In this study various pine forests from district Dir were investigated. Their quantitative survey, multivariate analyses, population structure and dendrochronological studies were presented. Thirty mature and least disturbed forests were sampled by pointer centered quarter method throughout the study area. On the basis of analysis, twelve communities of six conifer species and two broad leaved tree species were recognized using their importance values. Cedrus deodara and Pinus wallichiana were the dominant species found in seventeen and ten sampled forests respectively. Taxus wallichaina and Abies pindrow were found infrequently represented in one and three stands respectively. Quercus baloot and Populus nigra were associated as co-dominance species. Pinus roxburghii forests were growing on lower elevations while Picea smithiana were found comparatively on high elevations. A total of eighty two species were found in the understorey of which seventy two were common while eleven species occurred rarely. The group structure inherent in the vegetation and underlying trends in the vegetation were examined. The relationship between vegetation and environmental factors were explored. Five major groups were recognized in tree species data while eleven groups were found in the understory vegetation using TWINSPAN, a divisive clustering technique. The major trends were unraveled by DCA ordination. The groups of trees and understorey vegetation were superimposed on DCA ordination that showed continuity in vegetation. Correlation of environmental factors with the axes of ordination disclosed the relationship with altitude as well as slope. However, edaphic variables including soil nutrients also revealed substantial relationships with the vegetation groups as well as the compositional gradients. Population structures of individual forest were also investigated concentrating on trees dbh size class distribution, density, basal area, age and growth rates that reflect the structural variability and future trends of these valuable forests. This study disclosed that these forests have a multimodal structure that is principally due to anthropogenic activities which is an overriding factor of these unbalanced forests. However, on the other hand, some of the deodar (C. deodara) forests showed considerably stable structures i.e. J-shaped distribution. The age and growth rate of each conifer species were also calculated that offer additional information about forest regeneration potential and provide a baseline for silviculturists and foresters. The present results also confirmed that Pinus roxburghii is the fastest growing species (among those studied) followed by Pinus wallichiana while Picea smithiana was of the slowest growing species. Among the trees, Cedrus deodara was the oldest tree species with the recorded age up to 500 years. Pinus roxburghii reached only up to hundred years of age. Wood samples of twenty four sites were cross matched by using the composite skeleton plot. Among the different sites and species three sites of deodar and two sites of Picea smithiana were cross dated successfully while the remaining sites and species were excluded from further analysis due to complacent ring-width sequences and short interval period. The standardized versions of five site chronologies of two species were produced. A maximum dated chronology of deodar extends back to 1353-2007 A.D was obtained for 655 years. However, common pattern of pointer years were distinguished among all tree ring series of different sites and species. Climate and Rings-width relationship were evaluated by running various types of response function analysis in order to explore various approaches between their interactions systematically. Three versions of chronologies were correlated with local and grided climate data (temperature and precipitation) and as a result standard version of chronology and local climate were found more suitable for analysis due to the high percentage of explained variances. According to these analyses, precipitation in previous October seems to support growth but high temperature does not. Similarly, high temperature in current May is negatively correlated while precipitation in the same month supports growth. Among season, high temperature in spring is deleterious for tree growth while, adequate precipitation promotes forest growth. The overall, studies indicate that climate-growth responses were consistently seen to prevail both between sites and of the same species and between sites composed of different species. Multiple linear regressions were used to calculate past climatic history. Applying this model of transfer function coefficients, the relative effect of annual rings (predictor variable) upon the recorded climate data (predictand variable) was estimated. Temperature and precipitation were reconstructed and extended back to last three hundred years from reliable tree ring sequences. Similarly, spring temperature and precipitation were also reconstructed. Various sets of drier and wetter years were described in the rescaled past climatic data from tree ring series. It is concluded that Cedrus deodara and Picea smithiana have reliable palaeoclimatic potential and this proxy data could be used for predicting future climatic possible changes. It is also suggested to explore greater number of sites and species for better achievements.
Bukhari was an exemplary teacher. His teaching experiments, advices, and valuable analysis are beneficent even today. As he is famous for being expert in Ahaadeth (Muhadis), he is being ignored in the field of education. His thoughts, described in Kitabul Ilm of Sahi Bukhari can be used to reform an education system. According to his advices, a teacher should be vocal, should understand and consider psychology of students. He should make groups of students on the basis of their intelligence, and should assign assignments to students to make them more confident. About questions asked by students during teaching, Imam says this is not beneficial. Teachers also should not be upset with proper questions asked by students. No one can become expert with his own study without consultation with an expert of the field. Reading without the guidance of a teacher may be unhealthy. Imam stressed even beginner students to do hard work and travel for research, and academic work. To get knowledge and access to reliable teachers admission in an institution and fulfilling of all the requirements are necessary. Imam Also considered women education necessary. According to him women can get benefits only when their system is separate from men. Kitabul Ilm of Bukhari consists of advices for education system reforms. These advices can be used to reform the present education system. Purpose of this article is to analyze Imam Bukhari’s thoughts about education for understanding good and bad things in education.
In this study, factors regarding the excessive use of pesticides and those particularly involved in the cultivation of high input and low input rice crop were investigated. Farmers’ sources of Basmati rice seed acquisition and perception of pest insects’ incidence and their management practices in rice crop were also evaluated. Results indicated that the main reason for farmers’ adoption of high input rice farming was to get better yields and profit. The main sources of rice seed acquisition were the home retained, local market and seed companies. Farmers were well aware of major pest insects of rice and reported moderate incidence of rice stem borers and high incidence of rice leaffolder but little was known about natural enemies and diseases. The most common reason for excessive use of insecticides was the misconception that pesticides were necessary to increase the yield. Farmers still relied to a great extent on chemicals to control the pests in rice crop and majority of them ignored economic threshold levels (ETL) recommended for the control. But the effective and economic suppression of insect pests in rice ecosystem by the judicial use of pesticides on the basis of ETL is utmost essential. Therefore, ETLs for the chemical control of rice stem borers (Scirpophaga incertulus Wlk. & S. innotata Wlk.) and rice leaffolder (Cnaphalocrosis medinalis Gn.) in the traditional Basmati rice growing area, the Kallar tract were also determined to be 5% dead-hearts (DH) and 3% folded leaves for stem borers and rice leaffolder respectively. The use of insecticides ignoring recommended ETLs along with higher doses of fertilizers is not only the cause of economic losses but also harmful to the insect biodiversity. So the effect of high inputs (HIP) farming practices on insect communities was also investigated. The higher number of species richness and abundance were measured for low input (LIP) systems. On the other hand some insects were abundant in HIP systems because of their adaptation to such kind of habitat. The insect species richness and abundance increased with rice crop age and showed close relationship with crop. All the major trophic guilds, except non rice pest (NRP), were also in abundance for LIP systems. Some species of insect were found sensitive to agrochemical pollution and were regarded as bioindicators. The higher Shannon’s value in some cases for HIP farms suggested that agrochemicals had a significant impact in eliminating the rare species and hence increased the Shannon’s and evenness values among the species. The overall effect of HIP rice farming on insect species richness and abundance was significantly negative. The LIP systems were found having greater diversity along with supporting a good number of rare species.