Informatics Publishing Limited

G. R. Rao , M. D. Subhashchandran , T. V. Ramachandra

Abstract

Sharavathi river basin (upper catchment) falls in one of the megacentres of endemism (Shimoga-Kanara) harbouring diverse kinds of flora and fauna, which are adapted to various kinds of habitats. Study was carried out to know the habitat preferences of the endemic species particularly of herhs, shrubs, orchids, and climbers excluding the trees. Field survey covered 21 micro- and macro-habitats and the results show that the macrohabitats (such as grasslands, evergreen-semi evergreen forests and marshy areas) have higher species richness and endemism. To prioritise habitats for conservation, micro and macro habitats were ranked according to their richness in species and endemism. The result reveals that grasslands, evergreen-semi evergreen forests and marshy areas deserve higher conservation priorities. Micro-habitats such as wet tree trunks, wet-rocks etc., have distinctive species very much different from other habitats. All these habitats also harboured economically useful species including medicinal plants vital for human survival.

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D. Mahesh Babu , G. R. Rao , Diwakar Mesta , M. D. Subashchandran , T. V. Ramachandra

Abstract

The INFORMATION SYSTEM with user friendly GUI's (Graphical User Interface) is developed to maintain the flora data and generate reports for Sharavathi River Basin. The database consists of the information related to trees, herbs, shrubs and climbers. The data is based on the primary field survey and the information available in flora of Shimoga, Karnataka and Hassan flora. User friendly query options based on dichotomous keys are provided to help user to retrieve the data while data entry options aid in updating and editing the database at family genus and species levels.

Keywords

Information system, Graphical User Interface (GUI), Flora data, Sharavathi River Basin, Karnataka

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G. R. Rao , M. D. Subash Chandran , T. V. Ramachandra

Abstract

Changes in vegetation are taking place due to anthropogenic activities since the colonization of the evergreen forest zone of Western Ghats. The forests of the Western Ghats were contiguous and uniformly rich in endemism within each climatic and physiographic regime. The region continues to be one of the biodiversity hot spots of the world. However, unplanned developmental activities are altering the balance of the ecosystem. This study focuses on the floristic structure, composition and diversity of forests with varying degree of human disturbances. Based on the investigations, various strategies for conservation and sustainable utilization of forest resources were proposed.

Keywords

Plant Diversity. Sharavathi River Basin, Sustainable Utilization of Forest Resources, Western Ghats, Karnataka

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Rajasri Ray , M. D. Subhas Chandran , T. V. Ramachandra

Abstract

The impact of protection on the ecology and ecosystem services of a fragmented sacred grove of Karnataka in agricultural landscape was studied. Comparative assessment of two time scale data revealed positive influence of protection on vegetation in term of species richness, diversity, endemism and basal area. An increment in above ground biomass indicates groves potential for carbon sequestration. Species level study on carbon storage finds the contribution of young individuals in recent time period.

Keywords

Ecology of Sacred Grove, Western Ghats Karnataka, Protection Measure, Conservation

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T. V. Ramachandra ¹, K. Sajina ¹, G. Supriya ¹

Affiliations
1 Energy & Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, IN

Abstract

Microalgae are the most sought after sources for biofuel production due to their capacity to utilize carbon and synthesize it into high density liquid. Current energy crisis have put microalgae under scanner for economical production of biodiesel. Modifications like physiological stress and genetic variation is done to increase the lipid yield of the microalgae. A study was conducted using a microalgal consortium for a period of 15 days to evaluate the feasibility of algal biomass from laboratory as well as outdoor culture conditions. Native algal strains were isolated from a tropical freshwater lake. Preliminary growth studies indicated the relationship between the nitrates and phosphates to the community structure through the days. The lipid profile done using Gas chromatography - Mass spectrometry, revealed the profile of the algal community. Resource competition led to isolation of algae, aided in the lipid profile of a single alga. However, further studies on the application of the mixed population are required to make this consortium approach economically viable for producing algae biofuels.

