Impacts of multiple stressors on algal communities in freshwater ecosystems in rural areas

Rural lowland areas are mostly dominated by agricultural lands. Scattered freshwater ecosystems in these rural areas are consisted with agricultural streams and lentic small water bodies (LSWB). These ecosystems are exposing to multiple stressors such as hydrological disturbances, nutrient enrichment, and pesticide contamination and still mostly neglected by the environmental programs. Algal communities are efficient indicators of ecological impacts of these stressors by revealing consequences to microbial biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. This study aims to understand impacts of multiple stressors, particularly hydrological disturbances, nutrient enrichment, and pesticide contamination on algal communities in freshwater ecosystems in rural areas dominated by agricultural land use. We conducted (i) a thorough literature review, (ii) a field study in agricultural streams, (iii) a field study in LSWB and (iv) a microcosm experiment to gain a comprehensive understanding of the topic. The key findings of this study are: (i) Epiphytic biofilms are understudied in freshwater ecosystems and their interactions with macrophytes are essential to understand, maintain, and improve freshwater ecosystem integrity. (ii) Epiphyton and epilithon communities show distinct structural differences during an annual cycle in agricultural streams in terms of biomass, algal composition, and diatom species composition. Structural properties of epiphyton are less affected by hydrological regimes and water nutrient concentration than epilithon. (iii) High pesticide toxicity and PO4-P concentrations can shift phytoplankton community composition to less-sensitive, fast-adapting generalists. Functional features were negatively affected by nutrient enrichment. (iv) Environmentally realistic concentrations of metazachlor and flufenacet alter phytoplankon species composition and negatively affect taxonomic diversity and functional features

Avoiding Plagiarism: Perception of Undergraduates on Referencing When Learning English for Academic Purposes (EAP) at a Private University in Sri Lanka

This study examines undergraduates’ perception on referencing which is taught to them in the course English for Academic Purposes (EAP). The objective of the research is to identify the extent to which awareness of academic referencing is perceived as significant by undergraduates at a private university where they follow EAP as a core module in their first year. The study examines the extent to which these undergraduates are adhering to their institutional academic integrity policy. An online questionnaire was administered among 400 undergraduates, inquiring about their experience in avoiding plagiarism, a form of academic dishonesty, and how much they are aware on overcoming this type of academic deceit. Additionally, attention was focused on examining how plagiarism is avoided with the advancement of technology where online based plagiarism is found to be common among undergraduates. According to the findings of the study, many undergraduates refer online resources when submitting their work and they mention that they follow proper referencing strategies when submitting their work; additionally, they are aware of the plagiarism policy maintained by their institution as well as by their lecturers and the penalties that follow. However, one of the key findings which is significant and should be noted is that, many undergraduates mention that they do not get adequate training or practice on referencing other than the exposure they get during their first year at the university

