Climate experts sound grim warning

Scientists have long agreed that climate change could have a profound impact on the planet. Now a team of climate experts has ranked the most fragile and vulnerable regions on the planet, and warned hey are in danger of sudden and catastrophic collapse before the end of the century. In a comprehensive study published recently the scientists identify the nine areas that are in gravest danger of passing critical thresholds or "tipping points" beyond which they will not recover. By some estimates, there will not be any sea ice in the summer months within 25 years. The next most vulnerable area is the Amazon rainforest, where reduced rainfall threatens to claim large areas of trees that will not re-establish themselves. The scientists also expressed concerns over the Boreal forests in the north, and have predicted that El Nino, the climate system which has a profound impact on weather from Africa to North America, will become more intense. Last year, the U.N.'s expert panel of climate scientists warned average temperatures could increase by as much as 6.4C by the end of the century, with a rise of 4C most likely. Such a rise would bring food and water shortages to vulnerable parts of the world, displace millions of people and wipe out hundreds of species. In the latest study, the scientists calculate Arctic sea ice will go into irreversible decline once temperatures rise between 0.5C to 2C above those at the beginning of the century, a threshold that may already have been crossed. There is already a 50 per cent chance that the Greenland ice sheet will soon begin melting unstoppably, though it could take hundreds of years to melt completely. The melt water would raise global sea levels by seven meters. A temperature rise of 3C could see more intense El Ninos, with profound effects on the weather from Africa to North America. Warming of 3C to 5C could reduce rainfall in the Amazon by 30 per cent, lengthening the dry season. The Boreal forests could also pass their tipping point, with large swaths dying off over the next 50 years. In Africa, more rainfall may regreen the Sahel region, but the West African monsoon could collapse, leading to twice as many unusually dry years by the end of the century.

The Indian summer monsoon is predicted to become erratic and in the worst case scenario, begin to flip chaotically, unleashing flash floods one year and droughts the next. Measurements of the western Antarctic ice sheet show the balance of snowfall and melting has shifted and it is now shrinking. According to the study, a local warming of more than 5C could trigger uncontrollable melting, adding five metres to sea levels within 300 years. Under the same warming, Atlantic currents that power the Gulf Stream could be severely disrupted.

The Hindu, February 3^rd 2008

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Wetland management authorities to be set up

The government has initiate dsteps to set up authorities for conservation and scientific management of wetlands and river basins, water resource minister N.K.Premachandran said. The authorities would have statutory powers to check reclamation and pollution of wetlands and regulate sand mining from water bodies. He said the department of water resource was working on provisions to accord legislative support to the proposed authorities. The authorities would comprise scientific experts, stakeholder departments and organizations, non-governmental organizations and local self government institutions. Local bodies would have a key role in preserving the remaining wetlands.

The Hindu, February 3^rd ൨൦൦൮

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Now scientists create ‘notears’ onions

Scientists in New Zealand and Japan have created a 'tear-free' onion, using biotechnology to switch off the gene behind the enzyme that makes us cry. The research institute in New Zealand, Crop and Food, using gene silencing technology to make the breakthrough which it hopes could lead to a prototype onion hitting the market in a decade's time. Colin Eady, the institute's senior scientist, said that they had a gene silencing technology to insert DNA into onions. The technology creates a sequence that switches off the tear inducing genein the onion so it doesn't produce the enzyme. So when we slice the vegetable, it doesn't produce tears.

The Hindu, February 2^nd ൨൦൦൮

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Pepper with a twist of lime

In a discovery that could have tremendous impact on the state's pepper trade in the international market, scientist from the tropical botanical garden and research institute have found some rare wild pepper plants with pungent fruit and lemon scented leaves in the agasthyamala regions in the westernghats. The findings were presented at the 20^th Kerala science congress here in a paper authored by KB Rameshkumar, P J Mathew and V George. It is like any other peper plant, except for the lemony smell and the pungency. "The number of theses plants is limited and hence it is very important that we conserve them" said Rameshkumar who presented the paper. Ramesh found that while the essential oil yield in cultivated species like the purebred 'amperine' is just 2.8 per cent the fruit of the wild vine had an essential oil content of nearly 10 percent. Though the vine is low yielding the fruit is very pungent with a piperne content twice (10.2%) that of normal plants (4.8%). The team has fondly named this genotype 'PMM" after the head of the KU botany department who was the first person to report the exact number of chromosomes in pepper.

