Rhazya stricta is an endangered medicinal plant that is under severe human pressure as a result of commercial harvesting. As a model of habitat fragmentation, we selected the Kohat Plateau in the Pakistani Himalaya, where populations are fragmented, with less than 100 individuals per population. We hypothesized that the populations may be threatened by rapid habitat fragmentation and by unsustainable utilization of the plant. We analysed P450-based analogue functional genomic markers and amplified fragment length polymorphism markers from six populations of R. stricta on the Kohat Plateau, and examined their variations both within and among the populations. Both the marker groups revealed lower genetic differentiation among the populations and higher genetic differentiation within the populations as a result of high gene flow. The results confirmed that habitat fragmentation is being caused by severe human pressure, and although signs of genetic erosion are not yet visible, they seem likely to become visible in the future. Therefore, the conservation of R. stricta populations is necessary.

The farmers of the Apatani tribe in Arunachal Pradesh, India have been raising a concurrent crop of fish successfully in their mountain valley rice plots for the past 40 years. They follow indigenous rice agronomy, ignoring the use of fertilizers, pesticides and even supplementary feed for the fish reared in the system. However, the yield levels of fish, ranging from 250 to 500 kg ha−1season−1, clearly support the role of other available resources within their wet rice fields. The investigation revealed that the rice itself provided the substrates for colonization and growth of periphyton. The colonized periphytic contents (1406–13513 no. cm−2 stem−1) on rice stems and other natural fish feeds within the system seem to have direct effect in this regard. The Apatani technique of rice–fish integration may be considered as one of the periphyton-based aquaculture (PBA) systems which deserve further research attention.