Rodents are regarded as crop pests, significant reservoirs and vectors for many zoonotic diseases around the world. Basic taxonomic information of rodents present in a locality can help understand which species are responsible as crop pest in that habitat. The phenomenon of the 50-year cycle of gregarious bamboo flowering and rodent outbreaks in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh, rodents trapping were carried out in four habitats from March, 2009 to December, 2011 in Ruma upazila of Bandarban hill district. Variety of traps were used to capture small mammals. The captured species were measured and identified using taxonomical dichotomous keys and DNA bar-coding performed in Australia. A total of 14 different small mammalian species were captured of which nine belonging to the Muridae family, and one species each of Spalacidae, Sciuridae, Tupaiidae and Soricidae families. The dominant small mammal species captured were Rattus rattus (54.06%) followed by Mus musculus (26.39%), Rattus nitidus (10.98%), Suncus murinus (5.45%), Mus terricolor (1.09%), Mus cookii nagarum (0.97%), Cannomys badius (0.16%), Leopoldamys edwardsi (0.12%), Berylmys bowersi (0.12%), Vernaya fulva (0.08%), Rattus andamanensis (0.08%), Tupaia glis (0.04%) and Callosciurus pygerythrus (0.04%). Rattus nitidus, Leopoldamys edwardsi, Vernaya fulva, Rattus andamanensis, Berylmys bowersi and Mus cookii nagarum are new records of rodent species in Bangladesh. Ten individuals of Mus spp. (0.40%) were not identified to species level, requiring further genetic analysis to determine their species. The implications of these discoveries are discussed in terms of agricultural pests.

Background National forest inventory and forest monitoring systems are more important than ever considering continued global degradation of trees and forests. These systems are especially important in a country like Bangladesh, which is characterised by a large population density, climate change vulnerability and dependence on natural resources. With the aim of supporting the Government’s actions towards sustainable forest management through reliable information, the Bangladesh Forest Inventory (BFI) was designed and implemented through three components: biophysical inventory, socio-economic survey and remote sensing-based land cover mapping. This article documents the approach undertaken by the Forest Department under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to establish the BFI as a multipurpose, efficient, accurate and replicable national forest assessment. The design, operationalization and some key results of the process are presented. Methods The BFI takes advantage of the latest and most well-accepted technological and methodological approaches. Importantly, it was designed through a collaborative process which drew from the experience and knowledge of multiple national and international entities. Overall, 1781 field plots were visited, 6400 households were surveyed, and a national land cover map for the year 2015 was produced. Innovative technological enhancements include a semi-automated segmentation approach for developing the wall-to-wall land cover map, an object-based national land characterisation system, consistent estimates between sample-based and mapped land cover areas, use of mobile apps for tree species identification and data collection, and use of differential global positioning system for referencing plot centres. Results Seven criteria, and multiple associated indicators, were developed for monitoring progress towards sustainable forest management goals, informing management decisions, and national and international reporting needs. A wide range of biophysical and socioeconomic data were collected, and in some cases integrated, for estimating the indicators. Conclusions The BFI is a new information source tool for helping guide Bangladesh towards a sustainable future. Reliable information on the status of tree and forest resources, as well as land use, empowers evidence-based decision making across multiple stakeholders and at different levels for protecting natural resources. The integrated socio-economic data collected provides information about the interactions between people and their tree and forest resources, and the valuation of ecosystem services. The BFI is designed to be a permanent assessment of these resources, and future data collection will enable monitoring of trends against the current baseline. However, additional institutional support as well as continuation of collaboration among national partners is crucial for sustaining the BFI process in future.

Wildlife habitat is degrading worldwide due to myriads of biotic and abiotic reasons. The governments across the world countries are trying to halt the degradation through declaring protected areas (PAs) with potential wildlife habitats and strengthening conservation initiatives. These measures are expected to uphold the richness and diversity of the fodder yielding plants. But there is a dire necessity of information on composition and overall status of the fodder yielding plants for continuous monitoring of these habitats. Moreover, the potentiality of the protected areas can also be judged based on the composition and richness of fodder yielding plants. Having all these in mind, we assessed the composition and conservation status of the fodder yielding plants of all habit forms from three recognized protected areas named Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary, Dudhpukuria-Dhopachari Wildlife Sanctuary, and Madhupur National Park. The study indicated the presence of 306 fodder yielding plant species of all habit forms in the three studied protected areas. This chapter describes the composition, status, habit forms, and nature of occurrences of the wild fodder yielding plants which is expected to be highly helpful in wildlife habitat monitoring and undertaking specific measures for multiplication and conservation of fodder yielding plants.

Synchronous bamboo masting events are well-known to cause rodent population outbreaks. In South Asia, Melocanna baccifera undergoes semelparous masting every 58 years leading to large rodent outbreaks and nearly 100% crop losses. Current crop protection methods used to control rodent outbreaks are largely based on large-scale use of chronic and acute poisons. Non-chemical control methods, such as the use of trap barrier systems (TBS), could be effective in such outbreak situations. However, TBS is currently used in lowland irrigated rice cropping systems, and thus would need to be evaluated and adapted to the upland rice production systems commonly found in the areas affected by bamboo masting induced rodent outbreaks. In this study we carried out field trials over two cropping seasons (2009 and 2010) in the Ruma area of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh during an on going bamboo masting event. Rodent activity was measured through active burrow counting in TBS fenced and unfenced rice crop fields. No rodent activity was found in TBS fenced fields in 2009, with some limited activity in TBS fenced fields in 2010. In 2010, the mean number of active burrows in unfenced fields was 8.66/ha, compared to 1.8/ha in the TBS sites. Rodent damage was measured by counting rice tillers cut by rodents, with no damage observed in TBS fenced fields in 2009, with some limited damage in TBS fenced fields in 2010 (0.26% damage), whilst unfenced field tiller damage was 3.2% during 2009 and 1.77% during 2010. The main rodent species captured by multi-capture traps in the TBS fences were Rattus rattus (70%), Mus musculus (19%), Rattus nitidus (5%) and Cannomys badius (5%). Rodent capture rates and crop damage were much lower than expected, which is arguably explained by an absence of rodent outbreaks in the selected communities, despite bamboo masting occurring in the surrounding forests around the rice fields. The using of TBS during the rodent outbreaks followed by Melocanna bamboo flowering is discussed in terms of the cost-benefits to prevent rodent damage in upland rice cropping systems.