Habitat Distribution Modeling for Reintroduction and Conservation of Aristolochia Indica L

OPEN ACCESS The Journal of Threatened Taxa is dedicated to building evidence for conservaton globally by publishing peer-reviewed artcles online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. All artcles published in JoTT are registered under Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License unless otherwise mentoned. JoTT allows unrestricted use of artcles in any medium, reproducton, and distributon by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publicaton.

Journal of Threatened Taxa Building evidence for conservaton globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Communication Habitat distribution modeling for reintroduction and conservation of Aristolochia indica L. - a threatened medicinal plant in Assam, India

Bhaskar Sarma, Prantk Sharma Baruah & Bhaben Tant

26 October 2018 | Vol. 10 | No. 11 | Pages: 12531-12537 10.11609/jot.3600.10.11.12531-12537

For Focus, Scope, Aims, Policies and Guidelines visit htp://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-0 For Artcle Submission Guidelines visit htp://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions For Policies against Scientfc Misconduct visit htp://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-2 For reprints contact

Publisher & Host Partners Member

Threatened Taxa

Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2018 | 10(11): 12531–12537

Habitat distribution modeling for reintroduction and conservation of Aristolochia indica L. - a threatened Communication medicinal plant in Assam, India ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Bhaskar Sarma 1 , Prantk Sharma Baruah 2 & Bhaben Tant 3 OPEN ACCESS 1 Department of Botany, Anundoram Borooah Academy Degree College, Pathsala, District- Barpeta, Assam 781325, India 2,3 Department of Botany, Gauhat University, Guwahat, Assam 781014, India 1 [email protected], 2 [email protected], 3 [email protected] (corresponding author)

Abstract: A detailed study on the regeneraton ecology of Aristolochia indica L. was carried out to prevent this threatened medicinal plant from its future extrpaton in Assam, India. The populaton stock of the species has been depletng fast in its natural habitats as a consequence of certain factors such as habitat fragmentaton, over-exploitaton due to its high medicinal propertes, and other anthropogenic actvites. For improving the conservaton status of the species, potental area and habitat for its reintroducton were predicted using Maximum Entropy distributon modelling algorithm. The model was developed using environmental parameters and locality data in the natural range of Karbi Anglong District of Assam, India. The model predicted that the suitable habitats for the reintroducton of A. indica L. were restricted to parts of Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh which have been identfed to ofer suitable environmental conditons for persistence of the species. Populaton status was positvely correlated with higher model thresholds in the undisturbed habitats confrming the usefulness of the habitat model in populaton monitoring, partcularly in predictng the successful establishment of the species.

Keywords: Aristolochia indica, Assam, conservaton, habitat distributon modelling, India, MaxEnt, NDVI, reintroducton, threatened.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3600.10.11.12531-12537

Editor: K. Haridasan, Palakkad, Kerala, India. Date of publicaton: 26 October 2018 (online & print)

Manuscript details: Ms # 3600 | Received 24 June 2017 | Final received 12 September 2018 | Finally accepted 08 October 2018

Citation: Sarma, B., P.S. Baruah & B. Tanti (2018). Habitat distribution modeling for reintroduction and conservation of Aristolochia indica L. - a threatened medicinal plant in Assam, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 10(11): 12531–12537; https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3600.10.11.12531-12537

Copyright: © Sarma et al. 2018. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this artcle in any medium, reproducton and distributon by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publicaton.

Funding: None.

Competng interests: The authors declare no competng interests.

Author Details: Bhaskar Sarma, Assistant Professor, Department of Botany, Anundoram Borooah Academy Degree College, whose interest in cytogenetcs, plant breeding, molecular biology and ecological modeling. Prantik Sharma Baruah, research scholar, Department of Botany, Gauhat University. His research interest in cytogenetcs, plant tssue culture and ecological modeling. Bhaben Tanti, Professor, Department of Botany, Gauhat University. His research interest in cytogenetcs, plant breeding, molecular biology and stress physiology.

Author Contributon: BS carried out the survey and executon of experiments. PSB prepared the manuscript. BT conceived and designed the experiment and critcally analyzed the data. All authors read and approved the fnal manuscript.

