Scientists have been using genetics to study wild animals for several years now. However, a new genetic method developed by a team, including scientists from Bengaluru’s National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), hopes to make studying as well as conserving wild species quicker, easier and cost-effective by deriving information from animal sources containing extremely low-quality DNA — including faeces and cooked meat.

Now, researchers at Stanford and the National Centre for Biological Sciences at India’s Tata Institute of Fundamental Research have developed a method for extracting genetic clues quickly and cheaply from degraded and left-behind materials, such as feces, skin or saliva, and from food products suspected of containing endangered animals.

Organophosphate pesticides bring about the inhibition of important enzymes (AChE) of the body, which can, in turn, affect the functioning of nervous system, heart, immunity, and even the reproductive system.

Explains Ketan Thorat, a doctoral scholar at the Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine (inStem), Bengaluru, “The base of the gel is chitosan, a natural substance extracted from the waste shells of crabs and shrimps, to which we added a nucleophile and few aqua reagents to get the consistency and desired pH.”

Jayashree Ratnam, associate director of the wildlife biology and conservation programme at the National Centre for Biological Science, said that these forests are mesic savannas. “Having worked for a while in African savannas and being very familiar with the idea that mixed tree-grass ecosystems were distinctive from forests, when we returned to India and started visiting various field sites, we were struck by the similarities of these sites with African savannas,” she said.

A species is identified based on the type specimen that describes the characteristics of that species. So to zero in on the right names to apply to the species, scientists have to extensively study historical specimens and Indian and international museums, he said.

To this end, Ascher co-organised the second Bangalore Meeting on Asian Bees, on March 1 and 2, along with V.V. Belavadi, Hemalatha Somanathan and Axel Brockmann.

Today, rice is the most widely consumed staple food in the world, feeding more than half of the world’s population. We have nothing but a tiny piece of RNA, or ribonucleic acid, to thank, for the mouthfuls of rice we eat!

Jayashree Ratnam, associate director of the wildlife biology and conservation programme at the National Centre for Biological Science, said that these forests are mesic savannas. “Having worked for a while in African savannas and being very familiar with the idea that mixed tree-grass ecosystems were distinctive from forests, when we returned to India and started visiting various field sites, we were struck by the similarities of these sites with African savannas,” she said.

Six scientists who study fire-prone forest systems across India have written an open letter on the importance of “fighting fire with fire.” The letter, signed by Dr. Abi Tamim Vanak, Dr. Ankila Hiremath and Dr. Nitin Rai of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE); Dr. Raman Sukumar of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc); Dr. Jayashree Ratnam of the National Centre for Biological Sciences’ (NCBS); and Tarsh Thekaekara of The Shola Trust, says that “there is an urgent need for a more nuanced view of forest fires.”

In a study, published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, researchers from the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, have shown that grass-fuelled fires and seasonal drought, which are the characteristics of savannas, are also observed in the dry deciduous “forests” in India. These findings add to a growing body of evidence that these systems are, in fact, savannas.