ECO-CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE LIVING offers authoritative definitions of what ecoliteracy and sustainable living mean and progressive theories and “easy to adopt practices” which can be practiced easily with spirit and substance for achieving it. The 25 diverse selections presented here include a wide range of topics as diverse as the use and assessment of conventional strategies, microbial resources, herbal healing systems and aroma culture vis-à-vis the role of functional foods and biotechnology in eco-conservation and sustainability. Inspiring substantive and visionary, these selections will help concerned readers to focus their own views about sustainability and suggest new ways to implement its values in their own communities. The book shows how eco-literacy can be promoted through simple environmental awareness and scientific research linking science, citizenship, geography, health education, literacy and Information Communication Technology. The book is an inspiring and refreshing antidote to the hopelessness many feel in the face of the ecological challenges before us.

Foreword / Preface / Acknowledgements / Perspective in Biodiversity and Conservation / Microbial Resources and their Importance in Agricultural Biotechnology / Current Strategies for Assessment and Exploitation of Biological Resources for Sustainable Crop Production / Fern Gametophyte Study: An Overview / Role of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacterial in Enhancing Growth and Management of Diseases and their Mechanisms of Action / Herbal Healing Systems Traditionally Practised in India: Aspects and Prospects for Optimizing the Global life Sustaining System / Hormonal Regulation of Growth of Vigna Radiata Seedlings in Light and Darkness / Ecoliteracy and Sustainable Living / Eco-friendly “Aroma culture” for Commercially Viable “Aroma Projects” / Eco-friendly Utilization of Decomposed Vegetable Garbage and Municipal Domestic Waste for Agri-horticulture and Aquaculture Practices / Wild Mungbean: Biodiversity and Conservation / Sustaining Food Security through Functional Foods / A Review on the Reproductive Biology of Pteridophytes / Role of Biotechnology and Genomics in Sustainable Rice Production / Plant Growth Retardants: Their Effects on Selected Medicinal Plants / Evaluation of the Phyto-chemical Properties of Four Different Species of Epiphytic Ferns of Darjeeling District / Eco-friendly Cultivation and Post Harvest Management of Tropical Hybrid Orchids / Exploitation of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) for Growth Promotion and Control of Sclerotium Rolfsii in Chickpea / Biodiversity of the Algal Flora of Khanakul Block, Hooghly, West Bengal / Germinability of Streptocaulon Sylvestre Wight Seeds under Different Growth Regulators / Physical and Anthopogenic Causes of Biodiversity Loss: A Case Study of Bauxa Tiger Reserve, West Bengal, India / Enhancement of Seed Potential using Selected Medicinal Plant Extracts during Storage / Committees / Author Index / About the Editors.

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