The PREDICTS project—Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)—has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used this evidence base to develop global and regional statistical models of how local biodiversity responds to these measures. We describe and make freely available this 2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2 million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000 species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and international efforts wishing to model and understand the global status of biodiversity.

Understanding crop responses to climate is essential to cope with anticipated changes in temperature and precipitation. We investigated the climate-crop yield relationship and the impact of historical climate on yields of rice, maize and wheat in the Koshi basin of Nepal. The results show significant impact of growing season temperature and precipitation on crop production in the region. Rice, maize and wheat cultivated at altitudes below 1,100, 1,350 and 1,700 m amsl (above mean sea level), respectively, suffer from stress due to higher temperatures particularly during flowering and yield formation stages. Responses of crop yields to a unitary increment in growing season mean temperature vary from -6 to 16 %, -4 to 11 % and -12 to 3 % for rice, maize and wheat, respectively, depending on the location and elevation in the basin. In most parts of the basin, we observe warming trends in growing season mean temperatures of rice, maize and wheat over the last few decades with clear evidence of negative impacts on yields. However, at some high-elevation areas, positive impacts of warming are also observed on rice and maize yields. If the observed trends in temperature continue in future, the impact is likely to be mostly negative on crop production in the basin. However, crop production may gain from the warming at relatively higher altitudes provided other conditions, e.g., water availability, soil fertility, are favorable.

The Indian subcontinent is amongst the biologically better known parts of the tropics and its bird fauna has been well documented. However, avian community composition and diversity along elevational gradients and amongst habitat types remains unclear in India. We attempted to estimate bird assemblages in terms of diversity, species composition, status and abundance in urban and forest habitats of Nainital district of Uttarakhand (350–2450 m asl; 29°N), Western Himalayas. We sampled different elevational gradients and to understand the effect of urbanization and season on avian community composition. Field studies were conducted during January 2005 to January 2007. Results indicated that the forest had more complex bird community structure in terms of higher species richness (14.35 vs 8.69), higher species diversity (Shannon’s index 4.00 vs 3.54), higher evenness (0.838 vs 0.811) and more rare species (17 vs 5) as compared to urban habitat. However, the abundance of 11 species was higher in urban habitats. Bird Species Richness (BSR) varied considerably among study areas (91 to 113 species), was highest (113 species) at mid elevation (1450–1700 m asl) and decreased (22 species) at high elevation (1900–2450 m asl). It seems that high BSR at mid altitudes is not caused by the presence of a group of mid altitude specialists but rather that there is an overlap in the distribution of low land and high elevation specialists at this altitude. BSR and Bird Species Diversity fluctuated across seasons but not habitat type.

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Taxa classified as subspecies may in fact be cryptic species. We assessed the taxonomic status of the Blue‐throated Flycatcher Cyornis rubeculoides complex in India, which consists of several forms with similar plumages and song. We used mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, plumage traits, and detailed song analysis to ascertain the taxonomic status of the different forms. The molecular data identified three primary clades: (1) in the west Himalayan foothills, (2) at higher elevations in the northeast hill states of Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram, and (3) at lower elevations in the northeastern hills of Meghalaya and the east Himalayas of Arunachal Pradesh. The western clade represents nominate C. rubeculoides rubeculoides. The high‐elevation eastern clade was considered to be C. rubeculoides rogersi, because it included a sample from this subspecies from near the type locality in southwest Myanmar. These two sister clades had an estimated divergence time of 1.5 million years (my). The low‐elevation east clade has previously been assigned to C. rubeculoides, but we showed it is closely related to the Hainan Blue Flycatcher Cyornis hainanus, formerly thought to breed only further east, with an estimated divergence time of only ~0.8 my. This clade may represent a subspecies of C. hainanus or, given reports of widespread sympatry with C. hainanus in Thailand, a distinct species, Cyornis dialilaemus. However, more research is advocated, including molecular data, from the area of overlap. Songs were remarkably similar across all taxa. In playback experiments, C. r. rubeculoides in the west responded to all taxa. This is in agreement with recent work demonstrating that song differences and responses to songs are not always a good indicator of the progress of reproductive isolation.

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Information on the nesting success of birds in the Indian subcontinent is almost negligible. In the present study factors affecting nesting success were studied over four years (i.e. 2011–2014) in a color ringed population of the oriental magpie robin (OMR) in an urban habitat of Haridwar district (29°55′N, 78°08′E), Uttarakhand, India. Objectives of our study were 1) to assess whether nest box affects nesting success in the OMR or not 2) to compare breeding data obtained from nest boxes with tree cavities. Out of total 114 nests built in both nest boxes and tree cavities, 80 nests were successful in producing at least one fledgling resulting 69.25% nesting success. Nesting success did not differ significantly between nest boxes and tree cavities or during different years. No correlation was found between territory size and nesting success (correlation coefficient = 0.41). Observations indicated that predation accounted for the maximum egg loss and nestling mortality. Predation rate was higher in tree cavities but did not differ significantly during different years and between nest boxes and tree cavities. In all years but 2011 clutch size was significantly higher in nest boxes than in tree cavities. However, incubation period, provisioning period, number of eggs hatched and number of young fledged did not differ significantly between nest boxes and tree cavities. When provided, nest boxes were occupied more frequently at all study sites indicating that nest box may act as an alternative nesting site for the OMR and perhaps for other secondary cavity nesters facing scarcity of nesting sites due to rapid urbanization.

Abstract. Siregar HM. 2017. The conservation of native, lowland Indonesian Begonia species (Begoniaceae) in Bogor Botanic . Indonesia has a diversity of indigenous (i.e. wild type) Begonia species that have never been artificially hybridized. They are usually situated in tropical rain forests, from the lowlands to the uplands (2400 m asl.). There are many Begonia species that have not yet been collected and conserved ex-situ. Hence exploration and conservation of this diversity needs to be exensively pursued. The conservation of lowland adapted Begonia has been carried out for the last ten years in the Bogor Botanic Gardens. The research reported here developed an inventory of the Begonia collection held in the green house of the Bogor Botanic Gardens nursery. The method used was a study of the plant expedition database which contains collection lists, locality of their discovery and ecological data for the localities. Plant collection registration, acclimatization, propagation and collection care were documented. Bogor Botanic Gardens has conserved 124 collections of Begonia, made up of 93 indigenous species and 31 exotic species. The reported origins for the collection are as follows: Java (9 accessions), Sumatra (37 accessions), Kalimantan (5 accessions), Sulawesi (11 accessions), Maluku (15 accessions), Papua (4 accessions), Bali and West Nusa Tenggara (6 accessions ) and East Nusa Tenggara (6 accessions). These wild Begonia have prospects for development as new ornamental plants and also as genetic material to research the creation of new Begonia varieties through artifial hybridization.