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S. K. Mallick , B. R. Pati , N. Behera

Abstract

The study reports phenological information of 20 dominant tree species from a tropical dry deciduous forest patch of Paschim Medinipur District, West Bengal. Different phenophases like germination/sprouting, vegetative growth/ leaf senescence, flowering and ripening of fruits were studied during January, 2001 to December, 2002. Results of the study revealed that maximum number of species showed vegetative growth during the period of June to October. Leaf senescence was observed to begin from the month of November and continued till April. Maximum number of species exhibited flowering and fruiting from the month of March to June. However, the phenophase germination of most plant species was observed to be restricted to the period of June - July.

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M. D. Behera ¹, N. Patidar ², V. S. Chitale ³, N. Behera ², D. Gupta ², S. Matin ¹, V. Tare ⁴, S. N. Panda ², D. J. Sen ⁵

Affiliations
1 Spatial Analysis and Modelling Laboratory, Centre for Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences, IN
2 School of Water Resources, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721 302, IN
3 Spatial Analysis and Modelling Laboratory, Centre for Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences
4 Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208 016, IN
5 Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721 302, IN

Abstract

Ganga River Basin (GRB) is the second most populous river basin in the world, which has been undergoing rapid land-use change during the last few decades. Here, we analyse the landscape dynamics in Indian GRB (IGRB) using three indices, i.e. class area, mean patch size and number of patches for 14 land-use and land-cover (LULC) classes using multi-temporal Landsat satellite datasets of 1975 and 2010. Major change was observed with the expansion of agricultural lands and human settlements and depletion of forests. Agricultural lands covered the highest area (>75%), where low to medium-sized patches have increased and patches with larger size have been slightly reduced in size over past decades. The highest increase in percentage of built-up land has been appropriately captured on medium-resolution satellite imageries using visual interpretation technique. Degradation and loss of forest areas were reported in terms of landscape indices; however, the increase of plantation is a positive sign in the basin. In general, we observed aggregation of agricultural patches and reduction of forest patches in small to medium patch sizes. We argue the utility of 'onscreen visual interpretation' technique in favour of LULC mapping to achieve absolute accuracy in such a heterogeneous landscape, as it incorporates interpreter's knowledge. We appreciate the free availability of Landsat imageries having very good radiometry that has opened the doors for exercises with minimum cost. Located in one of the most fertile regions of India, the basin accommodates more than 400 million human population. This has led to expansion of agriculture and built-up land at the cost of forest and other land covers. Understanding landscape dynamics could help in designing an effective land-use policy for IGRB.

Keywords

Agricultural Patch, Landsat, Landscape Dynamics, Land Use Change, Visual Interpretation.

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S. Pattnaik ¹, S. N. Das ¹, N. Behera ²

Affiliations
1 Dept. of Microbiology, Gayatri College of Pharmacy, Sambalpur, Sason-768200, Orissa, IN
2 School of Life Science, Sambalpur University, Burla-19, IN

Abstract

A newly isolated strain of Gram positive Bacillus species showed tolerance towards extreme parameters like temperature, PH, Oxygen supply, Starvation, UV etc. The strain was isolated from air sample and identified by following routine diagnostic microbiological techniques. The Bacillary strain showed its tolerance level for temperature up to 80°C, PH both at high (12.0) and low range (2.0), Scanty Oxygen supply (Facultative anaerobic condition), Nutritional starvation (0.2 % of nutrient in media) and with an exposure to UV light (1650 A°) for 30 minutes.

Keywords

Gram Positive Bacillus Strain, Tolerance, Extreme Parameters.

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