Malaria in the Thar Desert


Book Description

1. Introduction, 2. Environment of the Thar Desert, 3. Extensive Canalization in the Thar Desert: Transformation in the Thar Desert Climate and the Dawn of Malaria Era, 4. Anopheline Fauna of the Thar Desert: Vectors of Malaria, 5. Epidemiology of Malaria in the Thar Desert Region, 6. Epidemics of Malaria in the Thar Desert: A Clue for Evolution of Pathways Malaria Exacerbation in the Thar Desert, 7. Agro-economical and Social Impacts of Malaria, 8. Malaria Control in the Thar Desert, 9. Future Considerations on Malaria Conflagration under the Constantly Changing Thar Desert Environment, 10. Conclusion.




Desert Malaria


Book Description

This book comprehensively reviews the disease dynamics, distribution, surveillance, epidemiology, diagnosis, control strategies, and management of the desert malaria. It highlights the potential risks of unstable but often exacerbated malaria conflagration as epidemics in the middle of duned desert, a desert oasis, and desert-fringe regions. Further, it reveals the factors inveigled into desert environments due to extensive anthropogenic activities such as canalized irrigation projects, high-yielding new agriculture practices, human concentration, and increased trade. It addresses the impact of irrigation on the malarial dynamics and its coupling to the climate forcing. The book also offers a model for desert transformation into malaria heaven under the changed climatic conditions including high rainfall, humidity, and depletion in temperature. Lastly, it offers insight into malaria epidemiology and disease control in the desert’s arid environments. This book is an essential resource for medical entomologists, parasitologists, epidemiologists, and public health researchers.




Changing Faunal Ecology in the Thar Desert


Book Description

Changing Faunal Ecology in the Thar Desert - dedicated to the fond memory of Professor Dr. Ishwar Prakash, the legendary rodentologist - is a unique mlange of scientific investigations on diversified ecological subjects pertaining to different organism groups, from as tiny as protozoa to as giant as mammals. Altogether sixteen contributions, including an original, up-to-date and authentic bio-bibliography of Dr. I. Prakash, make this volume an exceptional treatise penned by 24 expert scientist authors many of whom have spent a life in arid ecosystems including the Thar Desert. The book provides a crystal clear proof of the constantly changing behavioural ecology of animals in the Thar Desert which has been under an ever increasing impact of, among several imminent factors, the Indira Gandhi Nahar Pariyojana (IGNP), one of the worlds largest irrigation systems of its type in a xeric environment. The change is discernible not only in structure and distribution of animals but in their resting, feeding, breeding and, as evident in case of parasites, the extent of parasitism as well as pathogenecity. Finally, this book offers the first well documented evidence of immense behavioral transformation in various different animal groups in the Tharp Desert a phenomenon of enormous significance for both conservation management and diversity inventorization activities of its faunal wealth.




Thar Desert in Retrospect and Prospect


Book Description

Thar Desert in India is one of the most well-investigated and densely populated regions amongst the world arid zones. A blend of crop and animal husbandries, conservative land use practices, coping mechanisms to minimize adverse effect of drought and a frugal lifestyle have been the characteristic features of its dwellers. Recent increase in biotic pressure has interacted with the fragile environment to create fearsome environmental problems. Governmental responses were prompt in form creating a strong research infrastructure for multi-disciplinary and multi-location research and demonstration on the one hand and in huge investment in irrigation from internally and externally sourced water, desertification control program and an accelerated socio-economic and infrastructure development, softening content of drought and strengthening of livelihoods on the other. Unlike several publications on the Thar, the current effort attempts a comprehensive, pragmatic and off-beat analysis of various developments and goes further to show how the situation today is a blend of both resource degradation and economic development. Recent studies have helped rebuild the past climate history that shows that the climate has been fluctuating during the geological history but reports suggest also that current anthropogenic global warming makes the desert more vulnerable in near future. An attempt has been made also to peep into the future of the Thar.




Medical Entomology


Book Description

Medical Entomology has in course of time undergone a transformation from a mere traditional knowledge of the discipline to the one that stresses emphatically on harvesting a plethora of insects' infinite 'biomedical' properties. Our familiarity with the medically important insects and other arthropods has, therefore, been expanded in this book to explore unlimited biomedical significance of these tiny yet most successful creatures on earth with about four million species. In addition to having a first-hand information on the pestilent/ vectorial importance of arthropods, particularly various vector-borne infections, an ingenious attempt has been made to unveil their medicinal value in different contexts. Having au fait with the fact that environment plays a key role in regulating disease epidemiology of a given vector-borne infection, adequate emphasis is laid to trace the various pathways governing the linkages amongst the vector-pathogen-host triad. The book offers a detailed account of various poisonous and injurious arthropods, along with the venoms' action on the human being. The book should hopefully serve a good purpose to both the students of zoology and medicine as well as professional researchers.




