Category: sustainability
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Hydroponics: An Emerging Agricultural Practice in the Modern World
Amit Kaushik & Vipin Kumar Terrestrial farming, a traditional agriculture practice is based on the use of soil as a medium to grow plants. Soil provides essential nutrients, retains water, helps in aeration, and provides anchorage to the plant for successful growth. At the same time, it also provides habitat to numerous microorganisms living close…
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Can you tell…?
By Vijaylakshmi Suman It is almost two months since NGT imposed complete prohibition on the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags, to be specific those whose thickness is which are less than 50 microns. The effect of ban is being followed by almost all established shops. Nonetheless, I have witnessed small vendors still continuing to sell…
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Where are the fish ladders in our dams?
Fizala Tayebulla Migration in fish population is a common phenomenon among several species for different purposes in their life cycle. Popularly talked about migratory fish species in India are Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha), Pangas (Pangasius pangasius), Anguillid eels (Anguilla bengalensis, A. bicolor) as well as the Indian major carps (Catla, Rohu and Mrigal), because of their…
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Urbanization: Fate of Ecosystem and Native Flora
Vipin Kumar Urban development for the provisioning of shelter to the ever-increasing population transforms agricultural land into concrete jungles, and forests into agricultural land, thereby causing habitat degradation and fragmentation. This increases the extinction rate of wild flora and fauna several folds. This geographical landscape disturbance also results in nutrient cycle disturbance and accumulation of…
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Going, going, gone: Deepor Beel
By Fizala Tayebulla Deepor Beel (‘Beel’ meaning a lake-like wetland with static water in Assamese) is an emblematic wetland found within Burma Monsoon Forest biogeographic region (Saikia et al, 2014). Declared in 2002, Deepor Beel is the only Ramsar site in Assam and is a permanent fresh water lake. It is an oxbow lake located…
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Threatened Wetland Ecology: Impact of Over-fertilization and Non-point Sources
Vipin Kumar Wetlands are highly productive, water-saturated areas having life adapted under these conditions. Swamps, marshes, estuaries, and bogs are all examples of wetlands. They act as a sponge to control flood, recharge groundwater and filter nutrients. They also offer habitats to different native flora and fauna, and breeding spaces to migratory birds. In addition…
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To Restore or not to Restore!
Vijaylakshmi The importance and need of ecological restoration has been discussed over and over again. It is one tool that assists in the recovery of an ecosystem that has either been degraded, damaged or destroyed. Where humans are considered to be agents of exploiting nature, ecological restoration is considered to be a technical task to…
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Sowing in the sky
By Meenakshi Singh The year was 1999-2000, Dr. Despommier was giving a class on medical ecology. He asked his students to design rooftop gardens in Manhattan that could feed its entire population. But the calculations showed that available area would not be sufficient to grow enough food. The resultant idea was of farming or growing…
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Role of History in Restoration Ecology amidst Rapid Environmental Change
Vijaylakshmi Suman Each place has a story to communicate, and ‘History’ does the needful. What I find interesting in history is that it gives an insight into the process of transformation which has shaped the present conditions. It plays a crucial role in the process of practising ecological restoration. The basic idea of ecological restoration…
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Chasing Rains
Amit Kaushik It all started with pitching a tent! According to objectives of the Dheerpur Wetland Park (DWP) project, massive on-site plantation was to be carried out in the monsoon of 2016. However, when the first rains of the season did arrive, we were slightly unprepared for plantation. To begin with, we did not have…