The den is a multi-purpose critical space of carnivores and provides a growth conducive refuge which ensures both substances and protection from interspecific predation and harsh climate. Selection of optimal den sites determined by various site-specific factors potentially reduces aversive interspecific interactions and provides cost-effective access to food sources. In this study, we have assessed the factors determining the den site selection by a small population of striped hyaena, Hyaena hyaena in a shared landscape dominated by large carnivores. We assessed den site selection as a function of vegetation patch characteristics, site-specific anthropogenic threats/activities and topographical variables using Bayesian algorithm through field collected binomial data on den use by the species. Our model suggested that hyaenas select rocky refugia surrounded by trees and tall grasses, situated on mountain slopes proximate to a water body. Our study consolidated the importance of undulating terrain in the species ecology and postulated the slope as an ‘energy-expensive’ terrain that refrains frequent movement of other carnivores, in turn providing more affordable denning space for the striped hyaena. This study provides critical information on denning ecology of last remaining major breeding population striped hyaena of southern India.

Four unconformity-bound sequences can be identified in the Purana successions in southern India, of which the third sequence (Sequence III) has the widest distribution. Sequence III contains deep-water carbonate units with consistent sedimentological characteristics across the subcontinent. The current extent of field relationships and existing ages has not allowed the correlation and chronology of these carbonates to be established conclusively. Palaeomagnetism may help resolve this essential question for the Purana sedimentation. Here, we report new palaeomagnetic results (HIG+/– pole: 21.7° N, 81.1° E, radius of cone of 95% confidence A95 = 15.9°) from Sequence III carbonates in the Kaladgi (Badami Group) and Bhima (Bhima Group) basins. The HIG+/– magnetization, revealed after the removal of secondary magnetizations that include a present-day field and an Ediacaran–Cambrian overprint, is interpreted to be primary based on its dissimilarity to known younger magnetizations, the presence of distinctly different magnetic components in sites and a positive reversal test. Our HIG+/– pole differs from the c. 1.4 Ga pole and various c. 1.1 Ga and younger poles. Instead, it overlaps with the Harohalli dyke pole that was long considered to be c. 823 Ma in age, but has recently been suggested to be much older with an age of c. 1192 Ma. We therefore consider the uppermost carbonate beds of Badami and Bhima groups to have been deposited during late Mesoproterozoic times. A critical evaluation of parameters from which an earlier Neoproterozoic age for these carbonates was established indicates that the available 40Ar/39Ar, Rb–Sr and U–Pb ages in the Kaladgi and Bhima basins could reflect the timing of post-depositional alteration events.

Isotopic and geochemical evidence of paleoclimates, especially for the last glaciation, has been obtained from deep confined groundwaters of southern India. The δ13C, δ18O, chloride, and deuterium analyses of groundwaters show distinct excursions inferred to be related to climatic variations. The arid climatic episode associated with the last glaciation (18,000 ± 2000 yr B.P.) is conspicuously identified by signatures of relatively enriched δ13C (−10 to −12‰ PDB) and δ18O (−5.3 to −4.8‰ SMOW) values, and high chloride concentration (80 to 160 mg/l). The transition from an arid to humid period ca. 12,000–8000 yr B.P. is shown by a decreasing trend in the δ13C (−9.5 to −17‰) and δ18O (−4.5 to −6.3‰) contents of groundwaters. The late Holocene (since 4000 yr B.P.), marked by a more humid but unstable climate, is identified by further depletion of δ13C (−13 to −20‰) and δ18O (−5.2 to −6.3‰). Similar variation between δ18O and chloride values in confined groundwaters further demonstrates two distinct climatic excursions (arid and humid) governed by the “amount effect.” This is the first time that isotopic and geochemical signatures related to changing paleoclimates have been identified in the confined groundwaters of the southern Indian landmass.

The megalithic burials of southern India—a wonderfully varied set of monuments—have long needed a chronology and a context. Broadly contemporary with the Roman and Sasanian empires, these dolmens, cairns and cists have continually raised contradictions with their material contents. The authors attack the problem using luminescence applied to pottery at the site of Siruthavoor in north-east Tamilnadu. Although sharing material culture, this first pilot project gave dates ranging from 300 BC to AD 600, so exposing the problem and perhaps, in OSL, its long-term solution.

