A global digital database of the snakehead fish species has been developed to avoid confusions over.
The members of the species are found distributed from the Middle East to eastern Asia, Central and West Africa and the Nile.
Earlier, it was widely believed that there were 38 species in this group.
However, DNA-level analysis showed that there were several more species than first thought.
Since these species are mostly found in the inland waterbodies, no data on their catch is available.
The wide ranging species are currently listed as of “least concern” in the Red List of IUCN.
One of the criteria for assessing a species as of least concern is its wide distribution.
The breaking down of the species complex into individual species may have a different story to tell about its distribution which may prompt the scientific community to think for more species-specific conservation programs.
Efforts to promote Millets
Karnataka is trying to convince the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to declare a year as an ‘international year of millets’.
This is in a bid to popularise these mineral-rich and drought-tolerant foodgrains at the international level.
If it happens, several activities will be lined up to create awareness about the benefits of millets and it would in turn help their growers.
Karnataka’s millet-growing area as well as production is set to get a boost with the recent good spell of rains.
Non-availability of primary processing machine was a major lacuna in the value chain of millets so far as traders were sending the produce to States such as Maharashtra for processing.
This was adding to the selling cost of millets.
Providing primary processing facilities is expected to help farmers get better prices.
Pollution in Ganga
Ganga is the longest river within India’s borders.
Its basin constitutes 26% of the country’s land mass and supports 43% of India’s population.
Its basin traverses 11 States out of which five States are located along the river’s main stem spanning Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.
Much of the river’s polluted by chemical effluents, sewage, dead bodies, and excreta coming from these States.
In the Ganga basin, approximately 12,000 million litres per day (mld) of sewage is generated, for which there is now a treatment capacity of just 4,000 mld.
Though the contribution of industrial pollution, volume-wise, is about 20%, its toxic and non-biodegradable nature has a disproportionate impact.
The industrial pollutants largely emanate from tanneries in Kanpur, distilleries, paper mills and sugar mills in the Kosi, Ramganga and Kali river catchments.
The municipal sewage is about a billion litres a day i.e 80% of the pollution load.
Avian Influenza A(H7N9)
It is a subtype of influenza viruses.
This particular A(H7N9) virus was first found in March 2013 in China.
Since then, infections in both humans and birds have been observed.
The disease is of concern because most patients have become severely ill.
Most of the cases of human infection with this avian H7N9 virus have reported recent exposure to live poultry or potentially contaminated environments.
This virus does not appear to transmit easily from person to person, and sustained human-to-human transmission has not been reported.
However, Lab experiments on a new strain of the H7N9 bird flu suggest the virus can transmit easily among animals and can cause lethal disease.
This raise alarm that the virus has the potential to trigger a global human pandemic.
Impact of climate change on Greenland
Ocean data from Northeast Greenland reveals the long-term impact of the melting of the Greenland ice sheet.
From the ocean, the fresh water flows into the Greenland fjords.
More fresh water in the surface water layers makes it harder for the nutrient-rich bottom water to rise to the upper layers where the the production of plankton algae happens.
Plankton algae form the basis for all life in the sea and a lower production of algae will result in a lower production of fish.
At a global scale, the increased melting of the ice sheet may impact global ocean circulation patterns through the 'thermohaline circulation'.
