Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) constitute the single largest determinant of livelihoods for scores of forest fringe communities and poor people in the tropics. In India over 50 million people are believed to be directly dependent upon NTFPs for their subsistence. However, such human dependence on NTFPs for livelihood gains (win) has most frequently been at a certain ecological cost (lose). If livelihoods are to be maintained, the existing ‘win-lose’ settings have to be steered to a ‘win-win’ mode, otherwise, there could be severe erosion of the biological resources and loss of livelihoods (‘lose-lose’). Examining the dependence of forest fringe communities on NTFPs at three sites in south India with contrasting human and ecological settings, three key factors (extent of dependence on NTFPs, indigenous ecological knowledge and market organization) are likely to constrain reaching the win-win situation. How these factors shape the ecological cost of harvesting NTFPs at the three sites is examined. Within the parameter space of these factors, it is possible to predict outcomes and associations that will conform to win-win or win-lose situations. Empirical data derived from the three study sites demonstrate the causality of the observed associations. The key for long-term livelihood gains lies in reducing the ecological cost. Certain interventions and recommendations that could optimize the balance between livelihood gains and ecological cost are proposed.

With the biodiversity crisis continuing unchecked, we need to establish levels and drivers of extinction risk to effectively allocate conservation resources and develop targeted actions. Given that threat appears particularly high in freshwaters, we assessed the extinction risk of 1,500 randomly selected freshwater molluscs using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, as part of the Sampled Red List Index project. We show that close to one third of species in our sample are estimated to be threatened with extinction, with highest levels of threat in the Palearctic, Australasia and Nearctic and among gastropods. Threat levels were higher in lotic than lentic systems. Twenty-seven species were classified as Extinct (eight bivalves and 19 gastropods), mostly from the Nearctic realm and lotic systems. Pollution and the modification of natural systems (e.g. through damming and water abstraction) were the most frequently reported threats to freshwater molluscs, with some regional variation. Given that we found little spatial congruence between species richness patterns of freshwater molluscs and other freshwater taxa, new additional conservation priority areas emerge from our study. We discuss the implications of our findings for freshwater mollusc conservation and important next steps to estimate trends in freshwater mollusc extinction risk over time.

In an era of climate change, biological invasions by alien species represent one of the main anthropogenic drivers of global environmental change. The present study, using an ensemble modelling approach, has mapped current and future global distribution of the invasive Leucanthemum vulgare (Ox-eye Daisy) and predicted the invasion hotspots under climate change. The current potential distribution of Ox-eye Daisy coincides well with the actual distribution records, thereby indicating robustness of our model. The model predicted a global increase in the suitable habitat for the potential invasion of this species under climate change. Oceania was shown to be the high-risk region to the potential invasion of this species under both current and future climate change scenarios. The results revealed niche conservatism for Australia and Northern America, but contrastingly a niche shift for Africa, Asia, Oceania and Southern America. The global distribution modelling and risk assessment of Ox-eye Daisy has immediate implications in mitigating its invasion impacts under climate change, as well as predicting the global invasion hotspots and developing region-specific invasion management strategies. Interestingly, the contrasting patterns of niche dynamics shown by this invasive plant species provide novel insights towards disentangling the different operative mechanisms underlying the process of biological invasions at the global scale.

Although large areas of relatively undisturbed forests are essential for preserving biodiversity, opportunities for conservation in human-dominated landscapes must not be overlooked. Agroforestry systems such as shaded coffee plantations are known to be more compatible with biodiversity conservation than other, more drastic, land transformations. In recent times, however, modernization of coffee cultivation has influenced its conservation values adversely. We evaluated adult butterfly diversity in 12 coffee plantations around a protected area (PA) in the Western Ghats, India. We sampled 25 transects that varied in distance from the PA and in proportion of silver oak Grevillea robusta, an exotic timber species. We also had two transects within the PA. We used a combination of line transects and fruit bait traps to sample butterflies. Micro-climatic variables (temperature, humidity and light intensity) and other habitat variables (e.g. canopy cover, tree diversity, herb species richness) were recorded for each transect. We analyzed the effect of these variables on the abundance and species richness of butterflies, overall as well as in different families, feeding guilds and size classes. Proximity to the PA significantly influenced the abundance and richness of butterflies in coffee plantations, with transects close to the PA having higher abundance and richness than transects further away. Also, in terms of butterfly species composition, similarity to forest declined with increasing distance. Among the habitat variables, only canopy cover had a significant effect on abundance and richness, and the effect was negative. These patterns, with some exceptions, were also reflected for different families and feeding guilds. The proportion of silver oak had no apparent effect on butterflies. This study demonstrates that coffee plantations can act as a buffer for butterfly fauna within a certain radius of a PA. They have great potential as auxiliary tools and can significantly complement conservation efforts that are currently centered on PAs.