Keywords

Microalgae, Biofuel, Outdoor Microcosm, Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectroscopy

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T. V. Ramachandra ¹, N. V. Joshi ¹, G. R. Rao ¹, G. Dhanpal ¹, K. V. Gururaja ¹, Amit S. Yadav ¹

Affiliations
1 Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560 012

Abstract

Ecological status of a particular region is determined by assessing its biodiversity, prevailing conditions of the environment and their interactions. Biodiversity assessments in micro watershed across altitudinal gradients of Western Himalaya reveal that phytodiversity includes a total of 2276 individuals from 75 woody species belonging to 38 families. Among the three micro watersheds, Mandhala was species rich with 43 species followed by Moolbari (39) and MeGad (9). In Mandhala most of the species are thorny shrubs and rarely attain tree forms due to severe anthropogenic disturbances, which also yielded very low basal area. Moolbari had the highest basal area, which had dominant species Quercus leucotricophora and Q. glauca. MeGad, a high altitude area was mostly dominated by Abies pindrow, Picea smithiana and Pinus wallichiana. Faunal investigations enumerated 115 butterfly species, 14 amphibian and 136 bird species. Butterflies in the region were oriental and palaearctic in origin representing nine families. Similarly, 14 species amphibians belonging to 5 families were sighted during the field investigations. Paa minica is vulnerable and Amolops chakrataensis is data deficient according to IUCN status and these two are endemics of Himalayan foot hills. Among the three watersheds, Mandhala, lying in Shivaliks has higher faunal diversity followed by Moolbari. Amphibians were not encountered in MeGad microwatershed during Aug-Sept 07. In total 136 bird species were recorded from three watersheds, the maximum number of bird species occurred in Mandhala region (104) followed by Moolbari (57) and Me Gad (35).

Keywords

Biodiversity, Ecological Status, Floral And Faunal Diversity, Watershed, Altitudinal Gradients, Western Himalaya

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Mahima Bhat ¹, V. N. Nayak ², M. D. Subash Chandran ¹, T. V. Ramachandra ¹

Affiliations
1 Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, IN
2 Department of Marine Biology, Karnataka University, Kodibag, Karwar 581 301, IN

Abstract

Fish diversity (77 species) in the Aghanashini River estuary of the Indian west coast is linked to variable salinity conditions and zones I, II and III for high, medium and low salinity respectively. Zone I, the junction between Arabian Sea and the estuary, had all species in yearly succession - due to freshwater conditions in monsoon to high salinity in pre-monsoon. The medium (zone II) and low (zone III) salinity mid and upstream portions had maximum of 67 and 39 fish species respectively. Maintenance of natural salinity regimes in estuary, among other ecological factors, is critical for its fish diversity.

Keywords

Aghanashini Estuary, Fish Diversity, Freshwater, Osmo Regulation, Salinity.

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C. Balachandran ¹, M. D. Subash Chandran ¹, T. V. Ramachandra ¹

Affiliations
1 Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, IN

Abstract

The low level, denuded, laterite landscape of coastal Uttara Kannada has a rich diversity of monsoon herbs, including threatened and newly discovered ones. Our study reveals that honey bees congregate on the ephemeral herb community of Utricularias, Eriocaulons and Impatiens during their gregarious monsoon flowering period. Apis dorsata had highest visitations on Utricularias, Impatiens and Flacourtia indica, whereas Trigona preferred Eriocaulons. Laterite herb flora merits conservation efforts as a keystone food resource for the insect community, especially for honey bees.

Keywords

Flower Visitation, Food Resource, Honey Bee, Keystone, Laterite.

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T. V. Ramachandra ¹, Mukta Batra ¹

Affiliations
1 Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, IN

Abstract

No Abstract.