12531 Reintroducton and conservaton of Aristolochia Indica Sarma et al.

INTRODUCTION geographic space across diferent tme periods. This has made it possible to prepare species distributon maps Rapidly changing climate, habitat fragmentaton with a high level of statstcal confdence and to identfy & loss, invasion of alien species & pathogens, over- areas suitable for reintroducton of threatened species exploitaton, and rapid urbanizaton are the most (Irfan-Ullah et al. 2006; Martnez-Meyer et al. 2006; important factors responsible for ecosystem degradaton Kumar & Stohlgren 2009; Ray et al. 2011; Sarma et al. worldwide that alter the structural and functonal 2015; Sarma & Tant 2017). integrity of ecosystems (Barnosky et al. 2011; Baruah Identfcaton of suitable habitats for the et al. 2016). In additon to these, rising temperatures reintroducton of species is the next logical step in species and rapid economic development, and can potentally conservaton efort. Therefore, the present work was afect ecosystems, rapidly disassemble communites, undertaken to model the potental habitat distributon and negatvely impact natve biodiversity (Sanders et of Aristolochia indica L., a threatened medicinal plant al. 2003; Lin et al. 2007; Thuiller et al. 2007; Kelly & species in northeastern India, in its natve range. Goulden 2008; Walther 2009). Such alteratons have brought approximately one-ffh of plant species to the brink of extncton (Brummit & Bachman 2010). Species MATERIALS AND METHODS (re)introducton is one of the successful ecological engineering techniques for the restoraton of depleted Plant materials species populatons and degraded habitats &ecosystems Aristolochia indica L. is a climber which belongs to (Leaper et al. 1999; Martnez-Meyer et al. 2006; the family Aristolochiaceae. The plant is a shrubby or Kuzovkina & Volk 2009; Ren et al. 2009; Rodríguez-Salinas herbaceous vine with a woody rootstock (Kanjilal et et al. 2010; Polak & Saltz 2011). In order to reintroduce al. 2009). The leaves are glabrous, variable, usually and rehabilitate the threatened species in terrestrial obovate-oblong to sub-pendurate entre with undulate ecosystems, a detailed knowledge on the distributon of at the margins, cordate acuminate at the base. Flowers their potental habitats is essental. Habitat distributon few, in axillary racemes with a perianth upto 4 cm long modeling, therefore, helps to identfy the areas for having a glabrum pale green infated (Das et al. 2010). species reserves & reintroducton, and in developing It is mostly distributed along tropical, subtropical, and efectve species conservaton measures. Habitat Mediterranean regions of the world(Sarma & Tant 2015; distributon modeling is a computer-based tool which Neinhuis et al.2005; Wanke et al. 2007).The plant is used uses algorithms to relate known occurrences of a species to treat cholera, intermitent fever, bowel troubles, across landscapes to digital raster geographic informaton ulcers, leprosy, and poisonous bites (Krishnarajuet system (GIS) coverage summarizing environmental al.2005; Kanjilalet al.2009). It is also used for its variaton across the landscapes to develop a quanttatve emmenagogue, abortfacient, antneoplastc, antseptc, picture of the ecological distributon of the species. New ant-infammatory, and antbacterial propertes (Achari insights into the factors governing the distributon of et al. 1981; Das et al. 2010). species have been developed using habitat distributon modeling or ecological niche modeling (ENM) (Guisan & Habitat distributon modeling Zimmermann 2000; Elith et al. 2006; Kozak et al. 2008). Sixteen primary distributonal records of the The technique of ENM uses computer algorithms that species were collected through feld surveys. The predict species distributon in a geographic space based coordinates of all the occurrence points were recorded on the mathematcal representaton of the ecological to an accuracy of 10–40 m using a Global Positoning niche of the species. ENM considers environmental System (GarminEdge-1000). The coordinates were then factors such as temperature, precipitaton, soil, converted to decimal degrees for use in modeling the vegetaton & land cover as ecological conditons and uses distributon of potental habitats of the species in its the dataset from GIS databases such as www.worldclim. natve range. Over the years, a variety of environmental org &www.diva-gis.org. Availability of high-resoluton datasets have accumulated in public domain websites, satellite imageries, downscaling tools for environmental which can be used in distributonal modeling of variables, and interpolated spatal datasets on climate species. Use of diferent formulaton of environmental and vegetaton has enhanced the accuracy of predicton datasets, however, yields diferent results for the same of the models manifold. ENM facilitates interpolaton set of species (Peterson & Nakazawa 2008). Hence, as well as extrapolaton of species distributons in selecton of appropriate data type and pixel resoluton

12532 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2018 | 10(11): 12531–12537 Reintroducton and conservaton of Aristolochia Indica Sarma et al. is a prerequisite prior to predictve modeling (Parra et (0.95 < AUC < 1.0). Further, potental area of distributon al. 2004). In the present study, normalized diference and/or reintroducton were categorized into fve classes vegetaton index (NDVI) was used to summarize the based on logistc threshold of 10 percentle training habitat boundaries for the species in northeastern India. presence, i.e., very-high (0.762–1), high (0.572–0.761), All the analyses were conducted at the spatal resoluton medium (0.381–0.571), low (0.325–0.570), and very low of 250m. (0–0.324).

