Pollinator Diversity and Foraging Dynamics on Monsoon Crop of Cucurbits in a Traditional Landscape of South Indian West Coast

Studies on insect pollinator ecology and dynamics are very rarely carried out in traditional Indian agriculture landscapes. Indiscriminate landscape changes in the rural areas and tendencies towards crop monocultures can have significant effects on pollinator habitats and effectiveness. This study was aimed at observing insect pollinators, their visitation frequencies and timings on monsoon cucurbit crops such as Cucumis sativus L., C. pubescens Willd., Momordica charantia L., Trichonsanthes anguina L. and Luffa acutangula L. (Roxb.), in a coastal Karnataka Village. This study was also aimed at covering the significance of the surrounding landscape elements in sustaining pollinator elements. Bees, such as Apis dorsata, A. cerana and Trigona sp., were major visitors on all cucurbits, except snake gourd which was pollinated mainly by lepidopterans. Insect species were found to partition floral resources of any given crops between them by minimal overlapping in their visitation timings. Natural elements of the landscape around, mainly a village forest and rocky savanna furnished habitats for bees and lepidopterans. Prolifically blooming monsoon herbs on lateritic plateaus, by providing nectar resources for pollinators, presumably play key role in making the case study village well known for monsoon vegetables

Spatio-temporal dynamics along the terrain gradient of diverse landscape

Land use (LU) land cover (LC) information at a temporal scale illustrates the physical coverage of the Earth’s terrestrial surface according to its use and provides the intricate information for effective planning and management activities.  LULC changes are stated as local and location specifc, collectively they act as drivers of global environmental changes. Understanding and predicting the impact of LULC change processes requires long term historical restorations and projecting into the future of land cover changes at regional to global scales. The present study aims at quantifying spatio temporal landscape dynamics along the gradient of varying terrains presented in the landscape by multi-data approach (MDA). MDA incorporates multi temporal satellite imagery with demographic data and other additional relevant data sets. The gradient covers three different types of topographic features, planes; hilly terrain and coastal region to account the signifcant role of elevation in land cover change. The seasonality is another aspect to be considered in the vegetation dominated landscapes; variations are accounted using multi seasonal data. Spatial patterns of the various patches are identifed and analysed using landscape metrics to understand the forest fragmentation. The prediction of likely changes in 2020 through scenario analysis has been done to account for the changes, considering the present growth rates and due to the proposed developmental projects. This work summarizes recent estimates on changes in cropland, agricultural intensifcation, deforestation, pasture expansion, and urbanization as the causal factors for LULC change

Urban footprint of Mumbai - the commercial capital of India

Urban footprint refers to the proportion of paved surface (built up, roads, etc.) with the reduction of other land use types in a region. Rapid increase in the urban areas is the major driver in landscape dynamics with the significant erosion in the quality and quantity of the natural ecosystems. The urban expansion process hence needs to be monitored, quantified and understood for effective planning and the sustainable management of natural resources. Cities and towns have been experiencing considerable growth in urban area, population size, social aspects, negative environmental and geographical influence, and complexity. Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, has experienced a spurt in infrastructural and industrial activities with globalization and opening up of Indian markets. Unplanned urbanization has resulted in dispersed growth inperi-urban pockets due to socio-economic aspects with the burgeoning population of the city. Consequent to this, there has been an uneven growth pattern apart from the increase in slums in and around the city. This has necessitated the understanding of the urbanization pattern and process focusing especially on the expanding geographical area, its geometry and the spatial pattern of its development. This communication discusses the urban footprint dynamics of Mumbai using multi-temporal remote sensing data with spatial metrics. Land use analysis indicated a decrease of vegetation by 20% with an increase in urban extent by 155% during the last three decades. Landscape metrics aided in assessing the spatial structure and composition of the urban footprints through the zonal analysis by dividing the region into four zones with concentric circles of 1 km incrementing radius from the city centre. The study reveals a significant variation in the composition of the urban patch dynamics with increasing complexity and aggregation of urban area at the centre and sprawl at the outskirts. Shannon's entropy further confirms of sprawl with time. Further zoning with the circular gradients aided in understanding the transition process of land use categories into urban patch

Characterization and Visualization of Spatial Patterns of Urbanisation and Sprawl through Metrics and Modeling

Characterisation of spatial patterns of urban dynamics of Coimbatore, India is done using temporal remote sensing data of 1989 to 2013 with spatial metrics. Urban morphology at local levels is assessed through density gradients and zonal approach show of higher spatial heterogeneity during late1980’s and early 90’s. Urban expansion picked up at city outskirts and buffer region dominated with large number of urban fragments indicating the sprawl. Urban space has increased from 1.87% (1989) to 21.26 % (2013) with the decline of other land uses particularly vegetation. Higher heterogeneous land use classes during 90’s, give way for a homogeneous landscape (with simple shapes and less edges) indicating the domination of urban category in 2013. Complex landscape with high number of patches and edges in the buffer region indicate of fragmentation due to urban sprawl in the region. Visualisation of urban growth through Fuzzy-AHP-CA model shows that built up area would increase to 32.64% by 2025. The trend points to lack of appropriate regional planning leading to intensification of spatial discontinuity with the unsustainable urban growth