New Indian Express, January 31^st 2008

State susceptible to yellow fever outbreak

Kerala is highly susceptible to the outbreak of yellow fever the 20^th Kerala science congress warned the government. An expert's panel constituted by the science congress to formulate a health action plan is preparing to submit its report to the government. The expert committee said that the possibility of an outbreak of yellow fever is ver high in the state. The disease common in Africa and latin America is transmitted by the sme species of vector that is responsible for the spread of the chickun guniya virus. The fatality rate of yellow fever case is as high as 50-60 per cent, the committee member said. They said that the high level of tourist traffic between Africa and the state could spell trouble. They also urged the government to be vigilant against the avian flu that had recently reared its ugly head in West Bengal. The panel comprising experts from the fiels of Ayurveda and modern medicine will make its recommendations to the government on a health action paln to tackle the challenges possed by the emergence of infectious diseases and epidemics.

The Hindu, January 30^th 2008

Kerala science congress to focus on re-emerging infectious diseases

The challenges posed by emerging and remerging infections like chickunguniya will be the focal theme of the 20^th Kerala science congress beginning here on January 28. Eminent doctors representing the modern and traditional schools of medicine will present their experiences and ideas to help develop an action plan that can be implemented at the grassroot level. Expert groups have been constituted to prepare appropriate preventive, promotional, corrective and curative strategies. One of the highlights of the science congress is a people's science corner a platform for people without a formal degree or technical qualification who have developed grassroots innovations products or services.

The Hindu, January 26^th 2008

 

Gharial deaths mount

The rare Indian crocodile known as the Gharial is turning up dead by the dozen on the banks of a river. Since mid December the national Chambal wildlife sanctuary has confirmed 76 deaths along the Chambel which begins in Madhya Pradesh and runs through Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The forest officer said the initial postmortem reports suggested the cause of death to be liver cirrhosis and stomach ulcers. Further tests showed lead levels in the liver that "though not toxic can trigger suppression of the immune system". Follow-up test on the fish of the river revealed heightened lead content. But in both the fish and the Gharial, the lead levels are below levels considered lethal, the official said. Environmentalist are pressing officials for answers on the source of lead and why the crocodile died while their prey where unaffected.

The forest department suspects that a possible source of lead could be the Yamuna, which gathers industrial wastes from the national capital and several nearby industrial towns and meets the Chambal downstream.

 

The Hindu, January 23^rd 2008

New frog species found in Kerala

A new species of shrub frog from the Western Ghats adds its name to the growing list of frogs discovered recently. The latest is a tiny oriental shrub frog, named Philautus ochlandrae, discovered in the evergreen forests of the Kakkayam Reserve Forest in Kerala.

The squat little amphibian does not grow beyond 2.5 cm, has a short rounded snout and protruding eyes with striking golden yellow markings. With this, the number of frog species discovered in the last seven years in India stands at 25.The discovery was published in the international journal Zootaxa in October 2007.

The frog lives in the hollows of bamboo reeds in the forests of the Western Ghats, where rain is abundant and temperatures are low, said K.V. Gururaja, doctoral fellow at the Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), here. He is one of the five authors of the paper. The co-authors are T.V. Ramachandra, Professor, CES, IISc; and K.P. Dinesh, Muhamed Jafer Palot and C. Radhakrishnan, of the Western Ghats Field Research Station, Zoological Survey of India.

This shrub frog belongs to a group in which an unusual phenomenon called "direct development" takes place. "Skipping the tadpole stage, froglets directly emerge from the eggs that are laid in the inner walls of the bamboo," said Dr. Gururaja. With this adaptation, the frogs do not need water to breed, he said.

This discovery is especially important in this era of mass extinction of amphibians, he said. "We in India have very little information about the diversity and biogeography of frog species. In other countries — North and South America, for instance — there is growing concern about their decline, which is attributed to reasons such as climate change, fungal attacks and pesticide poisoning. We need much more research in India — we do not even have an accurate figure for the number of frogs, leave alone the reasons for their decline."

Sunday, Jan 20, 2008, The Hindu