Validaton of model robustness Populaton status vis-à-vis model thresholds Following standard methods, the potental habitat Extensive feld surveys were carried out in order to of A. indica L. was defned as ‘a habitat which bears a explore the robustness and pertnence of the model in set of ecological conditons that allows the species to predictng the populaton status of the species in each persist and regenerate.’ For habitat modeling, the pixel occurrence locality as predicted under various model dimension was a 250 × 250 m grid cell and the model thresholds. The total populaton of the species was was developed using maximum entropy modeling (Max- ascertained through a direct count of all the individuals Entversion 3.3.3e, Phillips et al. 2006). MaxEnt estmates of seedlings, saplings, and mature individuals in each the maximum entropy probability distributon functon 250×250 m grid of occurrence within the predicted to predict the geographic locaton of a species based on localites. The populaton data of A. indica L. in each environmental variables and reconstructs the boundaries locality was then correlated with the corresponding of the ecological niche by placing constraints on the threshold level of the distributon models to assess probability distributon based on the environmental whether regions covered in the higher thresholds parameters of the grid-cell presence record (Phillips maintain higher populatons thus approving beter et al. 2006). It is one of the ‘presence-only’ group of habitat conditons for species establishment and vice species distributon modeling methods that has been versa. widely used. The strong atributes of MaxEnt are: (i) It holds a strict mathematcal defniton. Assessment of habitat status and identfcaton of areas (ii) It gives a contnuous probabilistc output. for reintroducton (iii) It simultaneously handles both contnuous and Assessment of the actual habitat type of the species categorical environmental data. in the localites of occurrence as well as in the entre (iv) It investgates variable importance through predicted potental area was done through repeated jackknife procedure. feld surveys. We also superimposed the predicted (v) It has the capacity to handle low sample sizes. potental areas on Google Earth Ver. 6 (Deka et al., 2018) (vi) Its simplicity for model interpretaton (Elith et imageries for habitat quality assessment. The predicted al. 2006; Phillips et al. 2006; Pearson et al. 2007). suitability maps were exported in KMZ format using It also facilitates replicated runs to allow cross- Diva GIS ver. 7.3 (Baruah et al. 2016). KMZs are zipped validaton, bootstrapping, and repeated sub-sampling in Keyhole Markup Language (KML) fles that specify a set order to test model robustness. of features such as place marks, images, polygons, 3D Of the 16 records, 75% were used for model training models, or textual descriptons for display in Google and 25% for testng. To validate the model robustness, Earth. The exported KMZ fles were overlaid on satellite we executed 20 replicated model runs for the species imageries in Google Earth to ascertain the actual habitat with a threshold rule of 10 percentle training presence. conditon prevailing in the areas of occurrence (Adhikari In the replicated runs, we employed a cross-validaton et al. 2012; Deka et al. 2017). technique where samples were divided into replicate folds and each fold was used for test data. Other parameters were set to default as the program is already RESULTS calibrated on a wide range of species datasets (Phillips & Dudík 2008). From the replicated runs, average, Calibraton of models maximum, minimum, median, and standard deviaton The model calibraton test for A. indica L. yielded were generated. Model quality was evaluated based on satsfactory results (AUCtest = 0.95 ± 0.002). The highest area under curve (AUC) value and the model was graded percent contributon was given by eu7_1_eur (July), following Thuiller et al. (2005) as poor (AUC < 0.8), fair i.e., 29.3%. eu7_1_eurhad the maximum infuence (0.8 < AUC < 0.9), good (0.9 < AUC < 0.95), and very good on the habitat model. Jackknife analysis revealed that

Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2018 | 10(11): 12531–12537 12533 Reintroducton and conservaton of Aristolochia Indica Sarma et al.

