Salmonella as an index of pollution of fresh-water environments

An environmental study was done to examine the prevalence of Salmonella in some aquatic environments of Jabalpur. Environmental factors in the fresh-water environment exert an influence on the distribution and behaviour of pathogenic bacteria. During the period from January 1991 to December 1992, a total number of 103 isolates of Salmonella were tested for their resistance against antibiotics. Among different isolates, Salmonella paratyphii showed 100% multiple resistance against antibiotics, i.e. Ampicillin, Carbenicillin, Cephalexin, Chloramphenicol, Gentamicin, Penicillin, Streptomycin, Tetracycline, Norfloxacine and Cloxacine. The density of Salmonella correlated with the densities of total coliforms, faecal coliforms and faecal streptococci. The increased survival, possible indigenous nature and behaviour of Salmonella further emphasize the need for direct enumeration, reformation of standards and health risk assessments for underdeveloped countries, where waterborne disease exert a horrible toll.     

Classification of floristic composition of mangrove forests using hyperspectral data: case study of Bhitarkanika National Park, India

The aim of the present work is to unveil the potential of some of the unexplored remote sensing techniques for mangrove studies. The paper deals with the classification of an Earth Observing–1 Hyperion image of the mangrove area of Bhitarkanika National Park, Odisha, India into mangrove floristic composition classes. Out of 196 calibrated bands of the image, 56 were found to be highly uncorrelated and contained maximum information; therefore, these 56 bands were used for classification. Amongst the three full–pixel classifiers tested in the investigation, Support Vector Machine produced the best results in terms of training pixel accuracy with overall precision of 96.85 %, in comparison to about 70–72.0 % for the other two classifiers. A total of five mangrove classes were obtained – pure or dominant class of Heritiera fomes, mixed class of H. fomes, mixed Excoecaria agallocha with Avicennia officinalis, mixed class of fringing Sonneratia apetala and class comprising of mangrove associates with salt resistant grasses. Post–classification field data also established the same. Pure or dominant classes of H. fomes occupied more than 50 % of the total mangrove vegetation in the forest blocks of the National Park. Spectral profile matching of image pixels with that of in–situ collected canopy reflectance profile revealed good match for H. fomes (pure or dominant stands). Red–edge index, which was a preferred criterion for matching was notably correlated in case of H. fomes and E. agallocha. The outcomes indicated the efficacy of hyperspectral canopy reflectance library for such kind of work. It is hoped that the methodology presented in this paper will prove to be useful and may be followed for producing mangrove floristic maps at finer levels.     

Soil dehydrogenase, phosphomonoesterase and arginine deaminase activities in an insecticide treated groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) field

Chlorpyrifos (O,O-diethyl O-3,5,6-trichloro-2 pyridyl phosphorothioate) 20 EC and Quinalphos (O,O-diethyl O-quinoxalin-2-yl phosphorothioate) 25 EC, were applied in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) field as seed treatment at 25 ml/kg and soil treatment at 4 l/ha in 1998 and 1999. The residues of these insecticides were monitored during the entire crop season and their effect on the soil enzymes dehydrogenase, phosphomonoesterase and arginine deaminase were studied. Ninety nine percent of chlorpyrifos residues were dissipated within 60 days from seed treated soil and 98% dissipation was observed in soil treated field for the same days. Its half lives in seed treated soil were 8 days and 7 days and in soil treated field were 9.2 days in and 7.5 days in 1998 and 1999 respectively. Dissipation of quinalphos in comparison to chlorpyrifos was slow both in seed treated and soil treated field. Eighty seven percentage to 92% dissipation of quinalphos residues were observed from seed treated soil and 98% residues were dissipated from soil treated field within 75 days. Its half lives in seed treated soil were 20 days and 18 days and in soil treated field, its half lives were 13 days and 17 days 1998 and 1999 respectively. Inhibition in dehydrogenase activity followed by recovery was observed both in seed and soil treatments with chlorpyrifos. An inhibition of 17.2% was estimated after 60 days of seed treatment in comparison to control. Dehydrogenase activity was significantly reduced to 63% after 15 days of quinalphos seed treatment in comparison to control in 1998. Similar trends were observed in 1999. A significant inhibition in dehydrogenase activity was observed after soil treatment both in 1998 and 1999. Phosphomonoesterase activities were significantly inhibited upto 25.2% as compared to the control, on the 15th day of chlorpyrifos seed treatment in 1998 and similarly, after one day of treatment in 1999. Quinalphos inhibited the phosphomonoesterase activity till the end of the experimental period in the soil treated fields, whereas recovered within 30-60 days of treatment in the seed treated fields. Arginine deaminase activity was significantly stimulated within one day after chlorpyrifos seed and soil treatments in both years. The activity was almost threefold higher on the 30th and the 15th day of soil treatment in 1998 and 1999, respectively. A temporary inhibition of arginine deaminase activity was observed after quinalphos treatment. It was observed that in most of cases insecticides have temporary inhibitory effect on soil enzymes. However, inhibition was smaller in seed treated soil than in direct soil treatment.     

Bacopa phospholipid complex retrieves aluminum maltolate complex–induced oxidative stress and apoptotic alterations in the brain regions of albino rat

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Highly bioavailable plant phospholipid complex that can reverse aluminum maltolate (AlM)–induced toxicity is not yet reported. Hence, the...     

