Cancer is the second-ranked disease and a cause of death for millions of people around the world despite many kinds of available treatments. Phytochemicals are considered a vital source of cancer-inhibiting drugs and utilize specific mechanisms including carcinogen inactivation, the induction of cell cycle arrest, anti-oxidant stress, apoptosis, and regulation of the immune system. Family Fabaceae is the second most diverse family in the plant kingdom, and species of the family are widely distributed across the world. The species of the Fabaceae family are rich in phytochemicals (flavonoids, lectins, saponins, alkaloids, carotenoids, and phenolic acids), which exhibit a variety of health benefits, especially anti-cancer properties; therefore, exploration of the phytochemicals present in various members of this family is crucial. These phytochemicals of the Fabaceae family have not been explored in a better way yet; therefore, this review is an effort to summarize all the possible information related to the phytochemical status of the Fabaceae family and their anti-cancer properties. Moreover, various research gaps have been identified with directions for future research.

Birds are the most conspicuous and significant component of freshwater wetland ecosystem. Presence or absence of birds may indicate the ecological conditions of the wetland area. The objectives of this study were to determine bird species abundance and their relationship with microclimate and habitat variables. Distance sampling point count method was applied for determining species abundance and multiple regressions was used for finding relationship between bird species abundance, microclimate and habitat variables. Bird species were monitored during November, 2007 to January, 2009. A total of 8728 individual birds comprising 89 species and 38 families were detected. Marsh Swamp was swarmed by 84 species (69.8%) followed open water body by 55 species (17.7%) and lotus swamp by 57 species (12.6%). Purple swamphenPorphyrio porphyrio(9.1% of all detections) was the most abundant bird species of marsh swamp, lesser whistling duck—Dendrocygna javanica(2.3%) was dominant species of open water body and pink-necked green pigeon—Treron vernans(1.7%) was most common species of lotus swamp. Results revealed that the habitat characteristics such as vegetation composition (i.e. emergent and submerged vegetations, grasses, shrubs, and trees), vegetation structures (tree diameter and height) and microclimate variables (temperature, relative humidity and light intensity) were the key factors that influenced the distribution, diversity and density of the wetland bird species. This study also revealed that the wetland bird species have adapted a fairly unique set of microhabitat and microclimate conditions.

Lack of proper infrastructure and the poor economic conditions of rural communities make them dependent on herbal medicines. Thus, there is a need to obtain and conserve the historic and traditional knowledge about the medicinal importance of different plants found in different areas of the world. In this regard, a field study was conducted to document the medicinal importance of local plants commonly used by the inhabitants of very old historic villages in Southern Punjab, Pakistan. In total, 58 plant species were explored, which belonged to 28 taxonomic families, as informed by 200 experienced respondents in the study area. The vernacular name, voucher number, plant parts used, and medicinal values were also documented for each species. Among the documented species, Poaceae remained the most predominant family, followed by Solanaceae and Asteraceae. The local communities were dependent on medicinal plants for daily curing of several ailments, including asthma, common cold, sore throat, fever, cardiovascular diseases, and digestive disorders. Among the reported species, leaves and the whole plant remained the most commonly utilized plant parts, while extracts (38.8%) and pastes (23.9%) were the most popular modes of utilization. Based on the ICF value, the highest value was accounted for wound healing (0.87), followed by skincare, nails, hair, and teeth disorders (0.85). The highest RFC value was represented by Acacia nilotica and Triticum aestivum (0.95 each), followed by Azadirachta indica (0.91). The highest UV was represented by Conyza canadensis and Cuscuta reflexa (0.58 each), followed by Xanthium strumarium (0.37). As far as FL was concerned, the highest value was recorded in the case of Azadirachta indica (93.4%) for blood purification and Acacia nilotica (91.1%) for sexual disorders. In conclusion, the local inhabitants primarily focus on medicinal plants for the treatment of different diseases in the very old historic villages of Southern Punjab, Pakistan. Moreover, there were various plants in the study area that have great ethnobotanical potential to treat various diseases, as revealed through different indices.

