Your Environment This Week: biologist influencers, Kashmir’s wild edibles, climate change affects yak breeding

This week’s environment and conservation news stories rolled into one.

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Climate change affects mating in yaks; breeding season shifts

The yak is adapted to the high-altitude Himalayas, being able to survive exteme cold, low oxygen and intense sun. Climate change is impacting the yak breeding season and reproductive performance.

Yaks transporting essentials to Everest Base Camp. These animals play a key role in agrobiodiversity conservation, maintaining high rangeland ecosystems, cultural traditions, livelihood strategies, and socioeconomic development in the high mountain areas of the Himalayas. Image courtesy of Chencho Dema.

Biologists turn content creators to teach Indians about native biodiversity, ethically

Several Indian biologists are making a run at content creation in the hope that more people will learn to love and eventually help conserve local species of reptiles and amphibians that are traditionally demonised and feared.

Wildlife biologist Kayden Anthony holding a pill bug on a herpetology expedition in Coorg, Karnataka, in August, 2022. Photo credit: Roma A. Tripathi

Wild edible plants enhance food security and climate resilience in Kashmir, finds study

A new study has documented about 99 wild edible plant and nine fungi species used by four ethnic groups in Kashmir.

Agrivoltaics in India get a fresh boost from tech and design innovations

Agrivoltaics, or harvesting crops and solar energy from the same plot of land, has been around since 2012, but scalability remains a challenge.

Soil preparation underway at Section I, which is fully elevated, of the agrivoltaics plant near Parbhani. Image courtesy of NSEFI & GIZ.

Exploratory drilling for hydro, pumped storage should be exempt from clearance: forest committee

Exploratory drilling in forest areas for hydroelectric and pumped storage projects should be considered forest activity and made exempt from obtaining forest clearance, the Forest Advisory Committee has said.

Land use changes and roads disrupt genetic connectivity of herbivores in central India

A study in central India has looked at how land use changes and development oflinear infrastructure are disrupting genetic connectivity of two large herbivores, gaur and sambar.

Uttarakhand forests burn while fire guards face outstanding salaries and lack of resources

This year, forest fires were reported from almost all districts of Uttarakhand. Fewer rainy days and rising temperatures have seen fires being reported from Nov. 2023, rather than April this year, when fire season usually starts.

[Explainer] Is tree transplantation a solution for conservation or a short-term fix?

Tree transplantation is the process of uprooting and relocating a fully grown, mature tree from its original location to a new one.

[Commentary] On the trail of the Wayanad landslide

“The people of Vellarimala hill ranges of Wayanad district, Kerala didn’t realise that the land under their feet was slowly beginning to shift” – earth scientist C P Rajendran writes a commentary on the Wayanad Landslide.

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