Biodiversity Conservation in Indian Sundarban in the Context of Anthropogenic Pressures and Strategies for Impact Mitigation

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Implications of movement for species distribution models - rethinking environmental data tools

Movement is considered an essential process in shaping the distributions of species. Nevertheless, most species distribution models (SDMs) still focus solely on environment-species relationships to predict the occurrence of species. Furthermore, the currently used indirect estimates of movement allow to assess habitat accessibility, but do not provide an accurate description of movement. Better proxies of movement are needed to assess the dispersal potential of individual species and to gain a more practical insight in the interconnectivity of communities. Telemetry techniques are rapidly evolving and highly capable to provide explicit descriptions of movement, but their usefulness for SDMs will mainly depend on the ability of these models to deal with hitherto unconsidered ecological processes. More specifically, the integration of movement is likely to affect the environmental data requirements as the connection between environmental and biological data is crucial to provide reliable results. Mobility implies the occupancy of a continuum of space, hence an adequate representation of both geographical and environmental space is paramount to study mobile species distributions. In this context, environmental models, remote sensing techniques and animal-borne environmental sensors are discussed as potential techniques to obtain suitable environmental data. In order to provide an in-depth review of the aforementioned methods, we have chosen to use the modelling of fish distributions as a case study. The high mobility of fish and the often highly variable nature of the aquatic environment generally complicate model development, making it an adequate subject for research. Furthermore, insight into the distribution of fish is of great interest for fish stock assessments and water management worldwide, underlining its practical relevance

Bibliography of the Indian Ocean 1968 (with a supplement for 1962-1967)

A request was made to the readers at the time of the issue of the first Bulletin in March 1968 containing refernces relating to the Indian Ocean for the 1962-67 period, to bring to our notice any omission noticed so that those references could be in corporated in a supplement to be brought out along with the bibliography for 1968. We received favourable response to this from several interested workers but would like to make special mention of Dr. M. Angot, Centre O. R.S. T. O. M. de Nosy-Be, Madagascar, Mr. S. W. Bhat, Meteorologist, India Meteorological Departement, Poona and Dr. E. G. Silas of this Institute who supplied us with quite a large number of references which have gone a long way in making the supplement comprehensive. Our sincere thanks to all those who extended their co-operation

Marine Ecosystems Challenges and Opportunities (MECOS 09) Book of Abstracts

Marine ecosystems contain several unique qualities that set them apart from other ecosystems. Of the 89 elements occurring in nature, the presence of 80 has been confirmed in seawater. It is perhaps true that the remaining 9 elements are also present, but in concentrations too small to be detected. This wide range of substances dissolved in seawater has placed the marine organisms in a more advantageous position than their freshwater counterparts. These elements provide the essential materials required for the synthesis of all the basic nourishments of the body including the skeletal support of marine animals. In the terrestrial ecosystems, the physical boundaries are well marked and environmental variabilities are rather wide. The terrestrial organisms and ecosystems have developed internal mechanisms to cope up with variabilities. In contrast, in the marine ecosystems, the physical variability is small and extends over very long time scales due to the large thermal capacity of the oceans and the long periods of exchange between deep and near shore waters. Consequently, the marine ecosystems are more vulnerable to large-scale environmental changes because they do not have the internal adaptability inherent in the terrestrial systems

Renaissance in Fisheries: Outlook and Strategies - Book of Abstracts 9th Indian Fisheries Forum, December 19-23, 2011, Chennai, India

The Asian Fisheries Society – Indian Branch (AFSIB) since its inception in 1986, has been providing a platform for discussion at the national level on issues related to research, development, education and policies by organizing Indian Fisheries Forum (IFF) every three years in different parts of the country. The 9th Indian Fisheries Forum (9th iff) will be hosted by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), at Chennai during 19-23 December 2011. The main theme of the 9th iff is “Renaissance in Fisheries: Outlook & Strategies”. It would have a comprehensive look for the fisheries and aquaculture sectors, for achieving greater synergy among the stakeholders and planning strategies for capture fisheries and aquafarming to build higher levels of sustainability and profitability. The forum would also address the issues of impact of climate change and its mitigation, resource constraint and species diversification for the expansion of fish production activity; and encourage young scientists to undertake need-based and resource specific research. An international symposium sponsored by the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem (BoBLME) is scheduled to be held during the forum on 21 December, 2011 with theme: Bay of Bengal–Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management

River Ecological Restoration and Groundwater Artificial Recharge

Three of the eleven papers focused on groundwater recharge and its impacts on the groundwater regime, in which recharge was caused by riverbed leakage from river ecological restoration (artificial water replenishment). The issues of the hydrogeological parameters involved (such as the influence radius) were also reconsidered. Six papers focused on the impact of river ecological replenishment and other human activities on river and watershed ecology, and on groundwater quality and use function. The issues of ecological security at the watershed scale and deterioration of groundwater quality were of particular concern. Two papers focused on water resources carrying capacity and water resources reallocation at the regional scale, in the context of the fact that ecological water demand has been a significant topic of concern. The use of unconventional water resources such as brackish water has been emphasized in the research in this issue

Biodiversity and biomass of algae in the Okavango Delta (Botswana), a subtropical flood-pulsed wetland

In freshwater bodies algae provide key ecosystem services such as food and water purification. This is the first systematic assessment of biodiversity, biomass and distribution patterns of these aquatic primary producers in the Okavango Delta (Botswana), a subtropical flood-pulsed wetland in semiarid Southern Africa. This study delivers the first estimate of algal species and genera richness at the Delta scale; 496 species and 173 genera were observed in 132 samples. A new variety of desmid (Chlorophyta) was discovered, Cosmarium pseudosulcatum var. okavangicum, and species richness estimators suggest that a further few hundred unidentified species likely live in this wetland. Rare species represent 81% of species richness and 30% of total algal biovolume. Species composition is most similar within habitat types, thus varying more significantly at the Delta scale. In seasonally inundated floodplains, algal species / genera richness and diversity are significantly higher than in permanently flooded open water habitats. The annual flood pulse has historically allowed more diverse algal communities to develop and persist in these shallower and warmer environments with higher mean nutrient levels and more substrata and more heterogenous habitats for benthic taxa. These results support the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis, Species-Energy Theory and Habitat Heterogeneity Diversity hypotheses. Higher algal biodiversity supports higher algal biomass in the floodplains, where species form three-dimensional communities of attached and periphytic algae requiring more nutrients than phytoplankton assemblages. Multivariate analyses demonstrate that habitat type, flooding frequency and conductivity most importantly influence the relative abundance of algal species, genera and phyla in the Okavango Delta. This study’s findings highlight how the preservation of water level fluctuations and habitat heterogeneity is crucial to maintaining biodiverse and thus resilient food webs in this unique ecosystem which faces increasing anthropogenic threats, such as global warming and upstream water abstraction plans