Thanks Pankaj ji This was a wonderful narration about the behaviour of Nature which is very interesting. These associations are amazing. Regarding the last point about mass uprooting : I remember during our school days in 70s we were taken to open spaces to uproot the weed Parthenium. It seems to have worked to some extent. We had a massive drought and red coloured sorghum(Milo) was imported for food probably from USA. The parthenium seeds came through it probably. Dr Satish Phadke
On Thu, Mar 14, 2013 at 9:44 AM, Dr Pankaj Kumar <[email protected]>wrote: > Dear Smita > With use of controlled weedicide, all herbaceous and some shrubby weeds > can be destroyed. But it has to be done on a very large scale. But some > people may not prefer chemicals. > There must be some biological controls too, just that we need to do some > research. For example, find a catterpillar that feeds exclusively on > Chromolaena sp. Once the plant is extinct from area, that particular > catterpillar will also go extinct on its own. > Third way is to organise a megaevent to uproot all these weeds one by one. > Where there is a will, there is a way. > Pankaj > > > On Wednesday, 13 March 2013 10:59:00 UTC+8, Dr Pankaj Kumar wrote: >> >> Dear all, >> >> Recently I came across a post of Dendrobium barbatulum growing on Acacia. >> So I felt like writing about it. >> >> There are many ways to look at it, but ultimately it is not a happy >> moment in anycase. >> >> Orchid seed germination is strictly dependent on fungal association, so >> growing on Acacia means it was able to find a fungi (mycorrhiza) that was >> able to grow on Acacia which is native to Australia. Question is, did the >> orchids adapt to a new environment or the fungi? >> Many times we walk in the forests and even if we are very much careful >> and we dont wish to disturb the natural environment, we do throw things >> like fruits and vegetables (left overs from our food) saying that it is >> biodegradable. But can you imagine, an apple doesnt grow in the western >> ghats, then how does the apple get decomposed there by a fungi or bacteria? >> Microorganisms are everywhere, they just need a host to propagate. An apple >> decomposing fungi or bacteria cant propagate if there is no apple and hence >> no apple tree in the area is a kind of a biocontrol for that fungi or >> bacteria etc. But its human who alters the environment every where. Even by >> throwing a bio degradable apple on the floor in a non apple area, we are >> kind of adding very minor doses of poison to the environment there and its >> not good for natural habitat. >> >> Ever thought, how a pig virus that was supposed to infect only pigs could >> infect human being causing swine flu? Its not the adaptation of human but >> the microorganisms. >> >> Just somethings to ponder about!! and we must not encourage exotics to >> take over natural vegetation in India. >> >> Few days back I was attending one seminar by a guy from China. He is one >> of the two persons who manages the online Forest Herbarium database. People >> from all over china just upload their pics selflessly (something similar to >> what we do on efloraofindia). They also keep tracks of the exotic or alien >> plants. Recently they came across an invasive climber of Mikania which was >> uploaded by one of the citizen scientists for id. It was the first report >> of this invasive species from a particular county or area. Hence it was >> reported to authorities and they went to the concerned area and destroyed >> all individuals of this invasive species. India must have a proper invasive >> species management system before Lantana reaches the top of himalayas. >> >> Best regards >> Pankaj >> >> >> >> >> -- >> ************************************************************* >> *Pankaj Kumar*, Ph.D. >> *IUCN-SSC Orchid Specialist Group Asia >> * >> >> *Office*: >> Conservation Officer >> Orchid Conservation Section >> Flora Conservation Department >> Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden (KFBG) Corporation >> Lam Kam Road, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong. >> >> *Residence*: >> 151, 1st Floor, Tai Om Tsuen >> Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong. >> >> *email*: [email protected]; sahanipankaj@**gmail.com<[email protected]> >> *Phone*: +852 2483 7128 (office - 8:30am to 5:00pm); +852 9436 6251(mobile). >> *Fax*: +852 2483 7194 >> >> -- > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "efloraofindia" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
