Berries in Baskets versus Apples in Crates: Arguing for Ecocentrism in a Post-COVID World

The global outbreak of COVID-19 has raised questions about human relationships with nature vis-à-vis development models that are largely followed worldwide. Conservation biologist Raymond F. Dasmann introduced the concept of “ecosystem people” to describe predominantly rural communities who largely depend on the resources available in one or a few ecosystems around them. These societies are also characterized by their close relationships with nature and their ecocentric worldviews. However, the world today is dominated by “biosphere people” who populate the urban areas and typically use resources extracted from all over the world. This biosphere model of existence has also given rise to a “biosphere culture” with consumption and development as its cornerstones, protected by spectacular technological innovations. COVID-19 has made cracks appear in both the development model and the technological support systems. This has allowed us to realize that our technological shield has been unable to protect us against this virus and leaves us uncertain that similar plagues would not surprise us in the future. The COVID crisis is raising fresh questions about the efficacy of metrics like the GDP in measuring our economy vis-à-vis overall wellbeing. This paper argues that the experiences gained from the COVID-19 crisis should lead us to evolve a new model of development that pays due attention to ecosystem-based approaches. Such a model will move away from the “economy of violence” to an “economy of permanence” by trying to couple local productivity with more inclusive biodiversity conservation. It will also be enriched by the vast biospheric repository of knowledge in all conceivable subject fields. Such a model will represent a paradigm shift by having its philosophical moorings in ecocentric rather than anthropocentric views of nature.

Berries in Baskets versus Apples in Crates: Arguing for Ecocentrism in a Post-COVID World

The global outbreak of COVID-19 has raised questions about human relationships with nature vis-à-vis development models that are largely followed worldwide. Conservation biologist Raymond F. Dasmann introduced the concept of “ecosystem people” to describe predominantly rural communities who largely depend on the resources available in one or a few ecosystems around them. These societies are also characterized by their close relationships with nature and their ecocentric worldviews. However, the world today is dominated by “biosphere people” who populate the urban areas and typically use resources extracted from all over the world. This biosphere model of existence has also given rise to a “biosphere culture” with consumption and development as its cornerstones, protected by spectacular technological innovations. COVID-19 has made cracks appear in both the development model and the technological support systems. This has allowed us to realize that our technological shield has been unable to protect us against this virus and leaves us uncertain that similar plagues would not surprise us in the future. The COVID crisis is raising fresh questions about the efficacy of metrics like the GDP in measuring our economy vis-à-vis overall wellbeing. This paper argues that the experiences gained from the COVID-19 crisis should lead us to evolve a new model of development that pays due attention to ecosystem-based approaches. Such a model will move away from the “economy of violence” to an “economy of permanence” by trying to couple local productivity with more inclusive biodiversity conservation. It will also be enriched by the vast biospheric repository of knowledge in all conceivable subject fields. Such a model will represent a paradigm shift by having its philosophical moorings in ecocentric rather than anthropocentric views of nature

Cuticular microstructures of abdominal tergites and sternites of Cloeon sp. (Ephemeroptera; Baetidae) during post-embryonic development

The postembryonic changes of the external microstructure of the cuticle on the abdominal tergites and stemites of Cloeon sp. (Ephemeroptera:Baetidae) are described. An inventory of the structures as the aquatic nymph grows and becomes transformed into a terrestrial subimago and then an imago, is provided. It is found that sensillar diversity on nymphal tergites increases with development, but remains unchanged on the stemites. While nymphs and subimago possess various types of sensilla trichoidea, sensilla basiconica are apparent on the imaginal abdomen only. Furthermore, the scaled and spiny cuticle of the nymph becomes relatively smooth in the adult stages. The distinct changes which structure and distribution of the scales as well as marginal spines on the abdominal tergites and stemites of the nymphs undergo during development, must find a reflection in behavioural changes of the larvae. Finally, the taxonomic implications of the observed changes are discussed

Post-embryonic development of the lateral eye of Cloeon sp. (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae) as revealed by scanning electron microscopy

Post-embryonic developmental patterns of the lateral eyes of both male and female Cloeon sp. are described and compared with each other morphometrically on the basis of scanning electron microscopy. In the larvae number of ommatidia, ommatidial size, and total corneal surface area of the eye increase towards the subimaginal moult. It is then that clear differences between males and females begin to occur: while further increases in the number of ommatidia are recorded from the lateral eye of subimago and imago females (accompanied by decreasing facet sizes and interommatidial angles), males show decreasing numbers of ommatidia and total corneal areas in their lateral eyes as they prepare to leave the water. Consequently, the lateral eyes of a female are larger than those of a male imago. It appears that the enormous development of the dorsal eyes of the males has occurred at the expense of the lateral eyes. In male as well as female lateral eyes two major facet shapes are encountered: squares with rounded corners which are predominantly found in the central and upward looking areas, and hexagons which are dominating the lateral and ventral-facing regions. The different roles of the lateral eyes in male and female baetid mayflies is discussed in relation to their flights and the intriguing idea is presented that females might choose males with the largest dorsal eyes

Physics Potential of the ICAL detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)