Sistemas agroflorestais na Ásia tropical

Traditionally the forest supplied tropical man's requirements of food, of fuel, and of fodder for his livestock. Increasing - largely immigrant - populations upon limited tropical land area, practiced in the open agriculture of a more tolerant environment, reduced fallowing periods and the time for natural regeneration of the forest soils. The resulting decline in yields and productivity was further aggravated through erosion caused by tropical rainfall upon soils bare-tilled to control weeds. The panacea of the high-inputs technology using (mainly) extemally sourced inputs could not be maintained; particularly in the context of rapidly increasing prices for the petroleum feedstock upon which most of these inputs and their transportation was based. Moreover, they failed to provide vital rural needs of fuel and fodder. The logical alternative, - now belatedly being researched, - is an accelleration of the time-proven practice of 'forest-fallow', through the creation of a simulated forest systematically and integrally linked into a sustainable (arable) farming system. The technique involves the planting in rows of rapid-growing (ideally NF) coppicing trees, with avenues two to five metres wide between the rows into which arable crops are seasonally planted with minimal tillage. The avenues are continually manured by the loppings from the rows of trees (hedges) which thus re-cycle leached fertility and nutrients stored in the sub-soil regions. The technique optimizes the alternating dry and wet seasons of the tropics for the rapid production of weed-shading and soil-cooling foliage during the dry season (otherwise unproductive in the temperate farming model) from the deeper reserves of moisture and nutrients available to the hedges. The wet season is then utilized for the growing of arable food crops in the fertile; leaf-mulched avenues between the lopped hedges. That at least one arable crop can continuously be grown in the avenues each year, with adequate yields and minimal external inputs, is now known. Research continues towards increasing productivity to two crops a year where a bimodal rainfall pattern might permit this. The technique is now also being researched in the populous regions, denuded of valuable forest, along the base of the Himalayas, with appropriate (NF) trees planted in hedge-rows along the ridges of the terraced fields. These provide the farmer with a continuous supply of fuelwood as well as foliage for fodder and mulch-fertility while also stabilizing bunds against erosion. Thus, the hitherto dry or winter seasons of this region are productively harnessed for the growing of produce vital to the economy of the farmer and his habitat, and complementary to the production of arable food corps in the terraced avenues between the bunds during the rainy summer months. The goal of a sustainable and productively integrated agro-forestry system for fuel and fodder as well as for food, with minimal (if any) involvement of extemally sourced inputs, is now within sight. Its management for optimal resource efficiency is now being researched.Tradicionalmente, as florestas supriram o homem das regiões tropicais com o alimento, o combustível e a forragem para os animais. Com o aumento das populações, entretanto, aumentaram as áreas sob agricultura aberta, e houve importação de um modelo agrícola desenvolvido para áreas de clima mais ameno. Isto reduziu os períodos de pousio e o tempo para a recuperação natural dos solos. O decréscimo resultante na produtividade foi agravado através da erosão causada pelas chuvas tropicais sobre os solos desnudos. A panacéia da tecnologia de altos insumos usando, principalmente, produtos importados não pode ser mantida, particularmente devido ao rápido aumento dos preços do petróleo e seus derivados, dos quais tanto os insumos quanto o seu transporte dependem. Para agravar, esta tecnologia falhou no que diz respeito ao suprimento das necessidades rurais de combustível e forragem. A alternativa lógica, agora tardiamente sendo pesquisada, é a aceleração da prática secular do sistema de pousio, através de reflorestamento sistemático  e integralmente ligado a um sistema agrícola produtivo. A técnica envolve o plantio de linhas de árvores de crescimento rápido e habilidade de rebrota (preferencialmente fixadoras de N2), com faixas intercalares de 2 a 5 metros de largura, nas quais as culturas são plantadas após cultivo mínimo. As faixas são continuamente adubadas com podas das árvores que, então, reciclam os nutrientes lixiviados para o subsolo. A técnica permite aliviar os efeitos da alternância de estações secas e chuvosas dos trópicos, através do rápido crescimento da cobertura vegetal que resfria o solo. A estação chuvosa é usada para o crescimento da cultura sobre o solo fértil e protegido das faixas intercalares. É sabido que, pelo menos, uma cultura pode ser continuamente crescida a cada ano, nas faixas intercalares, mantendo produtividade adequada com um mínimo insumo externo. A pesquisa agora se direciona em aumentar a produtividade para duas culturas anuais, onde uma distribuição de chuva bimodal permitir. A aplicação desta técnica está também sendo estudada nas regiões populosas e deflorestadas ao redor dos Himalaias, onde árvores fixadoras de N2 apropriadas estão sendo plantadas em linhas ao longo dos terraços. Isto fornece ao fazendeiro um suprimento contínuo de lenha, bem como folhagem para forragem e cobertura morta, enquanto protege os terraços da erosão. Os objetivos para conseguir um sistema agroflorestal integrado e produtivo, tanto para lenha e forragem como para alimento, estão sendo alcançados. Seu manejo para máxima eficiência está agora sendo pesquisado

Insights into preventing female genital mutilation/cutting in Sri Lanka: a qualitative interpretative study

Abstract Background FGM/C is a cultural practice associated with adverse health outcomes that involves the partial or complete removal of the external female genitalia or injury to the genitalia. FGM/C is a form of violence against women and girls. There are no laws that specifically outlaw FGM/C in Sri Lanka and no national prevalence data. There is a lack of evidence about this practice to inform prevention efforts required to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 5.3.2, which focuses on the elimination of all harmful practices, including FGM/C. Methods We undertook a qualitative interpretative study to explore the knowledge and perceptions of community members, religious leaders and professionals from the health, legal and community work sectors in five districts across Sri Lanka. We aimed to identify strategies to end this practice. Results Two-hundred-and twenty-one people participated in focus group discussions and key informant interviews. A template analysis identified five top-level themes: Providers, procedures and associated rituals; demand and decision-making; the role of religion; perceived benefits and adverse outcomes; ways forward for prevention. Conclusions This study delivered detailed knowledge of FGM/C related beliefs, perceptions and practitioners and provided opportunities to develop an integrated programming strategy that incorporates interventions across three levels of prevention. </jats:sec

Epiphyton in Agricultural Streams: Structural Control and Comparison to Epilithon

