Critical marine habitat restoration programme - initiative on mangrove restoration in Kerala, India

Mangroves are unique habitats which function as nursery ground for several valuable species of finfishes and shellfishes and they play a vital role in supporting marine food chains, protecting coastal areas and in improving water quality. Mangroves in general have relatively high productivity and tend to create highly organic soil and also export organic matter to nearby marine environments. They are effective in stabilizing soils in intertidal areas. Some species of mangroves have been planted in the coastal areas as bio-protection shields to guard coastal households from wind and wave action. They provide shelter to several avian fauna which feed on its fruits and nest in the branches. Rare or endangered species of birds have also been documented in the mangroves

Heavy metal concentration in sea water, sediment and bivalves off Tuticorin

Concentration of heavy metals Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn in sea water, sediment and bivalve samples from three stations was studied for one year along Tuticorin coast. The concentration was in the order of Fe>Mn>Zn>Cu>Pb>Cd>Ni. Generally the concentration of Fe was very high in the sediment and bivalves when compared to earlier studies from other areas along the Indian coast. High concentration of Fe, Mn, Cu, Pb and Zn was observed during monsoon season. One way ANOVA indicated statistically significant differences (p<0.01) among the samples in the concentration of Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn. Except for Cd and Cu, no significant difference was noticed in the seasonal variation of other metals

Data-based estimates of the ocean carbon sink variability – First results of the Surface Ocean pCO2 Mapping intercomparison (SOCOM)

Using measurements of the surface-ocean CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) and 14 different pCO2 mapping methods recently collated by the Surface Ocean pCO2 Mapping intercomparison (SOCOM) initiative, variations in regional and global sea–air CO2 fluxes are investigated. Though the available mapping methods use widely different approaches, we find relatively consistent estimates of regional pCO2 seasonality, in line with previous estimates. In terms of interannual variability (IAV), all mapping methods estimate the largest variations to occur in the eastern equatorial Pacific. Despite considerable spread in the detailed variations, mapping methods that fit the data more closely also tend to agree more closely with each other in regional averages. Encouragingly, this includes mapping methods belonging to complementary types – taking variability either directly from the pCO2 data or indirectly from driver data via regression. From a weighted ensemble average, we find an IAV amplitude of the global sea–air CO2 flux of 0.31 PgC yr−1 (standard deviation over 1992–2009), which is larger than simulated by biogeochemical process models. From a decadal perspective, the global ocean CO2 uptake is estimated to have gradually increased since about 2000, with little decadal change prior to that. The weighted mean net global ocean CO2 sink estimated by the SOCOM ensemble is −1.75 PgC yr−1 (1992–2009), consistent within uncertainties with estimates from ocean-interior carbon data or atmospheric oxygen trend

Sea-air CO2 fluxes in the Indian Ocean between 1990 and 2009

The Indian Ocean (44 S-30 N) plays an important role in the global carbon cycle, yet it remains one of the most poorly sampled ocean regions. Several approaches have been used to estimate net sea-air CO2 fluxes in this region: interpolated observations, ocean biogeochemical models, atmospheric and ocean inversions. As part of the RECCAP (REgional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes) project, we combine these different approaches to quantify and assess the magnitude and variability in Indian Ocean sea-air CO2 fluxes between 1990 and 2009. Using all of the models and inversions, the median annual mean sea-air CO2 uptake of &amp;minus;0.37 ± 0.06 PgC yr -1 is consistent with the &amp;minus;0.24 ± 0.12 PgC yr -1 calculated from observations. The fluxes from the southern Indian Ocean (18-44 S; -0.43 ± 0.07 PgC yr-1 are similar in magnitude to the annual uptake for the entire Indian Ocean. All models capture the observed pattern of fluxes in the Indian Ocean with the following exceptions: underestimation of upwelling fluxes in the northwestern region (off Oman and Somalia), overestimation in the northeastern region (Bay of Bengal) and underestimation of the CO2 sink in the subtropical convergence zone. These differences were mainly driven by lack of atmospheric CO2 data in atmospheric inversions, and poor simulation of monsoonal currents and freshwater discharge in ocean biogeochemical models. Overall, the models and inversions do capture the phase of the observed seasonality for the entire Indian Ocean but overestimate the magnitude. The predicted sea-air CO 2 fluxes by ocean biogeochemical models (OBGMs) respond to seasonal variability with strong phase lags with reference to climatological CO 2 flux, whereas the atmospheric inversions predicted an order of magnitude higher seasonal flux than OBGMs. The simulated interannual variability by the OBGMs is weaker than that found by atmospheric inversions. Prediction of such weak interannual variability in CO2 fluxes by atmospheric inversions was mainly caused by a lack of atmospheric data in the Indian Ocean. The OBGM models suggest a small strengthening of the sink over the period 1990-2009 of -0.01 PgC decade-1. This is inconsistent with the observations in the southwestern Indian Ocean that shows the growth rate of oceanic pCO 2 was faster than the observed atmospheric CO2 growth, a finding attributed to the trend of the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) during the 1990s