Mangrove is an evergreen, salt tolerant plant community, which grows in inter-tidal coastal zones of tropical and subtropical regions of the world. They are ecologically important for many fauna species and are rich in food resources and consist of many different vegetation structures. They serve as ideal foraging and nursery grounds for a wide array of species such as birds, mammals, reptiles, fishes and aquatic invertebrates. In spite of their crucial role, around 50% of mangrove habitats have been lost and degraded in the past two decades. The fauna diversity of mangrove habitat at Marudu Bay, Sabah, East Malaysia was examined using various methods: i.e. aquatic invertebrates by swap nets, fish by angling rods and cast nets, reptiles, birds, and mammals through direct sighting. The result showed that Marudu Bay mangrove habitats harbored a diversity of fauna species including 22 aquatic invertebrate species (encompassing 11 crustacean species, six mollusk species and four worm species), 36 fish species, 74 bird species, four reptile species, and four mammal species. The wide array of fauna species could be due to the availability of complex vegetation structures, sheltered beaches and tidal mudflats, which are rich in food resources and also offer safe foraging and breeding grounds for them. These heterogeneous habitats must be protected in a sustainable way in order to ensure the continued presence of aquatic and terrestrial fauna species for future generations.

Seabirds are those waterbirds that directly or indirectly depend on the marine environment over the waters, i.e., they foraged at sea either near shore or offshore and inhabit in coastal areas, islands, estuaries, wetlands, and ocean islands. They are mostly aerial waterbirds sailing above sea spending much of their time (weeks, months, and even years) in marine environments or floating on the water surface or diving in deep sea in search of food. Seabirds encompass of 65 genera, 222 marine, and 72 partially marine bird species. Seabirds have been used as good indicators (i.e., bioindicators) of marine ecosystems due to cause-effect association with different microclimate and habitats. They exploit broad scale of habitat, quickly respond to environmental changes, they can be detected easily (i.e., they showed their presence through vocalization), easy to identify, can be surveyed efficiently over large spatial scale, e.g., presence, abundance, and influenced by surrounding habitats as compared to other animals. Employing seabird as bioindicators is a cost-effective and informative tool (well defined matrix) to determine the effects of disturbances, contamination, i.e., effects of pollutants, organic substances, and oil-spills of the marine environment. Seabirds are top predators in the marine food chain and key component of the food web. Seabirds may indicate the status of habitat, reduction in food occurrence and abundance, rate of the predation, an effect of weather (climate change), and threats. The other reason could be that, seabirds often closely associate with inter-site more distinctly than other animals and may breed in the same site each year, easy to catch while incubating and during rearing chicks. Hence, it is crucially important to use seabirds as bioindicators within the context of ecological and spatial parameters to determine the effects of disturbances in the marine environment and for effective conservation and better management of seabirds in the future.

The effects of water level fluctuations on waterbirds distribution and aquatic vegetation composition was determined using distance sampling point count method and direct visual observation at Paya Indah Natural Wetland Reserve, Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 2563 waterbird individual of 28 species and 8 families were detected in three habitats, that is, marsh swamp (68.59%), open water body (18.42%), and lotus swamp (12.99%). Porphyrio porphyrio was the most dominant species in marsh swamp (45.39%), and lotus swamp (23.42%), whereas Dendrocygna javanica (42.16%) was the most abundant in open water body. The highest water level for marsh swamp (2.313 m) and lotus swamp (2.249 m) was recorded in January, 2008 and for open water body (2.572 m) in January and April, 2008. In contrast, the lowest water level for marsh swamp (2.048 m) and lotus swamp (1.834 m) was determined in October, 2008 and for open water body (2.398 m) in January, 2009. Pearson test indicates weak linear correlationship between water level and waterbird abundance in lotus swamp habitat and in marsh swamp and negative linear correlationship in open water body habitat. Canonical correspondence analysis indicated strong correlationship between waterbird abundance and vegetation (73.0%) in open water body, and weaker association (29.8%) in lotus swamp. The results of this study indicate that water level is a major factor that influences the relative abundance and distribution of ducks, swamphen, crakes, herons, jacanas, and moorhens directly and indirectly. In addition, it also effects on the dynamics of aquatic vegetation composition such as, emergent, submerged, and grasses in this wetland reserve.