Changing Faunal Ecology in the Thar Desert

Contents: Foreword. Preface. 1. Dr. Ishwar Prakash: Polymath and Rodentologist - a bio-bibliography/B.K. Tyagi, Mohd. Idris and Q.H. Baqri. 2. Some natural and anthropogenic specificities of the Thar/R.P. Dhir. 3. Impact of introduction of IGNP canal irrigation on micro-and secular changes in climate of Thar desert region/A.S. Rao. 4. Soil bioresources: a technical management in arid environment/B.M. Sharma. 5. Impact of changing ecology on termite fauna in arid and semi-arid region of Rajasthan/N.S. Rathore and Madhumita Mandal. 6. Insect diversity conservation status with special reference to butterflies (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera)/H.S. Rose. 7. Some new records of mosquitoes (culicidae) and haematophagous flies of Tabanidae and muscidae from the Thar desert Rajasthan, India/Shri Prakash, Vijay Veer, M.J. Mendki, G.P. Gupta and K.C. Verma. 8. Dung beetles (Coleptera : Scarabaeidae; Coprinae) of the Thar desert of Rajasthan/Ram Sewak. 9. Changing ecology and faunal diversity of amphibians and reptiles in Thar Desert of Rajasthan, India/R.C. Sharma and Shalini Gaur. 10. Evolution of fish hatcheries in India/Devendra Mohan. 11. Diversity, abundance and dominance of avian species in the Thar desert of Rajasthan/C. Sivaperuman, Sumit Dookia, P.L. Kankane and Qaiser H. Baqri. 12. Mammalian diversity in the Thar desert of Rajasthan/S. Chakraborthy, V.C. Agrawal and S.I. Kazmi. 13. Significance of scent marking gland in desert rodents/Mohd. Idris. 14. Reproduction in desert rodents/R.S. Tripathi. 15. Scenario of clinical studies of cutaneous leishmaniasis of human and canines/Anil Ahuja. 16. Thar desert's changing climate and the emergence/exacerbation of vector borne diseases: past, present and future/B.K. Tyagi.

"Changing Faunal Ecology in the Thar Desert - dedicated to the fond memory of Professor Dr. Ishwar Prakash, the legendary Rodentologist - is a unique melange of scientific investigations on diversified ecological subjects pertaining to different organism groups, from as tiny as protozoa to as giant as mammals. Altogether sixteen contributions, including an original, up-to-date and authentic bio-bibliography of Dr. I. Prakash, make this volume an exceptional treatise penned by 24 expert scientist authors many of whom have spent a life in arid ecosystems including the Thar Desert. The book provides a crystal clear proof of the constantly changing behavioural ecology of animals in the Thar Desert which has been under an ever increasing impact of, among several imminent factors, the Indira Gandhi Nahar Pariyojana (IGNP), one of the world's largest irrigation systems of its type in a xeric environment. The change is discernible not only in structure and distribution of animals but in their resting, feeding breeding and, as evident in case of parasites, the extent of parasitism as well as pathogenecity. Finally, this book offers the first well documented evidence of immense behavioural transformation in various different animal groups in the Thar Desert -- a phenomenon of enormous significance for both conservation management and diversity inventorization activities of its faunal wealth."