A B

Image 1. A - Aristolochia indica L. plant in natural habitat; B - map of India; C - map showing potental habitat distributon of A. indica in northeastern India. The red patches in the map represent the occurrence localites of the species. the environmental variable with the highest gain, Potental habitat distributon area for reintroducton when used in isolaton, is eu7_1_eur, which therefore In our feld survey, we found the species only in appears to have the most useful informaton by itself. some parts of Karbi Anglong District of Assam, India. The environmental variable that decreases the gain the When we superimposed the data with Google Earth, the most when it is omited is eu2_1_eur(February), which suitable habitats where the species can be conserved therefore appears to have the most informaton that is and reintroduced were distributed in various parts of not present in other variables. Bioclimatc variables did Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh. not show any major contributon to the development of Besides, some areas of Bhutan were also suitable for the the model. reintroducton (Image 1).

12534 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2018 | 10(11): 12531–12537 Reintroducton and conservaton of Aristolochia Indica Sarma et al.

Table 1. List of NDVI and variable contributon used in the model Jackkinfe of regularized training gain for A. indica

Permutaton Variable Percent contributon importance eu8_1_eur 25.7 0

eu7_1_eur 29.3 64.2

eu2_1_eur 20 5.7

eu10_1_eur 12.5 17.3

eu3_1_eur 6.1 1.7

eu11_1_eur 4.5 9.2

eu5_1_eur 1.4 1.2

eu4_1_eur 0.3 0.3

eu6_1_eur 0.2 0.3

eu12_1_eur 0.1 0.1

eu1_1_eur 0 0

eu9_1_eur 0 0 Figure 1. Jackknife test of variable importance for A. indica L.- individual variable contributon (blue bar), contributon when a given variable is excluded (green bar), whole set of variables (red bar) Analysis of variable contributons Table 1 gives estmates of relatve contributons of environmental variables to the MaxEnt model. To determine the frst estmate, in each iteraton of the with the distributon of humid subtropical forests. training algorithm, the increase in regularized gain is NDVI parameters ofered a reasonable explanaton added to the contributon of the corresponding variable, on the underlying role of other environmental factors or subtracted from it if the change to the absolute that determined the habitat suitability of the species. value of _ is negatve. For the second estmate, for Various environmental factors such as geology, soil, each environmental variable, in turn, the values of that and climate have a plausible infuence on vegetaton variable on training presence and background data are indices of a given place at a given tme (Soleimani et randomly permuted. The model is re-evaluated on the al. 2008). The efects of such underlying environmental permuted data and the resultng drop in training AUC is factors are refected throughthe spatal and temporal shown in the table, normalized to percentages. As with variaton in vegetaton indices such as NDVI. Hence, the variable jackknife, variable contributons should be NDVI also act as powerful and informatve surrogate interpreted with cauton when the predictor variables variables, representng the complex formulatons of the are correlated. Values shown are averages over replicate underlying environmental factors that determine the runs (Table 1). boundaries of the potental habitat of species. Overall, Figure 1 shows the results of the jackknife test of the results of actual habitat assessment through Google variable importance. The environmental variable with Earth superimpositon and feld surveys were identcal. the highest gain, when used in isolaton, is eu7_1_eur, Habitat status assessment through primary feld surveys which therefore appears to have the most useful and secondary surveys using Google Earth satellite informaton by itself. The environmental variable imageries revealed that the predicted potental areas of that decreases the gain the most when it is omited is the species under all suitability threshold levels, i.e., low eu2_1_eur, which therefore appears to have the most to very high suitability, encompass a mosaic of disturbed/ informaton that isn’t present in the other variables. undisturbed forest patches, scrubs, grasslands, and Values shown are averages over replicate runs (Baruah human-generated land use elements such as rural/ et al. 2018; Das et al. 2018). urban setlements, setled cultvaton areas, homestead gardens, and small groves, which essentally are components of the anthropobiome (Tant et al. 2010). DISCUSSION Species reintroducton plans should therefore carefully select appropriate areas under such a setng. In the Model output and feld surveys revealed that present study, some areas consistng of contnuous and suitable natural habitats of the species concurred intact patches of subtropical broadleaved and degraded

Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2018 | 10(11): 12531–12537 12535 Reintroducton and conservaton of Aristolochia Indica Sarma et al. forest patches ofer potental habitats at higher levels 119: 203–211. of probability. Hence, such forest areas could serve as Deka, K., P.S. Baruah, B. Sarma, S.K. Borthakur & B. Tant (2017). Preventng extncton and improving conservaton status of Vanilla habitats for in situ conservaton and reintroducton. borneensis Rolfe –a rare, endemic, and threatened orchid of Assam, Predicted less suitable areas such as small groves and India. Journal of Nature Conservaton 37: 39–46; htps://doi. org/10.1016/j.jnc.2017.03.001 homestead gardens, however, could also be used for Deka, K., S.K. Borthakur & B. Tant (2018). Habitat mapping, populaton reintroducton of the species provided that adequate size and preventng extncton through improving the conservaton measures are taken for habitat protecton. To achieve status of Calamus nambariensis Becc.-an endemic and threatened cane of Assam, India. Acta Ecologica Sinica 5 April (online); htps:// this, awareness and actve partcipaton of local people, doi.org/10.1016/j.chnaes.2018.03.005 non-government organizatons (NGOs), and community Elith, J., C.H. Graham, R.P. Anderson, M. Dudik, S. Ferrier, A. Guisan, based organizatons are warranted. The present study R.J. Hijmans, F. Huetmann, J.R. Leathwick, A. Lehmann, J. Li, L.G. Lohmann, B.A. Loiselle, G. Manion, C. Moritz, M. Nakamura, Y. demonstrates that habitat distributon modeling could Nakazawa, J.M. Overton, A.T. Peterson, S.J. Phillips, K. Richardson, be of great help in predictng the potental habitats of R. Scachet-Pereira, R.E. Schapire, J. Soberón, S.E. Williams, threatened species for reintroducton. Results of the M.S. Wisz & N.E. Zimmermann (2006). Novel methods improve predicton of species’ distributons from occurrence data. Ecography study also suggest the strong relatonship between 29: 129–151. the populaton size and model thresholds, thereby Elith, J., S.J. Phillips, T. Haste, M. Dudík, Y.E. Chee & C.J. Yates indicatng the high potental value of ENM in populaton (2010). A statstcal explanaton of MaxEnt for ecologists. Journal of Conservaton Biogeography 17: 43–57. studies. The areas identfed in the present study for Guisan, A.& N.E. Zimmermann(2000). Predictve habitat distributon the reintroducton of A. indica would not only help in models in ecology. Ecological Modeling 135: 147–186; htps://doi. org/10.1016/S0304-3800(00)00354-9 ecorestoraton of degraded forests and habitats where Irfan-Ullah, M., G. Amarnath, M.S.R. Murthy & A.T. Peterson(2006). the species had existed before but also in rehabilitatng Mapping the geographic distributon of Aglaiabourdillonii Gamble the species populaton and improving its conservaton (Meliaceae), an endemic and threatened plant, using ecological niche modeling. Biodiversity Conservaton 16: 1917–1925; htps:// status. Therefore, the results would be quite useful for doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6444-9-22 . natural resource managers in the management of this Kanjilal, P.B., R.A. Kotoky & M. Couladis(2009). Chemical compositon species and conservaton of overall biological diversity of the stem of Aristolochia indica L. J. Essental Oil Research 21: 1–2; htps://doi/1041-2905/09/0001-01$14.00/0 in the region. Kelly, A.E. & M.L. Goulden (2008). Rapid shifs in plant distributon with recent climate change. Proceedings of Natural Academy Science 105: 11823–11826; htps://doi: 10.1073/pnas.0802891105 Kozak, K.H., C.H. Graham & J.J. Wiens(2008).Integratng GIS-based REFERENCES environmental data into evolutonary