The upcoming 50 kt magnetized iron calorimeter (ICAL) detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) is designed to study the atmospheric neutrinos and antineutrinos separately over a wide range of energies and path lengths. The primary focus of this experiment is to explore the Earth matter effects by observing the energy and zenith angle dependence of the atmospheric neutrinos in the multi-GeV range. This study will be crucial to address some of the outstanding issues in neutrino oscillation physics, including the fundamental issue of neutrino mass hierarchy. In this document, we present the physics potential of the detector as obtained from realistic detector simulations. We describe the simulation framework, the neutrino interactions in the detector, and the expected response of the detector to particles traversing it. The ICAL detector can determine the energy and direction of the muons to a high precision, and in addition, its sensitivity to multi-GeV hadrons increases its physics reach substantially. Its charge identification capability, and hence its ability to distinguish neutrinos from antineutrinos, makes it an efficient detector for determining the neutrino mass hierarchy. In this report, we outline the analyses carried out for the determination of neutrino mass hierarchy and precision measurements of atmospheric neutrino mixing parameters at ICAL, and give the expected physics reach of the detector with 10 years of runtime. We also explore the potential of ICAL for probing new physics scenarios like CPT violation and the presence of magnetic monopoles.Comment: 139 pages, Physics White Paper of the ICAL (INO) Collaboration, Contents identical with the version published in Pramana - J. Physic

EFFECTS OF COPPER STRESS ON BIOCHEMICAL AND ANTIOXIDANT RESPONSES OF Enydra fluctuans Lour. (Asteraceae)

Enydra fluctuans, an edible aquatic macrophyte with medicinal properties, was exposed to different concentrations of copper (0.11 - 3.03 mg L-1) to determine its effects on chlorophyll a (Chl ‘a’) and chlorophyll b (Chl ‘b’), protein and carbohydrate content, catalase activity and proline content. The copper exposure at 0.11 mg L-1 initially increased the chlorophyll a concentration, while concentrations of 0.51 mg L-1 and higher caused a decrease. One-way ANOVA showed significant differences (p ˂ 0.05) between Cu-exposed plants and control plants for chlorophyll a, but not for chlorophyll b. At cooper concentrations of 1.09 - 3.03 mg L-1, protein content was significantly reduced in the leaf, upper and lower parts of the stem. Cu at 0.11 - 0.51 mg L-1 caused insignificant increase in carbohydrate content in the leaf (except on day 15) and the upper and lower parts of the stem, while a significant decrease occurred in the leaf at 1.09 - 3.03 mg L-1 Cu on day 15, and only at 3.03 mg L-1 in the upper and lower parts of the stem. Catalase activity and proline content were significantly elevated in all plant tissues at Cu exposure of 0.11 mg L-1 and above. Therefore, the study showed that although Cu can significantly affect Enydra fluctuans at relatively low concentrations, the plant has the ability to cope with Cu stress by increasing the activities of the antioxidant enzyme catalase and the accumulation of the non-enzymatic antioxidant proline

Biomarkers of Environmental Pollutants

Thousands of pollutants enter daily into environment and exert various kinds of stress on organisms and ecosystems. Risk assessment of these pollutants to organisms and ecosystems is challenging because of diversities in chemical nature and mode of toxicity of the pollutants as well as variation in sensitivities of the organisms exposed to the pollutants. Even low, relatively innocuous concentrations of pollutants often produce deleterious effects on organisms, which are difficult to be predicted, because measurable effects are expressed only after prolonged exposure. But it may be too late to take remedial actions or steps to reduce risk when these incipient effects are expressed. Therefore, it is necessary to develop early warning signals or biomarkers that convincingly reflect adverse biological responses towards anthropogenic environmental toxins even at minute concentrations

PDBe: towards reusable data delivery infrastructure at protein data bank in Europe

© 2017 The Authors. Published by OUP. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkx1070The Protein Data Bank in Europe (PDBe, pdbe.org) is actively engaged in the deposition, annotation, remediation, enrichment and dissemination of macromolecular structure data. This paper describes new developments and improvements at PDBe addressing three challenging areas: data enrichment, data dissemination and functional reusability. New features of the PDBe Web site are discussed, including a context dependent menu providing links to raw experimental data and improved presentation of structures solved by hybrid methods. The paper also summarizes the features of the LiteMol suite, which is a set of services enabling fast and interactive 3D visualization of structures, with associated experimental maps, annotations and quality assessment information. We introduce a library of Web components which can be easily reused to port data and functionality available at PDBe to other services. We also introduce updates to the SIFTS resource which maps PDB data to other bioinformatics resources, and the PDBe REST API.Wellcome Trust [104948]; UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/M011674/1, BB/N019172/1, BB/M020347/1]; European Union [284209]; European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). Funding for open access charge: EMBL.Published versio

PDBe: improved findability of macromolecularstructure data in the PDB

© 2019 The Authors. Published by OUP. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkz990The Protein Data Bank in Europe (PDBe), a founding member of the Worldwide Protein Data Bank (wwPDB), actively participates in the deposition, curation, validation, archiving and dissemination of macromolecular structure data. PDBe supports diverse research communities in their use of macromolecular structures by enriching the PDB data and by providing advanced tools and services for effective data access, visualization and analysis. This paper details the enrichment of data at PDBe, including mapping of RNA structures to Rfam, and identification of molecules that act as cofactors. PDBe has developed an advanced search facility with ∼100 data categories and sequence searches. New features have been included in the LiteMol viewer at PDBe, with updated visualization of carbohydrates and nucleic acids. Small molecules are now mapped more extensively to external databases and their visual representation has been enhanced. These advances help users to more easily find and interpret macromolecular structure data in order to solve scientific problems.The Protein Data Bank in Europe is supported by European Molecular Biology Laboratory-European Bioinformatics Institute; Wellcome Trust [104948]; Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/N019172/1, BB/G022577/1, BB/J007471/1, BB/K016970/1, BB/K020013/1, BB/M013146/1, BB/M011674/1, BB/M020347/1, BB/M020428/1, BB/P024351/1]; European Union [284209]; ELIXIR and Open Targets. Funding for open access charge: EMB