ON SEPTEMBER 9, the Supreme Court ordered detergent company Nirma to file its reply to the show cause notice issued by the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) within three months. MoEF had issued the notice in May, asking the company to explain within two weeks why the environmental …
Most of us detest weeds. They have a tendency to pop up at the wrong place at the wrong time. They have extraordinary genetic pluck that enables them to take astonishing levels of abuse and rough treatment—the harder the better. Plantain likes to be trodden underfoot. Danish scurvy-grass thrives on …
IT WAS in 2001 that scientists in the US first identified the capability of brake fern, or Pteris vittata, to absorb large quantities of arsenic present in the soil or water. Since then biologists across the world have been trying to explore more about the role plant plays in absorbing …
THE Himalayas are warming at a rate higher than the global average. A recent study documents how this has affected cropping patterns and vegetation in the past 10 years. The questionnaire-based study examined changes people observed between the altitudes of 600 metres and 2,200 metres in the Himalayas. Published in …
PUZZLED why plants like congress grass, or Parthenium hysterophorus, spread fast? Any attempt to remove it is a failure as it would grow back quickly, while a plant like bracted arrowwood (Viburnum bracteatum) is slow to spread. Biologists now have an answer. They say it all depends on how many …
This draft implementation protocol by the environment ministry details procedures for determining critical wildlife babitats within National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries as required by the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. The purpose of this Implementation Protocol is to detail the procedure for determining …
The purpose of this Implementation Protocol is to detail the procedure for determining Critical Wildlife Habitats within National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries as required by the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. This involves determining and notifying such areas that are to be kept …
THE earth is heading towards mass extinction if researchers at University of California (UC), Berkeley, are to be believed. The last time plant and animal species became extinct on a mass scale was 65 million years ago when dinosaurs perished. Extinction is a common phenomenon— 99 per cent of the …
A PLANT species native to tropical and subtropical America was introduced in India as an ornamental shrub during 1809-1810. Called Lantana camara, this weed is now found all over the subcontinent. Similar is the case with freshwater species Eichornia crassipes (water hyacinth). This weed was introduced from Brazil during 1914-1916. …
IMAGINE a hill station without pines. Worse, Canada sans the maple tree. This could be a reality. Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel claim many tree species that depend on the wind to disperse their seeds like pines and maple might become extinct due to climate change. …
JUST LIKE the circulatory system in humans, leaf veins are the lifeline of plants. The varied networks of veins in terms of shapes, sizes and thickness decide leaf economics. Scientists have shown vein patterns also control carbon and water absorption in plants. Benjamin Blonder of University of Arizona and his …
BIOLOGISTS have identified genes in plants that control arsenic accumulation. The discovery promises to prevent the heavy metal from entering the food web and also clean contaminated sites through bioengineered plants. Scientists had been looking for the genes for 25 years. “Identifying them is a crucial step in keeping arsenic …
MOST flowering plants, equipped with both male and female sex organs, shun the path of self-fertilisation and wait for insects and birds or even a whiff of wind for pollination. This is because the rate of extinction is higher among species who opt for self-fertilisation compared to those who rely …
PLANTS soak more atmospheric pollutants than thought. A study by US scientists shows that apart from carbon dioxide, plants rid the air of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, the most abundant class of carbon-based chemicals in the atmosphere. Automobile exhaust, coal burning and industry are some of the major sources …
ORCHIDS that the Victorian era naturalists plucked and carefully pressed onto vellum sheets confine climate secrets. A recent study of these orchids revealed over the years global warming has changed their blooming pattern: the spring flower now blooms prematurely in the UK. Researchers from University of East Anglia, University of …
This paper deals with the less known wild edible fruits and seeds of Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka. Less known 12 wild fruit and seed bearing plants are documented.
NUMEROUS tiny pores dotting leaves are the main link between plants and the atmosphere. Called stomata, or mouth in Greek, they allow carbon dioxide in for photosynthesis and let oxygen out. They also allow water vapour to transpire. These are not random processes, but well-regulated, sophisticated mechanisms. A pair of …
INDIA'S brick industry is the second largest in the world. Since bricks are best produced from alluvial soil, the unorganised industry flourishes in the fertile belt; the Gangetic plain accounts for 65 per cent of the total brick production in the country. But once brick kiln owners wind up operations, …
Uranium from ores mined at the three mines - Jaduguda, Bhatin and Narwapahar (Jharkhand) - is processed in the mill and the waste emerges as tailings. The recorded radioactivity level in these tailings is very low, but to avoid any long-term effect of these tailings on the atmosphere, humans, cattle …
Flowering plants and insects share a pollen-and-nectar history that goes back a long way. According to fossil records most of the insect groups originated before flowering plants appeared, which is some 140 to 190 million years ago. This would be during the late Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. Scientists at …
