Studies on seed germination and growth in weed species of rice field under salinity stress

An investigation was made to see the salt tolerance of 10 weed species of rice. Properly dried and treated seeds of weed species were placed on 9 cm diameter petridishes lined with Whatman No. 1 filter paper under 6 salinity regimes, viz. 0 (control), 4, 8, 16, 24 and 32 dS m(-1). The petri dishes were then kept in germinator at 25 +/- 1.0 degrees C and 12 hr light. The number of germinated seeds were recorded daily. The final germination percentage, germination index (GI), seedling vigour index, mean germination time and time for 50% germination were estimated. Root and shoot lengths of the weed seedlings were measured at 20 days after salt application and relative growth values were calculated. Results revealed that salinity decreased final germination percentage, seed of germination as measured by GI, and shoot and root length in all the species. Germination of most of the weed seeds was completely arrested (0) at 32 dS m(-1) salinity except in E. colona (12%) and C. iria (13.9%). The species C. iria, E. colona, J. linifolia and E. crusgalli showed better germination (above 30%) upto 24 dS m(-1) salinity level and were regarded as salt-tolerant weed species. J. linifolia, F. miliacea, L. chinensis and O. sativa L. (weedy rice) were graded as moderately tolerant and S. zeylanica, S. grosus and C. difformis were regarded as least tolerant weed species.     

Mangrove forest decline: consequences for livelihoods and environment in South Sulawesi

Mangrove forests in the tropics and subtropics grow in saline sediments in coastal and estuarine environments. Preservation of mangrove forests is important for many reasons, including the prevention of coastal erosion and seawater intrusion; the provision of spawning, nursery, and feeding grounds of diverse marine biota; and for direct use (such as firewood, charcoal, and construction material)—all of which benefit the sustainability of local communities. However, for many mangrove areas of the world, unsustainable resource utilization and the profit orientation of communities have often led to rapid and severe mangrove loss with serious consequences. The mangrove forests of the Takalar District, South Sulawesi, are studied here as a case area that has suffered from degradation and declining spatial extent during recent decades. On the basis of a post-classification comparison of change detection from satellite imagery and a survey of households, we provide an estimate of the mangrove change in the Takalar District during 1979–2011 and the consequences of those changes. Mangrove forest areas were reduced by 66.05 % (3344 hectares) during the 33-year period of analysis, and the biggest annual negative change in dense mangrove forest cover (8.37 %) occurred during the period 2006–2011. The changes were caused mainly by the mangrove clearing and conversion to aquaculture, and consequences have been increasing forest degradation, coastal abrasion, seawater intrusion, a decline in fish capture, a reduction in juvenile shrimp and milkfish, and outbreaks of shrimp disease. On the other hand, the clearing and impoundment of mangrove forests for shrimp and seaweed culture have provided a source of foreign exchange and new opportunities for employment in the study area.     

Sustainable agriculture and eradication of rural poverty in Pakistan

Poverty is rampant in the rural areas of Pakistan, where people are in a state of deprivation with regard to incomes, clothing, housing, healthcare, education, sanitary facilities and human rights. Agriculture generates nearly 20.9 percent of the country's GDP and provides employment for 43.4 percent of its workforce. Most importantly, 65.9 percent of the population living in rural areas is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. Rising population, shrinking agricultural land, increasing demand for water resources, widespread land degradation and inadequate infrastructure appear to be major concerns of the agriculture sector in Pakistan. An attempt has been made to examine the population growth–agriculture growth–poverty alleviation linkage. It is argued that agriculture will continue to be one of the most important sectors of Pakistan's economy for years to come. To alleviate poverty, it is suggested that Pakistan enhance the productivity of the agriculture sector through the provision of a series of inputs including provision of easy credit to the small farmer, availability of quality fertilizers and pesticides, tractor and harvester services, improvement in the effectiveness of the vast irrigation system and, finally, farmer education. It is concluded that the high rate of population growth needs to be curbed for increased agricultural productivity to have any significant effect on poverty in rural areas of Pakistan.     

Higher hydrogen production by photocatalytic water splitting using a hollow tubular graphitic carbon nitride-zinc telluride composite

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Energy demand and pollution due to urbanization and industrialization are calling for clean energies such as dihydrogen (H2) obtained by water splitting. For that,...     

