MARKHOR (The Journal of Zoology)

Impact of Pinus Essential Oil on Insects: A Review

Misbah Rehman — 2025-12-31

Insects are considered an important part of the ecosystem as they perform important roles like pollination, nutrient cycling, and pest control. But on the other hand, when they cross the threshold level, they achieve the status of pests. Insect pests cause damage to agricultural products. They also affect the health of people by spreading diseases. Traditionally, Insecticides were used to control insect pests, but they have very adverse effects on humans, animals, and the environment as they cause breathing difficulties and pollution, respectively. But now Essential oils of different plants are used to control them. Concentrated hydrophobic plant liquids containing certain volatile chemical compounds are called essential oils. There are several Essential Oils in which Pinus Essential Oil is discussed. It has various biological effects, which include anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and anti-cancer activities. It also has medicinal properties and holds industrial importance. The Pinaceae family contains 11 genera and about 225 species distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. The most common ingredient present in the Pinus genus is pinene, which has insecticidal, larvicidal, and pesticidal activities against insect pests. It has little or no harmful effect on the environment and non-target organisms.

A Review Analysis on Climate Impacts, Migration Patterns, Habitat Loss, and Hunting on Avian Diversity in Pakistan

Iraj Sana — 2025-12-31

Pakistan has more than 790 species of birds living in different ecosystems, with 225 nationally significant wetlands, of which 19 are Ramsar wetlands with critical arid, coastal, and montane habitats. The country is a critical location of migratory and resident avifauna due to its location on the Indus Flyway. This is, however not the case as the avian diversity is threatened to extinction by habitat loss, climate change, hunting, and pollution. It is a systematic literature review that identifies these threats in important biomes of Pakistan (2012-2025). Results show that there have been drastic reductions in the number of birds in well-known wetlands such as Taunsa Barrage and Uchali Lake due to change of land use, illegal studies, and variability in migration due to climate change. Other understudied pressures in desert and coastal ecosystems that are mentioned through the analysis include overgrazing in Cholistan and mangrove loss in the Indus Delta. Some of the conservation measures that are discussed are habitat restoration, increased enforcement of the law, community involvement, and adaptation to changes in climate. This is an appeal to call on concerted, biome-specific conservation to protect the avian diversity in Pakistan as the environment keeps mounting pressure on it.

Effects of Canal Lining on Ichthyofaunal Diversity in Southern Punjab, Pakistan

Hafiz Rana Kamran Zahid — 2025-12-31

Canal lining is extensively applied in order to enhance the efficiency of irrigation, but its ecological effects on aquatic organisms are not studied properly. Objectives: To evaluate how canal construction materials influence ichthyofaunal diversity and water quality in Southern Punjab, Pakistan. Methods: Lined and unlined canals were compared in terms of a comparative field study, which was carried out through ecological survey and physico-chemical studies. Standard tools and analysis methods were used to measure the water parameters, such as pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), temperature, turbidity, nitrate, phosphate, and ammonia. Gill nets were used to take fish samples that were identified morphologically and measured in terms of diversity using Shannon Wiener (H) and Simpson (1-D) indices. One-way ANOVA with a 95% level of confidence was considered to identify statistical differences between the types of canals. Results: Unlined canals exhibited slightly lower mean pH (7.2 ± 0.1; 95% CI: 7.18–7.22) and temperature (28.3 ± 0.2 °C; 95% CI: 28.28–28.32) but higher DO (6.4 ± 0.1 mg/L; 95% CI: 6.38–6.42), turbidity (11.4 ± 0.1 NTU; 95% CI: 11.38–11.42), and nutrient concentrations (nitrate = 7.0 ± 0.1 mg/L; phosphate = 8.1 ± 0.1 mg/L; ammonia = 5.0 ± 0.1 mg/L) than lined canals. ANOVA results indicated significant differences (e.g., pH: p=0.0003; DO: p=0.0167; turbidity: p=0.0077) in several water quality parameters and fish diversity between the canal types. Conclusions: Unlined canals harbored more ichthyofaunal diversity, probably because of the availability of natural substrates, vegetation, and more stable microhabitats.

From Live Structures to Numbers, the Interactions between Live Organism Distribution and Abundances and the Explanation in Numbers

Patricio R. De los Ríos-Escalante — 2025-12-31

The classic definition on ecology explains as definition that ecology is the science that study distribution and abundance of live organisms and their relation between them and environmental parameters [1]. In this scenario, the study of natural sciences involves the use of mathematical tools for improve the quality of studies, within these mathematical tools, the use of statistics is very important for any ecological study [2]. As personal note I remarks the inevitable union between statistics and ecology, I remarks the word “inevitable” because although both disciplines are opposite, if both disciplines work coordinated can be a powerful instance for science and technology.

Although there are many classic statistical books that are focused on theoretical statistics or applied to engineering sciences, fortunately there are classic and unforgettable statistical books easy for understanding for biological sciences, in example is the classic book of Jerold H. Zar [3]. Also, if we considerate the use of free software such as R or Python, currently there are books that explain in single language the use of both languages for basic statistics [1].

As conclusion, it is an invitation for include more statistical training in formation at different levels (undergraduate, master and doctorate) for biological sciences, mainly ecology, morphology and systematics, because if statistics is used and interpreted right, the studies of biological sciences will improve significantly their understanding and quality.