Artificial night light alters ecosystem services provided by biotic components.

The global catastrophe of natural biodiversity and ecosystem services are expedited with the growing human population. Repercussions of artificial light at night ALAN are much wider, as it varies from unicellular to higher organism. Subsequently, hastened pollution and over exploitation of natural resources accelerate the expeditious transformation of climatic phenomenon and further cause global biodiversity losses. Moreover, it has a crucial role in global biodiversity and ecosystem services losses via influencing the ecosystem biodiversity by modulating abundance, number and aggregation at every levels as from individual to biome levels. Along with these affects, it disturbs the population, genetics and landscape structures by interfering inter- and intra-species interactions and landscape formation processes. Furthermore, alterations in normal light/dark (diurnal) signalling disrupt the stable physiological, biochemical, and molecular processes and modulate the regulating, cultural and provisioning ecosystem services and ultimately disorganize the stable ecosystem structure and functions. Moreover, ALAN reshapes the abiotic component of the ecosystem, and as a key component of global warming via producing greenhouse gases via emitting light. By taking together the above facts, this review highlights the impact of ALAN on the ecosystem and its living and non-living components, emphasizing to the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem. Further, we summarize the means of minimizing strategies of ALAN in the environment, which are very crucial to reduce the further spread of night light contamination in the environment and can be useful to minimize the drastic impacts on the ecosystem.

Trichoderma asperellum T42 Reprograms Tobacco for Enhanced Nitrogen Utilization Efficiency and Plant Growth When Fed with N Nutrients.

Trichoderma spp., are saprophytic fungi that can improve plant growth through increased nutrient acquisition and change in the root architecture. In the present study, we demonstrate that Trichoderma asperellum T42 mediate enhancement in host biomass, total nitrogen content, nitric oxide (NO) production and cytosolic Ca2+ accumulation in tobacco. T42 inoculation enhanced lateral root, root hair length, root hair density and root/shoot dry mass in tobacco under deprived nutrients condition. Interestingly, these growth attributes were further elevated in presence of T42 and supplementation of NO3- and NH4+ nutrients to tobacco at 40 and 70 days, particularly in NO3- supplementation, whereas no significant increment was observed in nia30 mutant. In addition, NO production was more in tobacco roots in T42 inoculated plants fed with NO3- nutrient confirming NO generation was dependent on NR pathway. NO3- dependent NO production contributed to increase in lateral root initiation, Ca2+ accumulation and activities of nitrate transporters (NRTs) in tobacco. Higher activities of several NRT genes in response to T42 and N nutrients and suppression of ammonium transporter (AMT1) suggested that induction of high affinity NRTs help NO3- acquisition through roots of tobacco. Among the NRTs NRT2.1 and NRT2.2 were more up-regulated compared to the other NRTs. Addition of sodium nitroprusside (SNP), relative to those supplied with NO3-/NH4+ nutrition and T42 treated plants singly, and with application of NO inhibitor, cPTIO, confirmed the altered NO fluorescence intensity in tobacco roots. Our findings suggest that T42 promoted plant growth significantly ant N content in the tobacco plants grown under N nutrients, notably higher in NO3-, providing insight of the strategy for not only tobacco but probably for other crops as well to adapt to fluctuating nitrate availability in soil.

Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used by the Taungya community in Terai Arc Landscape, India.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The importance/study of community-based ethnobotanical traditional knowledge is ever-increasing for designing strategies for conservation and sustainable use, appropriate drugs and dose-illness relationship. AIMS OF THE STUDY: Present study aims to document ethnobotanical attributes of diverse medicinal plants used by the Taungya community to cure ailments in Terai Arc Landscape of India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ethnobotanical data was recorded by opting peoples' participation approach involving interviews, semi-structured meetings, group discussions and filling of questionnaires. RESULTS: Total 116 medicinal plant species comprising 97 genera and 48 families have been recorded, out of which 16% used externally, 39% used internally and 45% used both externally and internally. Various plant parts were used in form of powder, paste, juice, decoction, infusion, poultice and oral consumption to cure a variety of ailments. Twenty-three species are used as remedies against skin problems, 17 species against rheumatism and 14 species against fever. CONCLUSION: Taungya community provided vast ethnobotanical knowledge in form of detail description of 116 medicinal plants (including 82 species with new phytomedicinal claims). Further, investigation on these species may lead to the discovery of novel bioactive molecules.