Regional CO2 flux estimates for 2009-2010 based on GOSAT and ground-based CO2 observations

We present the application of a global carbon cycle modeling system to the estimation of monthly regional CO2 fluxes from the column-averaged mole fractions of CO2 (XCO2) retrieved from spectral observations made by the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT). The regional flux estimates are to be publicly disseminated as the GOSAT Level 4 data product. The forward modeling components of the system include an atmospheric tracer transport model, an anthropogenic emissions inventory, a terrestrial biosphere exchange model, and an oceanic flux model. The atmospheric tracer transport was simulated using isentropic coordinates in the stratosphere and was tuned to reproduce the age of air. We used a fossil fuel emission inventory based on large point source data and observations of nighttime lights. The terrestrial biospheric model was optimized by fitting model parameters to observed atmospheric CO2 seasonal cycle, net primary production data, and a biomass distribution map. The oceanic surface pCO2 distribution was estimated with a 4-D variational data assimilation system based on reanalyzed ocean currents. Monthly CO2 fluxes of 64 sub-continental regions, between June 2009 and May 2010, were estimated from GOSAT FTS SWIR Level 2 XCO2 retrievals (ver. 02.00) gridded to 5° � 5° cells and averaged on a monthly basis and monthly-mean GLOBALVIEW-CO2 data. Our result indicated that adding the GOSAT XCO2 retrievals to the GLOBALVIEW data in the flux estimation brings changes to fluxes of tropics and other remote regions where the surface-based data are sparse. The uncertainties of these remote fluxes were reduced by as much as 60 through such addition. Optimized fluxes estimated for many of these regions, were brought closer to the prior fluxes by the addition of the GOSAT retrievals. In most of the regions and seasons considered here, the estimated fluxes fell within the range of natural flux variabilities estimated with the component models

भारत के दक्षिण-पशिचम तट के अष्टमुडी झील में अवसाद और पानी की गुणता के परिवेश में सीपी संस्तरों का निर्धारण

कृपया पूरा लेखा पढ

A Decadal Inversion of CO2 Using the Global Eulerian-Lagrangian Coupled Atmospheric Model (GELCA): Sensitivity to the Ground-Based Observation Network

We present an assimilation system for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) using a Global Eulerian-Lagrangian Coupled Atmospheric model (GELCA), and demonstrate its capability to capture the observed atmospheric CO2 mixing ratios and to estimate CO2 fluxes. With the efficient data handling scheme in GELCA, our system assimilates non-smoothed CO2 data from observational data products such as the Observation Package (ObsPack) data products as constraints on surface fluxes. We conducted sensitivity tests to examine the impact of the site selections and the prior uncertainty settings of observation on the inversion results. For these sensitivity tests, we made five different sitedata selections from the ObsPack product. In all cases, the time series of the global net CO2 flux to the atmosphere stayed close to values calculated from the growth rate of the observed global mean atmospheric CO2 mixing ratio. At regional scales, estimated seasonal CO2 fluxes were altered, depending on the CO2 data selected for assimilation. Uncertainty reductions (URs) were determined at the regional scale and compared among cases. As measures of the model-data mismatch, we used the model-data bias, root-mean-square error, and the linear correlation. For most observation sites, the model-data mismatch was reasonably small. Regarding regional flux estimates, tropical Asia was one of the regions that showed a significant impact from the observation network settings. We found that the surface fluxes in tropical Asia were the most sensitive to the use of aircraft measurements over the Pacific, and the seasonal cycle agreed better with the results of bottom-up studies when the aircraft measurements were assimilated. These results confirm the importance of these aircraft observations, especially for constraining surface fluxes in the tropics

GENETIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS INVOLVED IN HUMAN MALE INFERTILITY: A REVIEW

As a World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, infertility is the couple's inability to conceive after 2 years of regular unprotected intercourse. Theinvestigation in male infertility is assuming greater importance because approximately half of all infertility cases caused by male factors. Althoughprevious studies suggest that many cases with male infertility have a genetic and environmental etiology to the condition, and the majority of cases areidiopathic. About 10-20% of azoospermic patients are showing the microdeletion in Y-chromosome. In this deleted region, azoospermia factor (AZF)locus which is located in the Yq11 divided into the four regions as AZFa, AZFb, AZFc, and AZFd. In each of these regions a particular testicular histologyand candidate genes have been found. The deleted in azoospermia gene family is also the most frequently deleted in AZFc region. Recently, not only Ychromosome, but X chromosome and some autosomal genes are also found in respect to male infertility. Frequent attacks on the naked mitochondrialDNA of sperm will responsible for oxidative damage or mutation to the mitochondrial genome and lead to male infertility. The introduction ofmolecular techniques, such as intracytoplasmic sperm injection, genomics, proteomics, metabolamics, has provided great perception into the geneticsof infertility. Still our understanding to find a correlation between genotype and phenotype in male infertility remains limited.Keywords: Infertility, Azoospermia factor, Deleted in azoospermia, Mitochondrial DNA, Intracytoplasmic sperm injection, Genomics, Proteomics,Metabolamics

Analysis of railway track deaths-an autopsy based study

Background: Railway related deaths account for approximately one percentage of all fatalities submitted to medicolegal autopsies. The study is undertaken with the aim of better understanding of railway track deaths by analyzing the demographic details of victims and other contributing factors which favours the occurrence of railway track deaths.Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study of all railway track deaths brought for medicolegal autopsy at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, Kerala, India from 1st March 2010 to 28th February 2011 was done. A total of 104 cases of railway track deaths were studied excluding cases with advanced decomposition. Clinical case records were studied in treated cases. details regarding nature dimensions and location of injury was entered in a proforma. The data were entered in MS Excel and statistical analysis was done.Results: Out of 104 cases studied 83 (79.8%) victims were male and 21 (20.2%) victims were female. The lowest and highest age of the victim involved in the study was 15 years and 90 years respectively. Elderly people with impairment of vision and hearing are most vulnerable to such accidents 12.5%. The highest frequency of incidence of railway deaths occurred while crossing the Railway track (32.7%), followed by jumping in front of the train (19.2%) and walking along the side or through track (16.3%). In 17.3% of the cases there was no exact history regarding the incident. The most common types of external injuries were lacerated wound and abrasion. In all the cases head showed lacerated wounds and the upper limbs showed abrasion.Conclusions: Present study concludes that majority of victims were males showing a female ratio 4:1, The peak incidence was noted in the 6th decade. Most of the victims were manual labourers. Travelling, moving and crossing near railway tracks in intoxicated condition is very usual practice. Survival period was found to be very less

Trends in heavy metal concentrations in sediment, finfishes and shellfishes in inshore waters of Cochin, southwest coast of India

Profile of Cadmium, Zinc, Copper and Lead in sediment and tissues from four species of finfishes and shellfishes from estuarine and inshore regions of Cochin were analysed from the monthly data, collected for ten years since 1990. Annual mean levels of Zinc in Nemipterus japonicus registered a gradual decreasing trend towards 1998 with a peak (35 ppm) during 1992. Similar trend was also observed in Metapenaeus dobsoni and Suneffa scripfa. However, an increasing trend was noticed in Ofolithus ruber, registering a peak (9 ppm) during 1995. Lead concentrations were higher in M. dobsoni followed by N. japonicus with an increasing trend. On the other hand, Cadmium and Copper levels showed a decreasing trend with peak levels in Nemipterus (Cd 0.58 ppm, Cu 10.43 ppm) and M. dobsoni (Cd 1.16, Cu 8.87 ppm) than the molluscs and the croaker species. Levels of these four metals in sediment were higher in inshore regions than in the estuarine areas. Copper, Lead and Cadmium content in sediments of estuarine as well as the inshore regions showed an increasing trend over the ten years period. However, the levels of Zinc showed no significant variation in the inshore areas and a marked decreasing trend in the estuarine regions. The profile of metals in tissues and sediment samples were correlated in relation to the state of health of these resources and ecosystem in the light of increasing port and anthropogenic activities