Bacterial contamination in drinking water: a case study in rural areas of northern Rajasthan, India

Acid deposition has caused detrimental effects on tree growth near industrial areas of the world. Preliminary work has indicated that concentrations of NO(3-), SO(4)(2-), F( - ) and Al in soil solutions were 2 to 33 times higher in industrial areas compared to non-industrial areas in Korea. This study evaluated soil nutrient bioavailability and nutrient contents of red pine (Pinus thunbergii) needles in forest soils of industrial and non-industrial areas of Korea. Results confirm that forest soils of industrial areas have been acidified mainly by deposition of sulfate, resulting in increases of Al, Fe and Mn and decreases of Ca, Mg and K concentrations in soils and soil solutions. In soils of industrial areas, the molar ratios of Ca/Al and Mg/Al in forest soils were <2, which can lead to lower levels and availability of nutrients for tree growth. The Ca/Al molar ratio of Pinus thunbergii needles on non-industrial sites was 15, while that of industrial areas was 10. Magnesium concentrations in needles of Pinus thunbergii were lower in soils of industrial areas and the high levels of acid cations such as Al and Mn in these soils may have antagonized the uptake of base cations like Mg. Continued acidification can further reduce uptake of base cations by trees. Results show that Mg deficiency and high concentrations of Al and Mn in soil solution can be limiting factors for Pinus thunbergii growth in industrial areas of Korea.     

Multiple mating opportunities boost protandry in a pied flycatcher population

Protandry, the earlier arrival of males than females to breeding areas, is widespread in birds, but its underlying mechanisms are far from well understood. The two, not mutually exclusive most highly supported hypotheses to explain avian protandry postulate that it has evolved from intrasexual male competition to acquire the best territories (“rank advantage” hypothesis) and/or to maximize the number of mates (“mate opportunity” hypothesis). We studied for two consecutive years the relative importance of both hypotheses in a population of pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca), a territorial songbird with a mixed mating strategy. We measured territory quality using a long-term dataset on nest occupation and breeding output, and we used molecular techniques to assess male fitness across the range of social and genetic mating options. Territory quality was unrelated to breeding date and had no influence on extra-pair paternity or social polygynous events. However, males breeding early increased their chances of becoming socially polygynous and/or of attaining extra-pair paternity and, as a consequence, increased their total reproductive success. These results support the “mate opportunity” hypothesis, suggesting that sexual selection is the main mechanism driving protandry in this population.     

Assessing the bioremediation potential of arsenic tolerant bacterial strains in rice rhizosphere interface

The arsenic tolerant bacterial strains Staphylococcus arlettae(NBRIEAG-6), Staphylococcus sp.(NBRIEAG-8) and Brevibacillus sp.(NBRIEAG-9) were tested for their roles in enhancing plant growth and induction of stress-related enzymes in rice(Oryza sativa L. cv. NDR-359) plants at two different concentrations, 30 and 15 mg/kg of As(V) and As(III), respectively. An experiment was conducted to test the effect of these strains on plant growth promotion and arsenic uptake. We found 30%–40% reduction in total As uptake in bacteria-inoculated plants, with increased plant growth parameters compared to non-inoculated plants. Moreover, the bacteria-inoculated plants showed reduced activity of total glutathione(GSH) and glutathione reductase(GR) compared to their respective controls, which suggests the bacteria-mediated reduction of oxidative stress in plants. Thus, these strains were found to be beneficial in terms of the biochemical and physiological status of the plants under arsenic stress conditions.Furthermore, one-way ANOVA and principal component analysis(PCA) on enzymatic and non-enzymatic assays also revealed clear variations. The results support the distinction between control and treatments in both shoots and roots. Therefore, this study demonstrates the potential of rhizobacteria in alleviating arsenic stress in rice plants.     

Total bacterial and fungal population after chlorpyrifos and quinalphos treatments in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) soil

Short-term inhibitory effect on the total bacterial population was observed after chlorpyrifos and quinalphos applications in the groundnut fields, which recovered within 60 days after seed treatment and by 45 days of soil treatment. The fungal population was significantly enhanced after chlorpyrifos treatment whereas quinalphos inhibited the fungal population during the initial days of treatment but no effect was observed after 60 days of treatment. The residues of chlorpyrifos and quinalphos in the treated soil were not persistent and their half-lives ranged from 7.0 to 9.2 days and 13.2 to 20.6 days, respectively.     

Maternal energy expenditure does not change with flight costs or food availability in the pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca): costs and benefits for nestlings

We manipulated parental work load without changing brood size in a population of pied flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca by removing two primaries (7 and 9) from each wing of females, thus reducing wing area and increasing flight costs. At other nests, we offered supplementary food in the form of live mealworms (10–20 g daily from hatching) to reduce brood demand and thus parental foraging costs. Other nests were left as controls. The daily energy expenditure of females feeding 12-day-old nestlings was measured with doubly labelled water D₂ ¹⁸O. Females in both treatments expended the same amount of energy, fed at the same rate and had similar body masses to birds in the control group. No effect of treatment on male mass and feeding effort was detected. More nestlings, however, died in nests of handicapped females. Nestlings of handicapped females had significantly lower body mass and haematocrit values than nestlings in food-supplemented nests, with nestlings in control nests occupying an intermediate position. The effects of both treatments on nestling mass, haematocrit values and mortality rates were only noticeable in nests infested with mites. Maternal energy expenditure is apparently constrained and offspring pay the costs imposed by reduced provisioning rate or increased demand caused by ectoparasites, while receiving benefits when food supply improves. The presumption that avian reproductive costs derive from changes in a flexible energy output may not be met in many cases. Received: 24 October 1998 / Received in revised form: 15 March 1999 / Accepted: 26 April 1999