Tag: wetlands
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Early Birders get to Learn!: Birding at Dheerpur Wetlands with the CUES Team
That eagle you spotted in Delhi is probably a Black kite, and that parrot might be a Parakeet! Welcome to the world of birdwatching with the first semester students of MAED, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University, who visited the Dheerpur Wetlands and learnt about restoration ecology, urban wetlands, and the surprising biodiversity of cities.
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Cities – Far Away from Nature?
Global populations continue to urbanise at an unprecedented rate, with cities expanding into huge concentrations of concrete, steel, and glass, raising sustainability concerns. I’ve attempted to explore this issue from the standpoint of urban ecology, an interdisciplinary branch of study that looks at the complex interactions between the built environment of cities and non-human species.
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Beautiful Dragonflies of the Not-so-Beautiful City
This article investigates dragonflies in the city. While they are specialists in flight, very little is known about their pre-metamorphosis aquatic life. Since urban areas create niches where multi-habitat creatures like dragonflies can flourish, should cities be chastised as unwise, unsustainable endeavours or can they be reimagined as housing nature in changed forms?
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Birding in the Wetlands
Merlyn Antony “Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all – – Emily Dickinson As the birds’ chirps flooded the morning sky, the students of MAED (M.A. in Environment and Development) along with PhD scholars at…
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Valuing Insects
Ajay Immanuel Gonji Recently, I had the opportunity to go into the field with my colleague, Ojit, an entomologist by training. While Ojit was observing the mating behaviour of dragonflies, I was extremely fascinated with the eyes of the insect. And so, I inquired about vision in insects. Ojit informed me that insects, like the…
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A Brief on Control and Management of Invasive Phragmites for Wetland Restoration
Shiwani One of the important steps in wetland restoration is managing the invasive or weed species (SER Report, 2019). A common invasive plant that is a threat to the ecological health of wetland ecosystems is a family of grasses called phragmites (Phragmites karka). These are dominant wetland plants and are found all around the world,…
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Analyzing Vegetation Cover Change in Dheerpur Wetland Restoration Site
Shiwani The success of an ecological restoration project is based on several key attributes such as the progress/recovery of ecosystem function and structure. A timely assessment/evaluation of the progress of the restoration activities is an important step in measuring the progress. It further helps in monitoring the changes and emergent patterns that could be of…
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Conservation Through Citizen Science
Himanshu Choudhery Worldwide, the field of biological conservation has been increasingly seeing the involvement of people of all ages. From amateur wildlife explorers to the more experienced ones, everyone is actively contributing to the conservation of biodiversity. This active participation and collaboration of the general public with professionals in scientific research is known as citizen science.…
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What’s in the Name?
Vijaylakshmi Suman How often do we as humans see the same thing in so many different ways. This difference in perceptions is generally labelled as subjectivity. My recent read of the book “Postmodern Wetlands: culture, history, ecology” by Rod Giblett (1996) provides a similar situation of how a wetland can be associated with diverse imagination…
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IUCN’s Bird Species of Least Concern, A Matter of Concern in the City
Amit Kaushik This present piece is a photo blog depicting some of the bird species that have been sighted at the Dheerpur Wetland Park (DWP) during the bird surveys undertaken by the Centre for Urban Ecology and Sustainability (CUES) over the past several months. In the face of rapid urbanization in Delhi, spaces such as…