Changing Faunal Ecology in the Thar Desert – dedicated to the found memory of Professor Dr. Ishwar Prakash, the legendary rodentologist – is a unique m?lange 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 Pariyojna (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.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR B.K. Tyagi
Born on 23rd July, 1951 in Agra (UP), Dr. B.K. Tyagi completed his early schooling, college education and doctoral research in reputed institutions and Universities, and was adjudged best M.Sc. student (1974) and Research Scholar (1978), besides winning as post-doctoral researcher fellowships like JRF, SRF, PDF and Research Associateship under various GOI organizations. Before taking up his life long mission on mosquito research in 1981, he has worked quite extensively on as varied disciplines as odonate and thrips’ cytotaxonomy, termite and ant ecology, collembolan taxonomy, entomogenous fungi and insect conservation. While pursuing research on vector-borne diseases like malaria, filariasis and dengue, dr. Tyagi has extensively worked in several States/Uts in the country, such as Gujarat, Pondicherry, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. He has to his credit nearly 170 titles, mostly on medical entomology, and most of which published in both national and international scientific journals. Dr. Tyagi was selected for the First Prize in a worldwide competition organized by the TDR/WHO in 1996, and his prized contribution was published in the Annual Report of the WHO, Geneva. In the scientific arena Dr. Tyagi has held many prestigious positions: (i) He was elected as the first National Representative in-Charge in South Asia for the International Odonatological Society (1981-1994), (ii) He was elected as the first Member in-Charge in southern Asia for the Odonata Specialist Group of Species Survival Commission (IUCN) (1985-1995), and (iii) He has been serving on the editorial boards of about a dozen scientific journals, in addition to being a Fellow and / or Member of nearly two dozens of national and international scientific bodies, including the prestigious royal Entomological Society, UK. He has visited several countries like France, Switzerland, USA, Czech Republic and Canada, for presenting scientific papers etc. He is the author of his magnum opus “Malaria in the Thar Desert: Facts, Figures and Futuresâ€, published in 2002. He has also invented a mechanical mosquito sampler which is patented by the Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Q.H. Baqri
Dr. Q.H. Baqri (Born 2nd January, 1944), Ph.D., D.Sc. has recently retired as the additional Director & Officer in-Charge, Desert Research Station, Zoological Survey of India, Jodhpur after a highly meritorious and decorated service of over three decades. Educated at Muslim University, Aligarh and State University, Gent, Belgium, he has devoted most of his research to plant and soil mematodes on which he has published over 300 research papers, two monographs and two books covering different disciplines both in invertebrata and vertebrata. A member/fellow of various national and international scientific societies, he is currently editor for several national journals, including the famous Indian Journal of Parasitology. An astute administrator and a dynamic crusader of scientific pursuits, Dr. Baqri has been instrumental in initiating a large number of highly significant multi-disciplinary scientific programmes at the DRS (ZSI), Jodhpur under his stewardship, besides organizing successfully the 6th National Symposium of Parasitology, at Jodhpur during 2002. Dr. Baqri has extensively traveled many countries across the world.
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