Process optimization of supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) extraction parameters for extraction of deoxynojirimycin (1-DNJ) from mulberry (Morus alba L.) leaves

In the present study, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) technology was applied to extract deoxynojirimycin (1-DNJ) from mulberry leaf powder using carbon dioxide (CO2) as major extraction solvent with ethanol as cosolvent, and extraction parameters such as pressure (100, 150 and 200 bar), temperature (40, 50 and 60 °C) anddynamic extraction time (40, 60 and 80 min) were systematically investigated by full factorial design to obtain the optimum extraction efficiency and extraction yield. Under optimized conditions (pressure of 200 bar, temperature of 50 °C and dynamic extraction time of 80 min), DNJ enriched extract was obtained with high extraction efficiency (96.46 %) and extraction yield (13.41 %), enabling this product to use for nutraceutical purpose. The results indicated that SC-CO2 extraction is a promising and alternative process for recovering the bioactive compounds from mulberry leaves

Bright blue emissions on UV-excitation of LaBO3 (B=In, Ga, Al) perovskite structured phosphors for commercial solid-state lighting applications

Bright blue photoluminescence (PL) was obtained from Bi3+-activated LaBO3 (B = In, Ga, Al) perovskite nanophosphors. A cost-effective and low-temperature chemical route was employed for preparing Bi3+ doped LaBO3 (B=In, Ga, Al) which were then annealed at 1000 °C. The phase formation, morphological studies and luminescent properties of the as-prepared samples were performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), photoluminescence and optical absorption spectroscopy. Comparison of emission intensities, lifetime studies, energy band gaps and color purity of all samples (pure and Bi3+ doped) were investigated for promising applications in UV light-emitting diodes, variable frequency drive (VFD), field emission display (FED), and other photoelectric fields

Biosorption of chromium (VI) from aqueous solutions by the husk of Bengal gram ( Cicer arientinum )

The potential to remove Cr (VI) from aqueous solutions through biosorption using the husk of Bengal gram ( Cicer arientinum ), was investigated in batch experiments. The results showed removal of 99.9% of chromium in the 10 mgl-1 chromium solution, the biomass required at saturation was 1 g mg-1. Kinetic experiments revealed that the dilute chromium solutions reached equilibrium within 180 min. The biosorptive capacity of the (bgh) was dependent on the pH of the chromium solution, with pH 2 being optimal. The adsorption data fit well with the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The adsorption capacity calculated from the Langmuir isotherm was 91.64 mg Cr (VI)/g at pH 2. The adsorption capacity increased with increase in agitation speed and an optimum was achieved at 120 rpm. The biosorption of Cr (VI) was studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), which suggested that the presence of Cr (VI) ions in the biomass affects the bands corresponding to hydroxyl and carboxyl groups. Comprehensive characterisation of parameters indicates bgh to be an excellent material for biosorption of Cr (VI) to treat wastewaters containing low concentration of the metal

Synthesis of 5 : 6-dihydroxyflavonols - Part I

Methyl ethers of 5 : 6-dihydroxy-chalkones and flavanones have been prepared. 2 : 5-Dihydroxy-6-methoxy acetophenone has been condensed with vanillin and 5 : 6-dimethoxy-2-hydroxy-acetophenone with veratric aldehyde and anisaldehyde; the resulting chalkones have been converted into the flavanones. In the above reactions mixtures of chalkones and flavanones result

Study of Magnetic Properties of A_2B^'NbO_6 (A=Ba,Sr, (BaSr): and B^'=Fe and Mn) double perovskites

We have studied the magnetic properties of Ba_2FeNbO_6 and Ba_2MnNbO_6. it is seen that Ba_2FeNbO_6 is an antiferromagnet with a weak ferromagnetic behaviour at 5K while Ba_2MnNbO_6 shows two magnetic transitions one at 45 K and the other at 12K. Electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements at room temperature show that the Mn compound does not show any Jahn-Teller distortion. It is also seen that the Neel temperature of the A_2FeNbO_6 (A=Ba,Sr, BaSr) compounds do not vary significantly. However variations in the average A-site ionic radius influence the formation of short range correlations that persist above T_N.Comment: 10 oages, 5 figures, MMM, to appear in J.Appl.Phy

Constitution of oroxylin-A and synthesis of its diethyl-ether

The experiments described in this paper show that a pure sample of oroxylin-A melts at 219–20° (acetate, 139–40°), that the substance melting at 231–32° is a mixture of it with chrysin and that this mixture could be separated by fractionation of the acetates. The constitution of oroxylin-A as the 6-methyl ether of baicalein is confirmed by ethylating it to the diethyl ether and showing that the product is identical with a synthetic sample of 6-methoxy-5 : 7-diethoxy flavone. The details of the synthesis are given