No abstract

No abstract

Magnolia punduana Hk. f. & Th. (syn. Michelia punduana) is a threatened tree species restricted to northeastern India. The seeds remain dormant for 6 months after dispersal. Seed development and breaking of dormancy was investigated in the present study. Physical treatments such as water (cold, hot, and boiling) and acid and manual scarification proved ineffective in breaking dormancy. Matured seeds had linear and underdeveloped embryos at the time of dispersal with an embryo to seed length (E:S) ratio of 0.13. Germinating seeds showed a significant increase in the embryo length with an E:S ratio of 0.36. Cold stratification (CS) at 5 °C effectively broke dormancy. The embryo grew significantly after CS, indicating the presence of “non-deep simple” morphophysiological dormancy (MPD). Application of GA3 had a significant effect on germination and the lowest germination time with the shortest T50 was observed in seeds treated with 3000 mg·L−1 GA3. KNO3 did not have an influence on breaking dormancy except in combination with GA3, which increased the germination percentage significantly. CS for 90 days and GA3 (3000 mg·L−1) at 25 °C resulted in optimum germination. In the test for viability, seeds stored at 5 °C showed highest viability of 66.66% after 180 days.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Categorization of species under different threat classes is a pre-requisite for planning, management and monitoring of any species conservation programme. However, data availability, particularly at the population level, has been a major bottleneck in the correct categorization of threatened species. Till date, threat assessments have been mostly based on expert opinion and/or herbarium records. The availability of primary data on distribution of species and their population attributes is limited in India because of inadequate field survey, which has been ascribed to resource constraints and inaccessibility. In this study, we demonstrate that ecological niche modelling (ENM) can be an economical and effective tool to guide surveys overcoming the above two constraints leading to the discovery of new populations of threatened species. Such data lead to improved threat assessment and more accurate categorization. We selected 14 threatened plants comprising 5 trees (Acer hookeri Miq., Bhesa robusta (Roxb.) Ding Hou, Gynocardia odorata Roxb., Ilex venulosa Hook. f. and Lagerstroemia minu-

No abstract