Entomology Ecology & Biodiversity


Book Description

The dominance of insects amongst all living organisms on earth, coupled with infinite wealth of knowledge so important for our own existence, is a fundamental scientific fact which is yet to be widely acknowledged. This dominance means that in numbers of species beyond our comprehension these animals permeate diverse and essential natural processes in Earth's terrestrial, aerial and freshwater ecosystems, contributing to the function of the natural world as a self-sustaining biological system. Invariably insects are an integral and complex part of the terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems with which the future of humans is inextricably linked. Insects have ultimately achieved a formidable diversity. Generally, insects are beneficial organisms, however, many of them are important pests and/or vectors to a large number of parasites and other microbial pathogens to both human being, his associates and the plants. The burden caused by their infestation or infection run up to several million-zillion rupees annually. Therefore, knowledge about extreme biodiversity and ecological relationships of these animals is a practical necessity: in the man's own interest to sustain the species. Packed with original 25 original articles/reviews, this book on 'Entomology: Ecology and Biodiversity' offers an invaluable opportunity to comprehend more deeply about our most intimate allies - the insects! The book truly establishes a foundation in basic entomology through varied and diverse treatment to entomology, while focusing on specialized topics in insect ecology and biodiversity, forensic and medical entomology.




Insect Biodiversity : Functional Dynamics and Ecological Perspectives


Book Description

Rapid depletion and degradation of species in diverse ecosystems and the implications of this for human welfare have the cause for increasing concern. Biodiversity or variability among living organisms and the ecological complexes of which they are a part, is essential for ensuring the basic ecological services and resources necessary for sustaining human welfare. The loss of biodiversity is therefore, considered one of the most serious problem threatening the world today. An understanding of the ecological implications of the increasing loss of bodiversity, not to mention of the economic implications, has therefore, became vital. A biodiversity loss is irreversible. A calls for increased caution in our efforts to convert and exploit natural resources. Some minimal level of biodiversity is necessary to main ecological functioning, which in turn is necessary for generating the biological resources on which human welfare depends. Needless to emphasive that substantial biodiversity loss occurs due to forest clearing and degradation, leading to the need for assessing biodiversity in different ecosystems. Keeping these aspects in mind, the present volume highlights biodiversity in different cropping systems besides that the impact of cold and hot deserts. Selection of the topics in the various chapters is essentially because of the experience of the authors in the field of biodiversity.







Faunal Diversity in the Thar Desert


Book Description

Papers presented at a meeting held in Jodhpur on 16th-17th Mar. 1994.




Entomology in the Doon Valley (Garhwal Himalaya) A Stronghold for Insect Research


Book Description

Entomology in the Doon Valley (Garhwal Region) is a unique journey into annals of the country’s most fascinating and highly entomofauna rich habitat – the Dehra Dun or the Doon Valley, tucked in the cosy climate of the foothills of the lower Himalayan region. Notwithstanding an unprecedented quantum of fragmented information available on the insects of the Doon Valley, courtesy various different long term research programmes carried out at the three major research institutions, viz., the Forest Research Institute & Colleges, the Zoological Survey of India and The Dayanand Anglo Vedic (PG) College, all located in Dehra Dun, yet no single entomological treatise detailing all the insect orders, supported by relevant local references, was ever offered to have a firsthand knowledge on the Doon Valley’s buoyant research tradition. For the first time, therefore, the present treatment comes forward to satiate a nature-lover’s desire to know completely about their own insect fauna. Besides offering an uncanny history of research, along with a string of researchers and institutions engaged in entomological research in the Doon Valley, the book describes entomologic characteristics of all the 32 Orders of Class Insecta, with emphasis on research contributions on the local and endemic fauna. To facilitate our understanding, the book offers as an example inventories of the extant taxa of a couple of orders and, still more importantly, bio-bibliographies of a few Doon Valley entomologists, as inspirational life stories for the beginners. The Book, written in a lucid language, will surely serve a good purpose for both the undergraduates, postgraduates and research scholars engaged in insect research, on one hand, and the professional entomologists not only from the Grahwal region but also across the country and beyond, on the other.




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