Stream biofilms play an important role in the structure, functioning, and integrity of agricultural streams. In many lowland streams, macrophyte vegetation is abundant and functions as an important substrate for biofilm (epiphyton) in addition to the gravel and stone substrate for epilithon on the stream bed. We expect that reach-scale habitat conditions in streams (e.g., nutrient availability, hydraulic conditions) affect the epiphyton and epilithon biomass and composition, and that this effect will be substrate-specific (macrophytes and stones). The objectives of our study were (i) to describe concurrent changes in epiphyton and epilithon biomass and composition over a year in agricultural streams, and (ii) to determine the substrate specific reach-scale habitat drivers for the epiphyton and epilithon structure. We monitored epiphyton and epilithon biofilm biomass and composition at three-week intervals and reach-scale environmental conditions daily during a year for two agricultural steams. The results showed that epiphyton and epilithon communities differed in biomass, having high substrate specific biomass in epilithon compared to epiphyton. Epiphyton was mainly composed of diatom and green algae, while cyanobacteria were more important in epilithon, and the diatom species composition varied between the two biofilm types. Epiphyton structural properties were less influenced by reach-scale hydrology and nutrient availability compared to epilithon. The overall explanatory power of the measured environmental variables was low, probably due to micro-scale habitat effects and interactive processes within stream biofilms. Knowledge of biofilm control in agricultural streams is important in order to improve management strategies, and future studies should improve the understanding of micro-scale habitat conditions, interactive relationships within biofilms and between the biofilm and the substrates

Factors shaping political priorities for violence against women-mitigation policies in Sri Lanka.

BACKGROUND: Although violence against women (VAW) is a global public health issue, its importance as a health issue is often unrecognized in legal and health policy documents. This paper uses Sri Lanka as a case study to explore the factors influencing the national policy response to VAW, particularly by the health sector. METHODS: A document based health policy analysis was conducted to examine current policy responses to VAW in Sri Lanka using the Shiffman and Smith (2007) policy analysis framework. RESULTS: The findings suggest that the networks and influences of various actors in Sri Lanka, and their ideas used to frame the issue of VAW, have been particularly important in shaping the nature of the policy response to date. The Ministry of Women and Child Affairs led the national response on VAW, but suffered from limited financial and political support. Results also suggest that there was low engagement by the health sector in the initial policy response to VAW in Sri Lanka, which focused primarily on criminal legislation, following global influences. Furthermore, a lack of empirical data on VAW has impeded its promotion as a health policy issue, despite financial support from international organisations enabling an initial health systems response by the Ministry of Health. Until a legal framework was established (2005), the political context provided limited opportunities for VAW to also be construed as a health issue. It was only then that the Ministry of Health got legitimacy to institutionalise VAW services. CONCLUSION: Nearly a decade later, a change in government has led to a new national plan on VAW, giving a clear role to the health sector in the fight against VAW. High-level political will, criminalisation of violence, coalesced women's groups advocating for legislative change, prevalence data, and financial support from influential institutions are all critical elements helping frame violence as a national public health issue

Ornamental Fish trade in Sri Lanka: An Economic Perspective

Abstract Exporting of ornamental fish is much lucrative industry in today. Sri Lanka is one of the important country in that contex

Clinical and psychosocial factors associated with domestic violence among men and women in Kandy, Sri Lanka

Domestic violence (DV) is a violation of human rights with adverse intergenerational consequences on physical and mental health. Clinical and psychosocial correlates of DV have been documented internationally, but evidence from South Asia is limited, especially among men. This is a nested cross-sectional study of the control population (N = 856) of a large case-control study in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Multivariable logistic regression models were conducted to estimate the association between clinical and psychosocial factors and experience of DV. Overall associations were examined and stratified by sex and type of abuse. Overall, 19% (95% CI 16%-21%) of the sample reported DV of any form in past year, with a similar prevalence being reported in both men (18% 95% CI 14%-22%) and women (19% 95% CI 15%-23%). Depression symptoms (adjusted OR [AOR] 3.28 95% CI 2.13-5.05), suicidal ideation (AOR 6.19 95% CI 3.67-10.45), prior diagnosis of a mental illness (AOR 3.62 95% CI 1.61-8.14), and previous self-harm (AOR 6.99 95% CI 3.65-13.38) were strongly associated with DV, as were indicators of perceived poor social support (AOR range 2.48-14.18). The presence of in-laws (AOR 2.16 95% CI 1.34-3.48), having three or more children (AOR 2.15 95% CI 1.05-4.41) and being divorced/separated/widowed were also strongly associated with DV (AOR 2.89 95% CI 1.14-7.36). There was no statistical evidence that any associations differed by sex. A multi-sectoral approach is needed to address DV in this context. Enhanced coordination between DV support services and mental health services may be beneficial. Further research and support for men as well as women is needed