biology. Trends in Ecological Evoluton 23: 141–148; htps://doi:10.1016/j.tree.2008.02.001 Achari, B., S. Chakrabarty & S.C. Pakrashi (1981). An N-glycoside Krishnaraju, A.V., T.N.V. Rao, D. Sundararaju, M. Vanisree, H.S. and steroids from Aristolochia indica. Phytochem 20: 1444–1445; Tsay & G.V. Subbaraju (2005). Assessment of bioactvity of Indian htps://doi.org/10.1016/0031-9422(81)80066-0 medicinal plants using Brine Shrimp (Artemiasalina) lethality assay. Adhikari, D., S.K. Barik & K. Upadhaya (2012). Habitat distributon Internatonal Journal of Applied Science and Engineering 3: 125– modelling for reintroducton of Ilex khasiana Purk., a critcally 134. endangered tree species of northeastern India. Ecological Engineering Kumar, S. & T.J. Stohlgren (2009). Maxentmodelling for 40: 37–43; htps://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2011.12.004 predictng suitable habitat for threatened and endangered tree Barnosky, A.D., N. Matzke, S. Tomiya, G.O.U. Wogan, B. Swartz, T.B. Canacomyricamontcola in New Caledonia. Journal of Ecol and the Quental, C. Marshall, J.L. McGuire, E.L. Lindsey, K.C. Maguire, B. Natural Environment 1: 94–98. Mersey & E.A. Ferrer (2011). Has the Earth’s sixth mass extncton Kuzovkina, Y.A. & T.A. Volk (2009). The characterizaton of already arrived? Nature 471: 51–57; htps://doi.org/10.1038/ willow (Salix L.) varietes for use in ecological engineering nature09678 applicatons: co-ordinaton of structure, functon and autecology. Baruah, P.S., S.K. Borthakur & B. Tant (2016). Conservaton of Mesua Ecological Engineering 35: 1178–1189; htps://doi: 10.1016/j. assamica (King and Prain) Kosterm - an endangered plant of Assam. ecoleng.2009.03.010 NeBIO 7(1): 17–22. Leaper, R., G. Massei, M.L. Gorman & R. Aspinall (1999). The feasibility Baruah, P.S., K. Deka, L. Lahkar, B. Sarma, S.K. Borthakur & B Tant of reintroducing Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) to Scotland. Mammal Review (2018). Habitat distributon modelling and reinforcement of 29: 239–259. Elaeocarpus serratus L. - a threatened tree species of Assam, India Lin, W., G. Zhou, X. Cheng & R. Xu (2007). Fast economic development for improvement of its conservaton status. Acta Ecologica Sinica accelerates biological invasions in China. PLoS One2: e1208; htps:// htps://doi.org/10.1016/j.chnaes.2018.06 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001208 Brummit, N. & S. Bachman (2010). Plants under pressure a global Martnez-Meyer, E., A.T. Peterson, J.I. Servin & L.F. Kif (2006). Ecological assessment. The frst report of the IUCN Sampled Red List Index for niche modelling and prioritzing areas for species reintroductons. Plants.Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK. Oryx 40: 411–418; htps://doi.org/10.1017/5003060530600 Das, R., A. Kaushik & T.K. Pal (2010). Ant-infammatory actvity study Neinhuis, C., S. Wanke, K.W. Hilu, K. Muller & T. Borschn (2005). of antdote Aristolochia indica to the venom of Heteropneustes Phylogeny of Aristolochiaceae based on parsimony, likelihood, and fossilis in rats. Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutcal Research 2: Bayesian analyses of trnL-trnF sequences. Plant Systematcs and 554–562. Evoluton 250: 7–26; htps://doi: 10.1007/s00606-004-0217-0 Das, P., B. Tant & S.K. Borthakur (2018). In vitro callus inducton and Parra, J.L., C.C. Graham & J.F. Freile (2004).Evaluatng alternatve data indirect organogenesis of Brucea mollis Wall.ex Kurz - A potental sets for ecological niche models of birds in the Andes. Ecography 27: medicinal plant of northeast India. South African Journal of Botany 350–360; htps://doi:10.1111/j.0906-7590.2004.03822