We report the occurrence and characteristics of diopsidite dykes and veins from the Palghat-Cauvery Suture Zone (PCSZ) marking the boundary between the Archaean Dharwar craton to the north and the Proterozoic Madurai Block to the south, which is considered as a trace of the Cambrian Gondwana suture zone in southern India. The diopsidites are composed predominantly of coarse crystals of diopside [Mg no. (100 Mg/(Mg+Fetot)) up to 89] surrounded by retrograde calcic amphibole, plagioclase and phlogopite with accessory titanite and calcite. The major, trace and rare earth element characteristics of the diopside crystals suggest their formation in a subduction zone setting. We correlate the petrogenesis of the diopsidites with the tectonics associated with the subduction and closure of the Neoproterozoic Mozambique Ocean prior to the final collisional assembly of the Gondwana supercontinent in Cambrian.

We report here a garnet–spinel orthopyroxenite in close association with an ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) granulite from the central part of the Madurai Granulite Block in southern India. The garnet–spinel orthopyroxenite is almost entirely composed of orthopyroxene, spinel and rare garnet in a granular texture. Spinels in the rock are characterized by high Mg (XMg = 0.69–0.71) with low Cr and Fe3+, consistent with compositions reported from spinels occurring within xenoliths in kimberlites and high pressure–temperature (P–T) Alpine complexes. The orthopyroxenes have high Al content (Al2O3 up to 4.85 wt%), typical of equilibration under high P–T conditions. The P–T estimates derived for the garnet–spinel orthopyroxenite indicate temperatures of around 1000°C and pressures exceeding 17 kbar. The data indicate that UHT metamorphism in this locality traversed from above 17 kbar to 11 kbar prior to the final stage of isothermal decompression. Our study reports the highest pressures obtained by far, for extreme crustal metamorphism in southern India and elsewhere in Gondwana. The multi-stage decompression observed in the UHT rocks associated with the high P–T garnet–spinel orthopyroxenite could be correlated to extension of the crust and possibly of the lithospheric mantle and/or its delamination, with the asthenospheric mantle as the ultimate heat source, during the final stage of amalgamation of the Gondwana supercontinent.

Ecological densities of large herbivores were estimated using the line transect method in the tropical moist forests of Bhadra Tiger Reserve, southern India, during November 2000. The species of interest were chital Axis axis, sambar Cervus unicolor, muntjac Muntiacus muntjak, gaur Bos gaurus and Hanuman langur Presbytes entellus. Six permanent transects, ranging from 2.6 to 3.6 km (totalling 18.2 km) were each walked 26 times. A total of 473 km were walked during the surveys. Numbers of detections were generally low (51, 25, 68, 17 and 302 for chital, sambar, muntjac, gaur and langur, respectively). Mean estimated densities of different species were [${\smash{\raise6pt\hbox{\gary}}{\hspace*{-6pt}{D}}}$ (${\pm}\,$SE)]: 4.51 (${\pm}\,$1.05) chital km−2, 0.89 (${\pm}\,$0.23) sambar km−2, 3.64 (${\pm}\,$0.63) muntjac km−2, 1.48 (${\pm}\,$0.63) gaur km−2 and 22.62 (${\pm}\,$2.64) langur km−2. Possible shortcomings of our estimates are considered and suggestions made for improving future surveys. A comparison with densities estimated for these species in other well-protected parks showed that the chital, gaur and sambar densities in Bhadra were extremely low. The main causal factors for these low densities seem to be poaching and livestock grazing.

In southern India, the principal tea pests such as the mites, Acaphylla theae, Calacarus carinatus and Oligonychus coffeae; the thrips, Scirtothrips bispinosus; the aphid, Toxoptera aurantii; and the caterpillars, Caloptilia theivora, Homona coffearia and Cydia leucostoma are attacked by many natural enemies. H. coffearia is efficiently controlled by the ichneumonid, Phytodietus sp., and the tachinid, Palexorista solennis, whilst the eulophid, Sympiesis dolichogaster, affords excellent regulation of C. theivora. The braconid, Apanteles aristaeus, is the chief parasitoid of C. leucostoma, but the efficiency of this species is rather low. The aphiidids, Aphidius colemani, Lipolexis scuttellaris and Trioxys indicus, and several species of coccinellids and syrphids exert tremendous influence on the populations of T. aurantii. No natural enemies of the scolytid stem borer, Xyleborus fornicatus, could be recorded. For the management of mites, pesticides are applied regularly and the widespread usage of broad spectrum acaricides such as dicofol and sulphur is an important reason for the low incidence of predatory mites in tea fields.