Pterocarpus santalinus (Red Sanders) an Endemic, Endangered Tree of India: Current Status, Improvement and the Future

Pterocarpus santalinus (Family – Fabaceae) popularly known as Red Sanders is an endemic species confined to Southern parts of Eastern Ghats of India specially in Andhra Pradesh. Heartwood of Red Sanders has high demand in domestic as well as international market and the wavy grained wood is valued.  Along with its extensive use in furniture, the red dye obtained from the wood is used as colouring agent for textile, medicine and food. The heartwood can accumulate various elements and rare earth elements like strontium cadmium, zinc, copper and uranium. The wood has different uses in traditional and folklore medicines and is used for the treatment of diabetes, prickly heat, skin diseases and for various other ailments. A number of studies have been carried out to anatomically and phenotypicaly screen wavy grain at seedling stage. Morphological variability and genetic diversity studies reveal that Red Sanders harbours enormous variability. Though, macro and micro propagation protocol have been developed, further refinement is required for mass propagation. Andhra Pradesh Forest Department has also initiated different activities under tree improvement programme. Considering the wood demand, restricted distribution, slow regeneration, illegal harvest, trade and habitat destruction, the species has been categorized as endangered by International Union for Conservation of Nature and has been listed in Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and is also classified as a “reserved tree” under the Andhra Pradesh Preservation of Private Forest Rules, 1978. To revive the past glory of this valuable species, Government agencies, farmers, entrepreneurs and policy makers have to join hands for its protection, sustainable utilization and conservation

BioTIME 2.0 : expanding and improving a database of biodiversity time series

Funding: H2020 European Research Council (Grant Number(s): GA 101044975, GA 101098020).Motivation: Here, we make available a second version of the BioTIME database, which compiles records of abundance estimates for species in sample events of ecological assemblages through time. The updated version expands version 1.0 of the database by doubling the number of studies and includes substantial additional curation to the taxonomic accuracy of the records, as well as the metadata. Moreover, we now provide an R package (BioTIMEr) to facilitate use of the database. Main Types of Variables: Included The database is composed of one main data table containing the abundance records and 11 metadata tables. The data are organised in a hierarchy of scales where 11,989,233 records are nested in 1,603,067 sample events, from 553,253 sampling locations, which are nested in 708 studies. A study is defined as a sampling methodology applied to an assemblage for a minimum of 2 years. Spatial Location and Grain: Sampling locations in BioTIME are distributed across the planet, including marine, terrestrial and freshwater realms. Spatial grain size and extent vary across studies depending on sampling methodology. We recommend gridding of sampling locations into areas of consistent size. Time Period and Grain: The earliest time series in BioTIME start in 1874, and the most recent records are from 2023. Temporal grain and duration vary across studies. We recommend doing sample-level rarefaction to ensure consistent sampling effort through time before calculating any diversity metric. Major Taxa and Level of Measurement: The database includes any eukaryotic taxa, with a combined total of 56,400 taxa. Software Format: csv and. SQL.Peer reviewe

BioTIME 2.0 : expanding and improving a database of biodiversity time series

Motivation. Here, we make available a second version of the BioTIME database, which compiles records of abundance estimates for species in sample events of ecological assemblages through time. The updated version expands version 1.0 of the database by doubling the number of studies and includes substantial additional curation to the taxonomic accuracy of the records, as well as the metadata. Moreover, we now provide an R package (BioTIMEr) to facilitate use of the database. Main Types of Variables Included. The database is composed of one main data table containing the abundance records and 11 metadata tables. The data are organised in a hierarchy of scales where 11,989,233 records are nested in 1,603,067 sample events, from 553,253 sampling locations, which are nested in 708 studies. A study is defined as a sampling methodology applied to an assemblage for a minimum of 2 years. Spatial Location and Grain. Sampling locations in BioTIME are distributed across the planet, including marine, terrestrial and freshwater realms. Spatial grain size and extent vary across studies depending on sampling methodology. We recommend gridding of sampling locations into areas of consistent size. Time Period and Grain. The earliest time series in BioTIME start in 1874, and the most recent records are from 2023. Temporal grain and duration vary across studies. We recommend doing sample-level rarefaction to ensure consistent sampling effort through time before calculating any diversity metric. Major Taxa and Level of Measurement. The database includes any eukaryotic taxa, with a combined total of 56,400 taxa. Software Format. csv and. SQL

Carbon Dioxide Adsorption on Amine-Impregnated Mesoporous SBA-15 Sorbents: Experimental and Kinetics Study

In this work, an experimental and theoretical investigation was conducted on the adsorptive removal of CO2 onto tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) functionalized mesoporous SBA-15. The functionalization of SBA-15 silica with TEPA was achieved using a conventional wet impregnation technique. The structural properties of the mesoporous silica sorbents were characterized by nitrogen adsorption/desorption, SAXS, SEM, TEM, and FTIR techniques. The adsorption of CO2 on the amine-impregnated sorbent was measured by thermogravimetric method over a CO2 partial pressure range of 10–100 kPa and a temperature range of 30–100 °C under atmospheric pressure. The effects on CO2 adsorption capacity of temperature, partial pressure of CO2, amine loading, and moisture were evaluated. All the impregnated SBA-15 sorbents showed reversible CO2 adsorption behaviors with fast adsorption kinetics. The CO2 adsorption capacity measured at different temperatures suggests that the optimal adsorption temperature is 75 °C. The CO2 uptake of the amine-impregnated sorbent increased significantly in the presence of moisture. SBA-15 containing 60 wt % TEPA showed the highest CO2 adsorption capacity of 5.22 mmol/g in pure and humid CO2 at 75 °C. Temperature swing adsorption/desorption cycles were also explored using simulated flue gas in both dry and humid conditions, and it was found that CO2 uptake after ten cycles was within 90% of CO2 uptake of the first cycle. Different adsorption kinetic models have also been investigated to analyze the experimental data of CO2 uptake. The model was validated with the experimental results of isothermal adsorption measurements of CO2 on SBA-15/TEPA. It has been found that Fractional Order kinetic model (Chem. Eng. J. 2011, 173, 72) is very good over the entire adsorption region of the study with a maximum average absolute deviation between experimental CO2 uptake and that calculated from the model of about 2.42%