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G. Supriya ¹, T. V. Ramachandra ¹

Affiliations
1 Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore-560 012, IN

Abstract

The triacylglycerol (TAG) was extracted from Microcystis sp. using a mixture of chloroform and methanol (2:1). The fatty acid methyl ester compositions for each method were identified using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). Techniques such as sonication, bead beating, sonication-hexane solvent, sonication-supercritical nitrogen, supercritical nitrogen-manual, bead beating-hexane solvent and bead beating-supercritical nitrogen were explored to determine the most rapid and efficient cell disruption. Sonication, bead beating and manual methods showed 30.2%, 41.88% and 11.21% overall average dissimilarity respectively. Hierarchical cluster analysis of the fatty acid composition obtained from different methods show four clusters for sonication and three clusters for bead beating. Sonication for a period of 60 minutes yielded higher quantity of fatty acids evident from higher quantity of palmitic acid (53.89%) with sonication of 30 minutes and higher stearic acid (56.27%) when the cells were disrupted through sonication for 60 minutes. This highlights that sonication of 60 minutes is effective for disruption of microalgae Microcystis cells and extraction of lipids.

Keywords

Microcystis, Extraction of Lipids, Biodiesel.

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T. V. Ramachandra ¹, Bharath H. Aithal ¹

Affiliations
1 Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, IN

Abstract

The origin of cities can be traced back to the river valley civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley and China. Initially these settlements were largely dependent upon agriculture; however, with the growth in population the city size increased and economic activity transformed to trading (Ramachandra, T. V. et al., TEMA J. Land Use, Mobility Environ., 2014, 7(1), 83-100). The process of urbanization gained impetus with the Industrial Revolution 200 years ago and accelerated in the 1990s with globalization and consequent relaxation in market economy (Ramachandra, T. V. et al., Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinf., 2012, 18, 329-343).

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T. V. Ramachandra ¹

Affiliations
1 Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru - 560 012, IN

Abstract

No Abstract.

Keywords

No Keywords.

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T. V. Ramachandra ¹

Affiliations
1 Energy & Wetlands Research Group, CES TE15, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, IN

Abstract

Big dams implemented in India for irrigation, power, water supply, etc. were often considered as effective symbols of economic development during the twentieth century. However, this endeavour is often associated with the scant regard for environmental and social consequences – especially for the populations that are displaced due to their homelands being flooded. Implementing large-scale river valley projects through the construction of dams is still high on the State’s agenda and constitutes a symbol of certain kind of development that seems to have lost much of the appeal compared to the boom in large projects in the early days after independence.

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T. V. Ramachandra ¹, S. Vinay ¹, S. Bharath ¹, M. D. Subash Chandran ¹, Bharath H. Aithal ²

Affiliations
1 Energy and Wetland Research Group, Centre for Ecological Science, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP), Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, IN
2 RCG School of Infrastructure Design and Management, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. Kharagpur 721 302, IN

Abstract

Spatio-temporal patterns of four neighbouring river-scapes in the central Western Ghats, India through land-use analyses using temporal remote sensing data (1973, 2018), reveal a decline in evergreen forests (41%) and fragmentation of intact or contiguous forests (60%). Hydro-ecological footprint illustrates that catchment integrity plays a decisive role in sustaining water for societal and ecological needs. This is evident from the occurrence of perennial streams in the catchment dominated by native flora with forest cover greater than 60%, highlighting the riverscape dynamics with hydrological, ecological, social and environmental dimension linkages and water sustainability. This helps in evolving strategies to adopt integrated watershed management to sustain anthropogenic and environmental water demand.

Keywords

Biodiversity, Eco-hydrological Footprint, Land Use, Lotic Ecosystems, Water Quality.

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T. V. Ramachandra ¹

Affiliations
1 Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, IN

Abstract

No Abstract.

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T. V. Ramachandra ¹

Affiliations
1 Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560 012, IN

Abstract

No Abstract.

Keywords

No keywords

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