Agro-biodiversity Park for Conservation and Preservation of Native Flora and Fauna in Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, India

In newly developed agro-biodiversity park, several plantation blocks were developed in phased manner, such as teak （2,200 plants in 2.2 ha）, mahuva （1,500, 1.5 ha） plant dominant community blocks and mixed forest tree block （4,600, 2.5 ha）. Besides, a separate generic blocks of, viz., palm （300, 0.4 ha）, medicinal trees （700, 0.7 ha）, bael （Aegel marmelos） （200, 0.4 ha） and minor fruit tree block （1,200, 1.0 ha）. A species diversity Ficus block （225 no. of 30 species in 0.4 ha） was also developed and maintained. Of late rare, endemic, endangered and threatened species Ceropegia （Asclepiadaceae） was identified in 2014. Since then, utmost care was taken for conservation and preservation in agro-biodiversity park. Every year during monsoon, the gap filling was done to maintain greenery in different block plantations. Water ponds and bodies were also created as a source of water for all resident and migratory bio-creatures for promotion of fauna genetic resources. The natural fauna present in agro-biodiversity park are wild boars, field rabbits, small mammalians, field peacocks, reptiles, lizards, avians, amphibians, toads, etc.. Besides, 24 species of insects, five species of fish and eight species of reptiles were recorded. Out of 120 species of butterflies present in the state, 56 were found in the park. The bird species increased from 35 to 172 species within eight years of duration. The creation of different plantation blocks has facilitated to increase flora and fauna in the park. The native flora and fauna were protected by erecting chain link mesh as border fencing against movement of trespass and livestock animals. The agro-biodiversity park was aimed mainly to preserve, conserve and promote the native flora and fauna through ex-situ conservation of species and to establish 15-20 biotic communities, including wild relative field crops, such as cereals, millets, pulses, oilseeds and fiber crops as a repository that flourished in the Deccan plateau in the past. The other objectives were to restore and develop the existing dry land and wet land habit to preserve and conserve the genetic resources.

FLORA AND FAUNA IN QOMOLANGMA NATURE RESERVE

Situated at the southern end of the ancient northern pole of bio-geographic terrain,by combing the natural

Josefa deÓbidos’s Vedute:Discovering the Realms of Nature

Josefa Figueira de Ayala de Cabrera D’Óbidos was a renowned Baroque painter from Portugal who lived between 1630 and 1684.She was an accomplished artist and one of the most notable female artists of her time.Her works included both secular and religious themes,and she used a variety of mediums with great skill.Despite having different surnames,she signed her paintings under Josepha emÓbidos.This article concentrates on the artist’s landscapes(vedute)and integrated still-life paintings(bodegones).It delves into her capacity to depict the changing seasons through these themes.Josefa expertly combined Baroque tenebrism and illusionism with her love of Nature,highlighting both the physical and spiritual aspects of the natural world.Her paintings are visually captivating,with beautiful colors and intricate details.She incorporated emblematic and mystical symbolism,which added to their spiritual significance in portraying the flora and fauna of her homeland.

Sustainability of Renewable Energy Systems with Special Reference to Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Schemes

It was required to determine relative merits of commonly used renewable energy(RE)systems for which estimation of their individual sustainability percent achievable was chosen as the single criterion assessment tool.The methodology developed for estimating sustainability included identification of individual sustainability indices(SI)and examining the scope of sustainability percent input/kWh power generation for each of SI indices and summing them up estimating total sustainability accrued from respective RE systems.The RE systems studied included photo-voltaic(PV)cells,bio-fuels,on-shore&off-shore wind energy and OTEC schemes.Coal power plant being commercially viable was studied as the referral energy scheme.Nine SI indices identified for study included resource potential,greenhouse gas saving,influence on flora&fauna,effects on human health,land loss aspects,food and potable water security,economy evaluation,and improvement in quality of life from economic growth.Total sustainability achievable showed the highest in OTEC,followed by wind,bio-fuels and PV,respectively.SI index on quality of life showed RE schemes like OTEC&bio-fuels competing equally with coal power plant having poor sustainability with the least power generation cost;whence Hybrid OTEC showed the highest sustainability with high power production cost.Four fold approaches have been suggested for reducing power generation cost of OTEC.(i)Adopting economically viable scheme of not less than 40 MW.(ii)Heating up the working fluid with solar irradiation,terming SOTEC scheme.(iii)Saving cable laying cost,from hydrogen production utilizing the power generated.(iv)Hybridization of OTEC scheme.