Novel Research Academy Research and Publications
Welcome to Novel Research Academy Publications, we people are interested to do research work in the field as well as in the lab. However, we do not have lab facilities right now. So we are focusing on the fieldwork in the subject of Ecology and Environmental Sciences. Any interested researchers, students, and faculty members join us to share your research and innovative ideas to publish your work collaboratively. We will provide strong research guidelines, assist for data analysis, issue guidelines for thesis writing and publications in SCI/Scopus journals. We have already given free guidelines to Ph.D students of Pondicherry University, Bharathiyar University and other institutions. There is no fee or charge for research online course admission and research guidelines. Our aims to motivate the students for research publication in reputed journals through novel findings. We also contributed to publishing research articles through our research work in the field of Ecology and Environmental Sciences are as follows.
The global abundance of tree palms
Aim: Palms are an iconic, diverse and often abundant component of tropical ecosystems that provide many ecosystem services. Being monocots, tree palms are evolutionarily, morphologically and physiologically distinct from other trees, and these differences have important consequences for ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage) and in terms of responses to climate change. We quantified global patterns of tree palm relative abundance to help improve understanding of tropical forests and reduce uncertainty about these ecosystems under climate change.
Location: Tropical and subtropical moist forests. Time period: Current. Major taxa studied: Palms (Arecaceae).
Methods: We assembled a pantropical dataset of 2,548 forest plots (covering 1,191 ha) and quantified tree palm (i.e., ≥10 cm diameter at breast height) abundance relative to co-occurring non-palm trees. We compared the relative abundance of tree palms across biogeographical realms and tested for associations with palaeoclimate stability, current climate, edaphic conditions and metrics of forest structure. Results: On average, the relative abundance of tree palms was more than five times larger between Neotropical locations and other biogeographical realms. Tree palms were absent in most locations outside the Neotropics but present in >80% of Neotropical locations. The relative abundance of tree palms was more strongly associated with local conditions (e.g., higher mean annual precipitation, lower soil fertility, shallower water table and lower plot mean wood density) than metrics of long-term climate stability. Life-form diversity also influenced the patterns; palm assemblages outside the Neotropics comprise many non-tree (e.g., climbing) palms. Finally, we show that tree palms can influence estimates of above-ground biomass, but the magnitude and direction of the effect require additional work.
Conclusions: Tree palms are not only quintessentially tropical, but they are also overwhelmingly Neotropical. Future work to understand the contributions of tree palms to biomass estimates and carbon cycling will be particularly crucial in Neotropical forests.
Published and Cite as; Muscarella R, Emilio T, Phillips OL, et al. The global abundance of tree palms. Global Ecol Biogeogr. 2020;00:1–20. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13123. Impact factor: 6.44 (SCI journal; web of science)
Fragmentation Causes Woody Plant Composition Decline In Sacred Grove Patches Of Puducherry Region, Southeast India
Abstract
Fragmentation of tropical forests threatens plant community composition worldwide. In the present study, we examined the impact of fragmentation on plant community composition over 40 years in the sacred forest grove fragments of southern India. For this study, we randomly selected 30 sacred groves patches (hereafter referred to as fragments) of different sizes to examine the effect of fragment size and historical change on plant community composition. A total of 414 woody individuals consisting of 53 species belonging to 45 genera and 20 families were recorded from the 30 sites. The total area of fragments did not significantly related to current species richness and diversity though there was a significant negative relationship between total fragment size and species composition and evenness indicating fragmentation negatively impacted woody plant composition. Interestingly, our results showed woody tree abundance was significantly and positively related to total fragment size suggesting a potential increase in recruitment due to the various forms of ongoing human disturbance. Moreover, woody plant species composition may be declining in these venerated forest patches due to the removal of plant resources potentially resulting in a decline in fragment size.
Spatial autocorrelation shapes liana distribution better than topography and host tree properties in a subtropical evergreen broadleaved forest in SW China
Abstract
Lianas are an important component of subtropical forests, but the mechanisms underlying their spatial distribution patterns have received relatively little attention. Here, we selected 12 most abundant liana species, constituting up to 96.9% of the total liana stems, in a 20-ha plot in a subtropical evergreen broadleaved forest at 2472–2628 m elevation in SW China. Combining data on topography (convexity, slope, aspect, and elevation) and host trees (density and size) of the plot, we addressed how liana distribution is shaped by host tree properties, topography and spatial autocorrelation by using principal coordinates of neighbor matrices (PCNM) analysis. We found that lianas had an aggregated distribution based on the Ripley’s K function. At the community level, PCNM analysis showed that spatial autocorrelation explained 43% variance in liana spatial distribution. Host trees and topography explained 4% and 18% of the variance, but less than 1% variance after taking spatial autocorrelation into consideration. A similar trend was found at the species level. These results indicate that spatial autocorrelation might be the most important factor shaping liana spatial distribution in subtropical forest at high elevation.
Contact Resource Person
Dr. D. Mohandass, Ph.D
Director, Novel Research Academy
# 194, Thiruvalluvar Salai
Kuyavarpalayam
Puducherry – 605 013
India
Mobile: 9790673053
Email: directornra@gmail.com
Website: www.newswertia.com