Community Culture in the Solitary Orang-utan (Pongo)

Perception that orangutan are forest inhabitants living in isolated existence may be an accurate geographic portrayal, but overlooks noncontiguous interactions. While population density appears resource dependent, it takes a community to “raise” an orang. Their development ofintricate communication techniques reflects the importance of community. Clicks and “faux speech” represent arousal and alarm calls, in the form of grumphs, gorkunes, grumbiass . Sophisticated kiss-squeak alarm calls involving cupping hands around muzzles to reduce pitch, facilitating long-distance sound transmission. This is not inherited, but learned behavior, reflecting aprolonged childhood. So-called locomotor independence is delayed at least five years. This is a period of intense (at least related to later activity levels) learning. 

They are very curious animals, for whom communication is only a part of their “curriculum.” One of the more intriguing aspects of orang behavior is their use of tools. Variability among derived family groups, at least during the fiveyear “home life” confirms this as learned, not hereditary behavior. Their curiosity often leads to discovering new tools and concepts which they share with their group. This includes building sun covers out of leaves and play nests. Hygiene is facilitated by creating leaf napkins. Itches (both tactile and erotic) are “scratched” with sticks; branches, used to swat flies; gloves, made out of leaves to allow access to spiny fruits and branches. Sticks are used to extract insects from holes (e.g., in trees) and seeds from fruits.

Isolation and identification of Soil Fungi from Wheat Cultivated Area of Uttar Pradesh

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most important cereals in the world and is part of a staple diet for nearly 35% of the world’s population. It is grown in about 102 countries of the world covering about220.69 million hectares of land which is 32% of the total cultivated land of the world. The area and production increased to 0.83 million hectare and 1.84 million metric tons, respectively in 2000.

Soil fungi play an important role as major decomposers in the soil ecosystem. There are about 75,000 species of soil fungi in the world. Fungi are one of the dominant groups present in soil, which strongly influence ecosystem structure and functioning and thus plays a key role in many ecological services. Therefore, there is a growing interest in assessing soil biodiversity and its biological functioning.The yield was 2.8 t/ha in 2011-2012cropping year which is very low compared to those in the research farm level(3.5 t/ha to 5.1 t/ha). Coupled with many other factors, diseases also play an important role in lowering the yield .The process of decomposition is governed by the succession of fungi at various stage of decomposition nutrient level of soil, crop residue and prevailing environmental conditions.The current study was aimed detection of soil fungi from wheat field. The study involved isolation, identification and screening of soil fungi of fungal species prevailed Allahabad, Varanasi, and Mirzapur districts of Uttar Pradesh in India.

A Review on Aspergillosis in Poultry

Aspergillosis is non-contagious disease of avian. It is cuased by a fungal species under the genus Aspergillus. The disease occursunder immune compromised situations of the host or when the bird is exposed toan overwhelming number of spores. Stress is the main predisposing factor for the development of the disease. It is a common mismanagement problem in commercial and back yard poultry. The disease primarily affects lower respiratory system .

Aspergillus spp can penetrate egg shell and infect the embryo. The infected embryo may die or hatch with well developed lesion. Ifinfected eggs are broken, large numbers of spores are released, whichcontaminate the hatchery equipment. Aspergillosis can be acute or chronic form. Acute aspergillosis generally occurs in young birds and resulting in high morbidity and mortality. The chronic form is sporadic and it causes lesser mortality and generally affects older birds, especially a compromised immune system due to poor husbandry condition

Apple Rootstock-Induced Dwarfing is Strongly Influenced by Growing Environment

The primary axis of a compound apple tree is derived from a scion bud that is grafted onto the rootstock. When the grafted bud is vegetative, the primary axis develops directly from the apical meristem. In the case of a mixed floral bud, the apical meristem terminates in an inflorescence and the axis development is continued by outgrowth of a sub-terminal axillary meristem. In plant architecture, these two types of axis development arereferred to as “monopodial” and “sympodial” respectively. In apple, a vegetative bud contains 9-11 preformed nodes whereas a floral bud has only 5-6 preformed vegetative nodes, which may affect the onset and vigour of primary axis development. Anecdotally, it is thought that grafting scion wood comprised mixed floral buds limits young tree growth and therefore final tree size in the first year of growth after propagation. However, no previous studies have determined how grafted bud type may quantitatively modify scion architecture and whole tree dry mass gain.

During the first season of growth after grafting, axillary meristems along the primary axis either grow out to form a syllepticshoot, or develop into either a floral bud or a vegetative bud that remainsdormant until spring of year two. Apple dwarfing rootstocks reduce tree size by altering the development of axillary meristems, which affects the type of growth units that develop during the following season

The Monthly Variation in Physiochemical Parameters of Ebonyi River System

Fresh water is a finite resource, essential for agriculture, industry and even for human survival. Without fresh water ofadequate quality and quantity sustainable development will not be possible. Because of this reason, governments of most countries see an imperative need to become involved in its over-all management. Yet in many developing countries, water resources are not being managed efficiently and in a manner that will sustain the natural qualities.

It was observed that in 2011, the monthly variation in water temperature showed that Mkpuma River consistently had higher water temperature except in April and December when higher water temperatures were recorded in Enyigba and Pond water, respectively. The water temperature in 2012was still higher in Mkpume River in all months of sampling except in December, January and February; when higher water temperature were noted in pond water and Enyigba river.