparison to the in vivo ones were correlated with water loss of the former plants leading to low rate of survival after transplantation. The probable cause for absence of certain types of trichome in in vitro plants was also discussed.     

Comparative lipid and uric acid suppressing properties of four common herbs in high fat-induced obese mice with their total phenolic and flavonoid index

Our present study was designed to investigate the comparative anti-obesity efficacy of ethanolic extract of Azadirachta indica A. Juss., Trigonella foenum-graecum L., Allium sativum L. and Zingiber officinale Roscoe in high fat-induced mice with their total phenolic and flavonoid profile. Total phenolic and flavonoid content were determined by Folin–Ciocalteu's and Aluminium chloride UV method respectively. In our study, 55 healthy mice were separated into 11 groups to take their respective treatments. Lipid and uric acid profile were estimated by using the enzymatic colourimetric method. Ethanolic extract of A. indica contained the highest phenolic and flavonoid content. A. indica normal and high fat diet group showed reduced weight gaining tendency than other extract groups. A. indica at a dose of 400 mg/kg body weight significantly (p < 0.001) reduced serum cholesterol (SC), triglyceride (TG), and uric acid (UA) level than other three extracts when compared with the control group. Thus, a considerable correlation was found between serum uric acid reducing potentials of the present experimental extracts with a lipid-lowering profile. Pathological examination revealed that the average weight of liver and kidney were significantly decreased in A. indica normal. Results obtained from the present study it can be concluded that ethanolic extract of A. indica possesses better lipid-lowering efficacy than the other three herbs.