Yaqoob’s scientific contributions

Piper nigrum is a perennial climbing shrub from Piperaceae family. Piper nigrum is native of the Indo-Malaysian region. Fruits of the piper (Filfil Siyāh) are used in Unani Medicine for the treatment of asthma, dyspepsia, piles, flatulence, skin diseases, respiratory diseases, toothache, fevers, and leukoderma. It is also used as carminative, liver and Gastric tonic, aphrodisiac, expectorant, emmenagogue etc. A variety of phytoconstituent are isolated from Filfil Siyāh which include alkaloids, essential oils, fats, safrol, tannic acid, amids etc. Various pharmacological studies on the plant have been done like antimicrobial, hepatoprotective, antidepressant, digestive etc. The aim of the paper is to highlight the therapeutic applications as per description in Unani literature and scientific studies done on Piper nigrum.

The bee keeping is cost effective, eco-friendly, gender friendly enterprise that requires minimum land ownership to operate. It has the potential to alleviate the socioeconomic conditions of the people via full time or part time hobby besides providing ecological services like pollination. The robust evidence that beekeeping can have on people of Ladakh (Kargil) is missing as the area is known for its harsh winter and dry conditions. This study reports the utilisation of the potential of beekeeping as a subsidiary mode of income and a possibility to develop apicultural activity in Ladakh as alfalfa a chief source of nectar and pollen.

The pollination services provided by wild insect fauna in peach depends on many factors, among them the diverse landscapes and habitat diversity is of immense importance contributing to foraging characteristics and hourly visitation frequencies. A considerable variation existed in visitation rate; total visits, percent visitation and total time spend on peach flowers by insect pollinators/visitors during our course of study in low maintained mountainous landscapes. Flower handling times consumed by species created a significant variation between total visitation and visitation rate. Most species prefer to collect pollen however the nectar is main reward from flowers, therefore time per flower sought by hymenopteran species were inherently shorter than lepidopteran and dipteran species. Among the members of genus Lasioglossum the total visits, visitation rate and per cent visitation were found highest by species L. marginatum and overall the order hymenoptera showed comparatively higher visitation rate, total visits and per cent visitation on peach flowers. From members of family Apidae species Xylocopa valga and X. violacea makes highest number of total visits followed by family Halictidae. During the two years of studies, almost 95% of the available peach flowers were visited by foraging wild bees varied significantly as per ANOVA; however, the statistical significance across two years of investigation varies too. The time spend by pollinators/visitors on peach flower bout varies among different species. Rank dominance curve (K-dominance curve) were determined with respect to species abundance and inferences were drawn species wise.

The present study was carried out in three experimental sites of Kashmir valley during 2013 to 2014. The nesting behaviors and habitat of all insect species pollinating fruit crops were investigated. Highest of 46 species were observed, belonging to 5 orders, 20 families and 31 genera of class Insecta. Total of 17 species were categorized in different landscapes of Himalayan areas as endogeic, 6 hypergeic and 23 were found to wander over grasses, herbs and dead material. Habitat components determining the structure of bee communities in surroundings of the foraging resources. For the organization of the bee communities study clearly demonstrate that a variety of nesting substrates and nest building materials played a key role. Generally, the potential bare grounds and nesting cavities are two factors influencing the entire bee community. The compositions of nest guilds at any potential areas also have a relative abundance of a dominant species. The important areas representing the huge density of nesting sites are necessarily the steep and sloping grounds, pithy stems, cracks and crevices, snail shells, beetle holes and pre-existing burrows. Nesting site varies across habitat and is clear determinant of bee community and forage resource availability and diversity. Principle component analysis (PCA) was done to determine the habitat requirements and Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test determined the nest density between the pollinators of different nesting habitat behaviours in three experimental locations and the difference were found statistically significant.

The present study was carried out in three experimental sites of Kashmir valley during 2013 to 2014. The nesting behaviors and habitat of all insect species pollinating fruit crops were investigated. Highest of 46 species were observed, belonging to 5 orders, 20 families and 31 genera of class Insecta. Total of 17 species were categorized in different landscapes of Himalayan areas as endogeic, 6 hypergeic and 23 were found to wander over grasses, herbs and dead material. Habitat components determining the structure of bee communities in surroundings of the foraging resources. For the organization of the bee communities study clearly demonstrate that a variety of nesting substrates and nest building materials played a key role. Generally, the potential bare grounds and nesting cavities are two factors influencing the entire bee community. The compositions of nest guilds at any potential areas also have a relative abundance of a dominant species. The important areas representing the huge density of nesting sites are necessarily the steep and sloping grounds, pithy stems, cracks and crevices, snail shells, beetle holes and pre-existing burrows. Nesting site varies across habitat and is clear determinant of bee community and forage resource availability and diversity. Principle component analysis (PCA) was done to determine the habitat requirements and Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test determined the nest density between the pollinators of different nesting habitat behaviours in three experimental locations and the difference were found statistically significant.