The mighty Himalayas is home to many species. Besides providing ecological and economic services, the largest mountain range in the world has numerous unique ecosystems hidden within, which have rich biodiversity. The Himalayan high altitude areas located above the forests – the alpine meadows and the cold deserts […]
When we talk about remediation of impacts of human activities, it will always have two aspects: recovering what is lost and preventing what is left from permanent loss. Recovering what is lost comes under the banner of restoration ecology. Prevention of loss, on the other hand, is the […]
Rangelands are grasslands heavily used for the purpose of meeting animal farm requirements. Therefore, it is not surprising that it is these lands that are heavily affected by overgrazing. I’ve written extensively about the role overgrazing plays in land degradation. Let’s now look at what we can do […]
Minespoils are one of the most degraded bits of land to have been generated by human activity. Even nature thinks so. Why do I say that? Because if nature was to restore a minespoil at her own pace, it would take centuries for her to bring back a […]
In a previous post, I suggested how land degradation can be overcome by 10 simple and effective management practices. However, these steps are mostly to prevent further land degradation. What to do when faced with a piece of land that is already degraded? How is it restored to […]
Land degradation (also called soil degradation) is continuing to grow into a major problem in today’s world. While it threatens biodiversity and the living standards of other living species, the largest effect of this by far, is on human life. More importantly, land degradation has seriously taken a […]
Restoration ecology is an up and coming field with a huge number of applications. Sites ranging from minespoils, degraded rangelands, wastelands and floodplains have been recognized with immediate need for ecological restoration. But essentially, the blueprint for the restoration project remains the same. What is that?
The social media is abound with articles and posts on the extent of pollution, the reasons for it and the dangers it is causing. The public pressure is mounting and it is not going to be long before the governments at the state and national level are forced […]
This environment blog seeks to answer this question with every piece we publish. In this post, I would like to distill this down to 3 key reasons as to why we have to conserve and restore nature and all it’s ecosystems.
Scale is absolutely critical in ecological studies. Everything, and I mean everything, depends on the scale at which it is defined. The is true for species diversity as well. Diversity of species (sometimes communities) in a landscape is generally observed in three different scales. Alpha diversity This is […]