12536 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2018 | 10(11): 12531–12537 Reintroducton and conservaton of Aristolochia Indica Sarma et al.

Pearson, R.G., C.J. Raxworthy, M. Nakamura & A.T. Peterson (2007). Sarma, B. & B. Tant (2015). Karyomorphology of three species of Predictng species distributons from small numbers of occurrence Aristolochia– rare and endemic medicinal plants of Assam, India. records: a test case using cryptc geckos in Madagascar. Journal Caryologia 68(2): 154–158; htp:s//doi.org/10.1080/00087114.20 of Biogeography 34: 102–117; htps://doi:10.1111/j.1365- 15.1032604 2699.2006.01594.x Sarma, B., S. Baruah & B. Tant (2015). Macropropagaton of Peterson, A.T. & Y. Nakazawa (2008). Environmental data sets mater Aristolochia indica Linn. (Aristolochiaceae)–an endangered in ecological niche modelling: an example with Solenopsis invicta medicinal plant of Assam, India. Bio-Science Leters 1(1): 42–46. and Solenopsis richteri. Global Ecological Biogeography 17: 135– Sarma, B & B. Tant (2017). In vitro regeneraton of plantlets from 144; htps://doi:10.1111/j.1466-8238.2007.00347.x nodal explants of Aristolochia saccata and Aristolochia cathcarti. Phillips, S.J., R.P. Anderson, R.P & R.E. Schapire(2006). Maximum European Journal of Biological Research 7(3): 191–201. entropy modeling of species geographic distributons. Soleimani, K., T. Kordsavadkooh & S.R. Muosavi (2008). The efect of Ecological Modelling 190: 231–259; htps://doi.org/10.1016/j. environmental factors on vegetaton changes using GIS (case study: ecolmodel.2005.03.026 Cherat Catchment, Iran). World Applied Science Journal 3: 95–100. Phillips, S.J.& M. Dudík(2008). Modeling of species distributons with Tant, B., A.K. Buragohain, L. Gurung & D. Kakat (2010). Assessment MaxEnt: new extensions and a comprehensive evaluaton. Ecography of antmicrobial and antoxidant actvites of Dendrocnide sinuata 31: 161–175; htps://doi:10.1111/j.0906-7590.2008.5203.x (Blume) Chew leaves– a medicinal plant used by ethnic communites Polak, T. & D. Saltz (2011). Reintroducton as an ecosystem restoraton of north east India. Indian Journal of Natural Products and Resources technique. Conservaton Biology 25: 424–427; htps://doi: 1(1): 17–21. 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2011.01669.x Thuiller, W., D.M. Richardson & G.F. Midgley (2007). Will climate Ray, R., K.V. Gururaja & T.V. Ramachandra (2011). Predictve change promote alien plant invasions? Pp. 197–211. In: Nentwig, distributon modeling for rare Himalayan medicinal plant Berberis W. (ed.) Ecological Studies - Vol. 193. Springer-Verlag, Berlin & aristata DC. Journal of Environmntal Biology 32(6): 725–730. Heidelberg. Ren, H., H. Lu, W. Shen, C. Huang, Q. Guo, Z. Li & S. Jian (2009). Walther, G.R. (2009). Alien species in a warmer world: risks and Sonnerata apetala Buch .Ham in the mangrove ecosystems of China: opportunites. Trends in Ecological Evoluton 24: 686–693; htps:// an invasive species or restoraton species? Ecological Engineering doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2009.06.008 35: 1243–1248; htps://doi: 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2009.05.008 Wanke, S., M.A. Jaramillo, T. Borsch, M.S. Samain, D. Quandt & C. Rodríguez-Salinas, P., R. Riosmena-Rodríguez, G. Hinojosa-Arango & Neinhuis (2007). Evoluton of Piperales – matK gene and trnK R. Muniz-Salazar (2010). Restoraton experiment of Zostera marina intron sequence data reveal lineage specifc resoluton contrast. L. in a subtropical coastal lagoon. Ecological Engineering 36: 12–18; Molecular Philosophy Evoluton 42: 477–497; htps://doi: 10.1016/j. htps://doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2009.09.004 ympev.2006.07.007 Sanders, N.J., N.J. Gotelli, N.E. Heller & D.M. Gordon (2003). Community disassembly by an invasive species. Proceedings

of Natonal Academy of Science 100: 2474–2477; htps://doi. Threatened Taxa org/10.1073/pnas.0437913100

Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2018 | 10(11): 12531–12537 12537 OPEN ACCESS The Journal of Threatened Taxa is dedicated to building evidence for conservaton globally by publishing peer-reviewed artcles online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. All artcles published in JoTT are registered under Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License unless otherwise mentoned. JoTT allows unrestricted use of artcles in any medium, reproducton, and distributon by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publicaton.

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online); ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)

October 2018 | Vol. 10 | No. 11 | Pages: 12443–12618 Date of Publicaton: 26 October 2018 (Online & Print) www.threatenedtaxa.org DOI: 10.11609/jot.2018.10.11.12443-12618

Artcle A winter roost count of the Short-eared Owl Asio fammeus (Aves: Strigiformes: Strigidae) at Porbandar, Gujarat, India The terrestrial life of sea kraits: insights from a long-term study on two -- Dhavalkumar Varagiya & Anita Chakraborty, Pp. 12566–12570 Latcauda species (Reptlia: Squamata: Elapidae) in the Andaman Islands, India -- Zoya Tyabji, Nitya Prakash Mohanty, Erina Young & Tasneem Khan, Pp. 12443– Crocodiles of river Krishna: impact on agriculture, economy, and the sociology of 12450 human populaton in Sangli, Maharashtra, India -- Rajaram Hindurao Atgre, Pp. 12571–12576 Communicatons A new report on the clasper movements of a captve Sand Tiger Shark Fishing Cat Prionailurus viverrinus Bennet, 1833 (Carnivora: Felidae) distributon Carcharias taurus (Lamniformes: Odontaspididae) and a possible reason for and habitat characteristcs in Chitwan Natonal Park, Nepal the behaviour -- Rama Mishra, Khadga Basnet, Rajan Amin & Babu Ram Lamichhane, Pp. 12451– -- Helen Colbachini, Rafael Caprioli Guterrez, Cristane Schilbach Pizzuto & 12458 Oto Bismarck Fazzano Gadig, Pp. 12577–12581

