Journal de la biodiversité et des espèces menacées

Over the years, the issue of waste generation and management have been a major issue of concern, stemming a number of countries around the world, thus, developing countries. The ultimate aim of this study was to investigate into the effects of indiscriminate disposal of waste in and around the Keta Lagoon in the Volta region of Ghana. The study highlighted quite a number of respondents, who had lived in the area for quite a lengthy period and had observed the changes with regards to rapid deteriorating conditions of sanitation in the area as well as the aesthetic nature of the lagoon per the value it served decades ago and now. It is for these reasons why the study sought to look at what had contributed to the diminishing state of the Keta Lagoon, which is a designated Ramsar site (Ramsar Convention, 1971), hence, its importance to Ghana as a nation. The absence of waste management services, ignorance and lack of law enforcement units were identified as key factors, playing a fundamental role to indiscriminate dumping of refuse in and around the Keta Lagoon. Based on key findings, recommendations on sensitising or educating the inhabitants as well as the general public on sanitation in basic schools would create some level of awareness. Strengthening and equipping the Municipal Assembly in the area by the government would help ensure frequent monitoring and regulate waste management in the area.

Red Lists have been traditionally used as instruments to guide conservation strategies to avoid extinctions. However, there is little consensus in the best way to perform assessments and thus, different countries have developed different methods according to their specific needs. In this study we used a set of ten rodents species, half of them from the cloud forest and halve from the dry forest listed as endangered by the IUCN Red List, but not included in the Mexican red list NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010. We assessed these 10 species using Mexico´s national Risk Assessment Method (MER) guidelines and then compared the outcomes of these assessments with those from the IUCN Red List evaluations. In addition, in order to support our comparison and to verify if both methods deliver equivalent results, we compared 67 endangered mammals which inhabit in Mexico and have been assessed by both methods. We found that both assessment methods yield equivalent results for the five species of cloud forest rodents. However, it was different for those from the dry forest species, where three had different results. Moreover, we found several discrepancies in the assessment results of the 67 endangered mammals assessed by both methods, suggesting that the assessment methods may be not entirely equivalent. We conclude that the MER in its current form might not be entirely objective, and the assessments could be artificially biased. The method could be an even better assessment instrument if the something is done to account for the lack of objectivity and the bias that the lack of information that we face with many endangered species is taken into account. In this way, the MER could clearly define the conservation status of a given species in a simple and transparent, relevant in terms of impact on conservation actions.

Endocomia macrocoma (Miq.) W.J. de Wilde subsp. prainii (King) W. J. de Wilde is a Myristicaceae member with a wide range of geographical distribution in Yunnan, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Myanmar, Northeast India, Andaman Islands, West Sumatra, West Java, New Guinea and Philippines. Seed germination experiments of the taxon under controlled conditions has been carried out at JNTBGRI seed bank with the seeds obtained from the JNTBGRI field gene bank accessions introduced as part of the ex-situ germplasm conservation of the Andaman-Nicobar floristic components outside the islands. The protocol standardization for seed germination of Endocomia macrocoma subsp. prainii from the Andaman Islands is documented here for the first time with illustrations.

This paper deals the biodiversity, distribution and taxonomy of conidial fungus Corynespora associated with family Malvaceae, including a new species belonging to the genus Corynespora, viz. C. sidae sp. nov., was discovered on living leaves of Sida acuta Burm.f. (Malvaceae) from University Campus of Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh (UP), India. This species is described, illustrated and compared with similar taxa reported on Malvaceae based on morphological characters. The novel species is characterized by shorter conidiophores and longer and smooth conidia. The nomenclatural novelties were submitted in Mycobank.

In the old growth spruce-fir forest “Wilder See”, a long-term protected zone of the Black Forest National Park (Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany), the phenology of two associated polypore fungus species on Picea abies logs, Fomitopsis pinicola and the rare red-data list species Antrodiella citrinella were investigated. We combined detailed field studies and temperature-related in-vitro growth studies. Whereas perennial fruitbodies of F. pinicola developed from late spring to autumn, the annual A. citrinella fruitbodies were formed mainly in late autumn (October, November) and again in spring (April and May). Growth studies on agar media confirm that A. citrinella grows faster at lower temperatures (5-10 °C), whereas F. pinicola is clearly superior in growth rate between 15 °C and 25 °C. This indicates that A. citrinella is a generally rare, but locally common species that may have been overlooked because of its special phenology in colder periods. The “Wilder See” area in the National Park seems to be an important refuge for the species. Its existence seems to depend on high humidity, high amount of woody debris (P. abies) and the occurrence of F. pinicola. In the presence of living A. citrinella fruitbodies, fruitbodies of F. pinicola were found to be always dead. This supports earlier speculations that the relation may be parasitic.

Small indigenous fish species (SIS) play a vital role in providing animal protein sources for human. The Gorai river, a Ganges tributary is a habitat of considerable number of SIS. A total of 11040 individual from 40 species were collected belonging 7 orders and 19 families using 5 fishing nets and 1 fish trap of which 2 species were critically endangered, 7 endangered, 7 species vulnerable, 18 species not threatened, 2 data deficient and 4 species were not in evaluated category. Dominant orders were Cypriniformes and Perciformes each contained 12 species, dominant family was Cyprinidae (11 species) and most dominant species was Chela cachius (2253 individuals). Diversity indices ranges from Simpson’s dominance index (0.06-0.09), Simpson’s index (0.91-0.94), Shannon Weiner index (3.08-3.24), Evenness (0.56-0.66), Menhinick’s index (0.61-0.67), Margalef’s index (4.48-4.77), Equitability (0.84-0.89) and Fisher alpha (5.86-6.31), respectively. Highest numbers (38) of SIS were caught by set bag net. Maximum total length 4.6 cm of Corica soborna was the new record. Considering the nutritional importance and reducing number of SIS inhabiting in the river Gorai, the present study aimed at documentation of SIS, their threatened status and conservation of SIS through laws and regulations.