We calculated the rates at which CO2 is being sequestered in two different forest types of Himalaya. For our comparative study we took the degraded and non-degraded sites of pine and oak forests in Kumaun Central Himalaya. The Van Panchayats (VPs) or Community Forests are managing the nondegraded forest sites for centuries, and from this research we have come to know that the sequestration of CO2 in these non-degraded forests is significantly greater than the degraded forests. The paper recommends the significance of community forests in both Uttarakhand and the world, and advocates that if we want to fight against global warming, we must encourage the community forests and that the people living in severe poverty in these forest areas who become the unsung heroes in the war against global warming, must be paid in lieu of saving their forests, which ultimately become the sink for increased CO2 worldwide. This business or ‘carbon trading' will indeed evolve as the panacea against the war against global warming. Key words: Carbon sequestration, community forests, Van Panchayats, green house gases, global warming, carbon trading. doi: 10.3126/eco.v15i0.1946 ECOPRINT 15: 75-81, 2008

In this study, we investigated the intricate interplay between Trichoderma and the tomato genome, focusing on the transcriptional and metabolic changes triggered during the late colonization event. Microarray probe set (GSE76332) was utilized to analyze the gene expression profiles changes of the un-inoculated control (tomato) and Trichoderma-tomato interactions for identification of the differentially expressed significant genes. Based on principal component analysis and R-based correlation, we observed a positive correlation between the two cross-comaparable groups, corroborating the existence of transcriptional responses in the host triggered by Trichoderma priming. The statistically significant genes based on different p-value cut-off scores [(p_adj-values or q-value); p_adj-value < 0.05], [(p_cal-values); p_cal-value < 0.05; p_cal < 0.01; p_cal < 0.001)] were cross compared. Through cross-comparison, we identified 156 common genes that were consistently significant across all probability thresholds, and showing a strong positive corelation between p-value and q-value in the selected probe sets. We reported TD2, CPT1, pectin synthase, EXT-3 (extensin-3), Lox C, and pyruvate kinase (PK), which exhibited upregulated expression, and Glb1 and nitrate reductase (nii), which demonstrated downregulated expression during Trichoderma-tomato interaction. In addition, microbial priming with Trichoderma resulted into differential expression of transcription factors related to systemic defense and flowering including MYB13, MYB78, ERF2, ERF3, ERF5, ERF-1B, NAC, MADS box, ZF3, ZAT10, A20/AN1, polyol sugar transporter like zinc finger proteins, and a novel plant defensin protein. The potential bottleneck and hub genes involved in this dynamic response were also identified. The protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis based on 25 topmost DEG_S (p_cal-value < 0.05) and the Weighted Correlation Gene Network Analysis (WGCNA) of the 1786 significant DEGs (p_cal-value < 0.05) we reported the hits associated with carbohydrate metabolism, secondary metabolite biosynthesis, and the nitrogen metabolism. We conclude that the Trichoderma-induced microbial priming re-programmed the host genome for transcriptional response during the late colonization event and were characterized by metabolic shifting and biochemical changes specific to plant growth and development. The work also highlights the relevance of statistical parameters in understanding the gene regulatory dynamics and complex regulatory networks based on differential expression, co-expression, and protein interaction networks orchestrating the host responses to beneficial microbial interactions.

Garlic and ginger are the two most common herbs used in traditional medicine practice for their antimicrobial activities. Moreover, in many countries, they are also used with boiled food preparations, which can destroy their important medicinal properties. We conducted an agar well diffusion assay with aqueous extracts of garlic and ginger to observe the effect of temperature on their antibiotic properties against three human pathogenic bacteria namely Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli andStaphylococcus aureus. The results show that in general, garlic has significantly greater zone of inhibition (mean = 23.3 mm) than ginger (mean = 19.0 mm) at both, room temperature (26°C) (t = 4.91; α = 0.05; P < 0.01) and at higher temperature (100°C); garlic (mean = 15.6 mm); ginger (mean = 0 mm) (t = 17.76; df = 2; α = 0.05;P < 0.001). On observation, it was found that although higher temperature significantly reduced the antibacterial properties of both plants, nevertheless it affected ginger more (t = 32.9, df = 2; α = 0.05; P < 0.001) than garlic (t = 11.5, df = 2; α = 0.05; P < 0.01). From our study, we can conclude that garlic has more prevailing and sustainable antibiotic properties than ginger under normal and higher temperature regimes. We recommend that garlic not only has very promising potential for a broad-spectrum antibiotic drug against many pathogenic bacteria, but also significantly sustains its antibacterial property than ginger even with boiled food preparations. In addition, it can be used as an effective source of natural herbal antibiotics with or without boiling. Key words: Garlic, ginger, medicinal plants, antibiotic properties, naturopathy

Organic photodetectors (OPDs) detecting light in the near‐infrared (NIR) range from 900 to 1200 nm offer numerous applications in biomedical imaging and health monitoring. However, an ultra‐low bandgap of the electron donor compound required to achieve NIR detection poses a unique challenge in selecting a complementary acceptor material with a suitable energy‐level offset. To tackle this, a solution‐processed, fullerene‐dominated, ternary device is engineered by adding an ultra‐low bandgap (0.6–0.8 eV) ambipolar polymer, polybenzobisthiadiazole‐dithienocyclopentane (PBBTCD), into the active layer of visible‐light‐responsive OPDs (bandgap of 1.8 eV) to form a ternary blend. The resulting OPD benefits from the extended absorption beyond 1000 nm. The cascaded energy level alignment within the ternary blend and the applied reverse bias both improve the overall NIR photocurrent responsivity by 2 orders of magnitude, reaching 0.4 mA W⁻¹ at 1050 nm and −2 V for ternary devices. Furthermore, a photovoltage responsivity of 0.3 mV m² W⁻¹ along with significant open‐circuit voltage (V_oc) of 0.12 V allow NIR detection in the V_oc mode. Prominently, this ability is accomplished with a minimal presence of PBBTCD. Taken together, this work indicates potential strategies for extending the spectral activity of conventional OPDs through introduction of an ambipolar ultra‐low bandgap polymer as a minor element.