Status distributon and feeding habit of Wild Boar Sus scrofa (Mammalia: New species of termite Pericapritermes travancorensis sp. nov. (Isoptera: Artodactyla: Suidae) in Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India Termitdae: Termitnae) from India -- Shaheer Khan & Orus Ilyas, Pp. 12459–12463 -- Jobin Mathew & Chinnu Ipe, Pp. 12582–12588

The compositon and status of waterbirds of Perur Lake in Tamil Nadu, India A checklist of vascular epiphytes of El Cometa Lagoon, Pantanos de Centla -- G. Parameswaran & R. Sivashankar, Pp. 12464–12488 Biosphere Reserve, Mexico -- Derio Antonio Jiménez-López, Candelario Peralta-Carreta, Jonathan V. Solórzano, The herpetofauna of Jigme Singye Wangchuck Natonal Park in central Bhutan: Gerardo Luis Cervantes-Jiménez & Marco Antonio Domínguez-Vázquez, status, distributon and new records Pp. 12589–12597 -- Sangay Tshewang & Letro Letro, Pp. 12489–12498 Notes The Odonata (Insecta) of Dhofar, southern Oman -- Elaine M. Cowan & Peter J. Cowan, Pp. 12499–12514 Two moth species of Lasiocampidae (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampoidea) recorded for the frst tme in Bhutan New kissing bug (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae) records from Napo and Jatshwor Singh Irungbam & Meenakshi Jatshwor Irungbam, Pp. 12598–12601 Morona-Santago provinces with distributon updates in Ecuador -- Ana Soto-Vivas, Sandra Enríquez, Ernesto Villacrés, Jazzmin Arrivillaga, New nymphalid buterfy records from Jammu & Kashmir, India Martn Hinojosa & Jonathan Liria, Pp. 12515–12522 -- Shakha Sharma & Neeraj Sharma, Pp. 12602–12606

Orchid diversity in two community forests of Makawanpur District, central Nepal Argostemma khasianum C.B. Clarke (Rubiaceae): a new record of a genus and -- Bijaya Pant, Mukt Ram Paudel, Mukesh Babu Chand, Shreet Pradhan, species of fowering plant for the state of Arunachal Pradesh (India) and its Bijaya Bahadur Malla & Bhakta Bahadur Raskot, Pp. 12523–12530 lectotypifcaton -- Umeshkumar L. Tiwari & V.K. Rawat, Pp. 12607–12609 Habitat distributon modeling for reintroducton and conservaton of Aristolochia indica L. - a threatened medicinal plant in Assam, India Amorphophallus longiconnectvus and A. margaritfer: additonal aroids from -- Bhaskar Sarma, Prantk Sharma Baruah & Bhaben Tant, Pp. 12531–12537 Maharashtra with notes on the foral variatons -- Avinash R. Gholave, Ravikiran S. Govekar, Vasanta I. Kahalkar, Milind M. Sardesai Pollinaton ecology of Synedrella nodifora (L.) Gaertn. (Asteraceae) & Shrirang R. Yadav, Pp. 12610–12613 -- B. Usharani & A.J. Solomon Raju, Pp. 12538–12551 Cultvaton of the Himalayan seasoning Allium in a remote village of Review Utarakhand, India -- Chandra Prakash Kuniyal & Bir Singh Negi, Pp. 12614–12617 Status of studies on zooplankton fauna of Arunachal Pradesh, India -- Bikramjit Sinha, Pp. 12552–12560 Miscellaneous

Short Communicatons Natonal Biodiversity Authority

First record of the endangered Arabian Tahr Arabitragus jayakari (Thomas, 1894) in the Hata Mountain Conservaton Area, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Member -- Jeruel Cabadonga Aguhob, Junid N. Shah, Esmat Elfaki Mohammed Elhassan, Aisha Almurr Al Muhery, Mohamed Mustafa Eltayeb Mohamed, Juma Abdulla Saeed Mohammad Al Omairi, Hamad Hashim Mohammed Khalaf Albedwawi, Obaid Mohammed Salem Mohammed Al Bedwawi, Hassan Zain Alsharif & Afra Mahmood Mohammad Ali Haji, Pp. 12561–12565

Publisher & Host

Partners

Threatened Taxa