Spatial analysis of logistics ecological efficiency and its influencing factors in China: based on super-SBM-undesirable and spatial Dubin models

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Improving the logistics ecological efficiency (LEE) has become a significant part of ensuring a sustainable development and tackling environmental...     

Reviewing biomimicry design case studies as a solution to sustainable design

There have been many studies on bio-inspired research, where biomimicry capabilities facilitating sustainable designs are in dearth. For a sustainable design, it is necessary to consider water efficiency, zero waste, thermal environment, and energy supply. This paper investigates how biomimicry is adopted in the sustainable design of buildings. A thorough content analysis of eight case studies focused on the built environment and how biomimicry integrated with the design of a building was executed. The selection of cases study was based on the concept of biomimicry by taking inspiration from nature and applying them in the everyday built environment. Thus, the building designs are more ecologically sustainable than conventional ones, where biomimicry approaches and principles are adopted. The findings suggest that the design of a building can inspire society with new ecological morals, where understanding of biological morphogenesis can inspire design to resolve challenges and essentially help create a healthy environment. Biomimicry harnesses and replicates the principles found in nature to create a built environment that benefits people and other living creatures and safeguards biodiversity. Thus, adopting biomimicry in designing a building will help to develop a culture of active environmental design.

     

Evaluating the impact of GDP per capita on environmental degradation for G-20 economies: Does N-shaped environmental Kuznets curve exist?

Environment, Development and Sustainability - The extant literature reveals that scholars and policy makers are highly concerned about exploring the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve...     

Evaluation of fresh and stored rainwater quality in fluoride and arsenic endemic area of Thar Desert,Pakistan

In the current study, the chemistry of fresh and stored rainwater of Thar Desert, Pakistan, was estimated during two consecutive monsoon periods. The present research deals with the variation in physicochemical parameters, total arsenic (As^t), inorganic arsenic species (Asⁱ, As^V, As^III), and fluoride (F^?) in stored rainwater (SRW) at different time intervals (1 week to 3 months). The pH of fresh rainwater (FRW) samples showed slightly acidic to neutral in nature (6.08–7.06) which were inconsistent with the reference pH value (5.6) of rainwater. The resulted data indicated that As^t and F^? levels in SRW were enhanced with time duration. The levels of As^t and F^? in SRW after different time intervals were found in the range of 194–683 μg/L and 10–35.4 mg/L, respectively. The values of As^t and F^? were 20–70 and 7–24 times higher than those of WHO permissible limits, 10 μg/L and 1.5 mg/L, respectively. The As^III was dominant species in SRW, which corresponds to >60 % of Asⁱ. The characteristics of the SRW revealed an unacceptable quality to consume for drinking and agricultural purposes in the studied area.     

Are Artificial Barrages Necessary to Prevent Saline Incursion? A Modelling Approach to Restore the Healthy Ecosystem of the Vembanad Lake

Environmental Modeling & Assessment - The Thanneermukkom Bund was constructed to prevent salt water intrusion in the low lying areas of the Kuttanad region which increase the paddy cultivation...     

Oil-Induced environmental Kuznets curve in organization of petroleum exporting countries (OPEC)

This study investigates the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in 10 of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). To realize the study’s aims a time series model is built based on the period 1977–2008, utilizing the ecological footprint as an environmental indicator and income, labour, capital, oil consumption and oil price as economic indicators. Employing the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach, by comparing the short and long-run income elasticities, the EKC hypothesis is present in six OPEC countries namely Algeria, Iraq, Venezuela, Nigeria, Qatar and Kuwait. Moreover, the Toda–Yamamoto–Dolado–Lütkepohl (TYDL) causality tests outcome show that, after oil consumption, the most significant factors in increasing ecological footprint are labor and capital. This implies the relocation of pollution intensive industries to almost all of the OPEC countries. However, oil prices reduce environmental damage by its negative effect on the ecological footprint. From the outcome of this study it is important for the investigated countries to reduce their consumption of fossil fuel energy since it represents an important source of pollution. This can be achieved by allocating more labor and capital in projects and investments on renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy saving.