A positive temperature coefficient is the term which has been used to indicate that an increase in solubility occurs as the temperature is raised, whereas a negative coefficient indicates a decrease in solubility with rise in temperature.

Effect of Temperature

The aim of this synthesis is to highlight and illustrate the approach adopted by TEEB: namely to show how economic concepts and tools can help equip society with the means to incorporate the values of nature into decision making at all levels.

The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity : mainstreaming the economics of nature : a synthesis of the approach, conclusions and recommendations of TEEB

Bioindicators are living organisms such as plants, planktons, animals, and microbes, which are utilized to screen the health of the natural ecosystem in the environment. They are used for assessing environmental health and biogeographic changes taking place in the environment. Each organic entity inside a biological system provides an indication regarding the health of its surroundings such as plankton responding rapidly to changes taking place in the surrounding environment and serving as an important biomarker for assessing the quality of water as well as an indicator of water pollution. Even the health of aquatic flora is best reflected by plankton, which acts as an early warning signal. In this review we have tried to explain the concept behind Bioindicators and plankton, with particular emphasis on their potential to be used as Bioindicators for water quality assessment and outcomes relating to this.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/21553769.2016.1162753

Bioindicators: the natural indicator of environmental pollution

Fumigants and residual insecticides are commonly used to combat stored grain pests. In recent years, consumer awareness of the health hazard from residual toxicity and the growing problem of insect resistance to these conventional insecticides have led the researchers to look for alternative strategies for stored grains protection. For example, diatomaceous earth (DE) can be effective against stored grain insects. In this study, DE was used to design amorphous nano sized hydrophilic, hydrophobic, and lipophilic silica in 15–30 nm size range. Nanocides are expected to reduce the volume of application and kinetics of development of resistance in pests. We hypothesized that surface-functionalized silica nanoparticle (SNP) might be a viable alternative to conventional pesticides. Entomotoxicity of SNP was tested against rice weevil Sitophilus oryzae and its efficacy was compared with bulk-sized silica (individual particles larger than 1 μm). Amorphous SNP was found to be highly effective against this insect pest causing more than 90% mortality, indicating the effectiveness of SNP to control insect pests.

Entomotoxic effect of silica nanoparticles against Sitophilus oryzae (L.)

Biodegradation is defined as the biologically catalyzed reduction in complexity of chemical compounds [1]. Indeed, biodegradation is the process by which organic substances are broken down into smaller compounds by living microbial organisms [2]. When biodegradation is complete, the process is called "mineralization". However, in most cases the term biodegra‐ dation is generally used to describe almost any biologically mediated change in a substrate [3].

/pdf/biodegradation-involved-microorganisms-and-genetically-4whsf03f3j.pdf

Biodegradation: Involved Microorganisms and Genetically Engineered Microorganisms

Problem statement: This study is a unique attempt to characterize Bheri (shallow flat bottom waste water fed fishery) as a complex biological system. Approach: The characterization was done both at the qualitative and the quantitative levels. The diverse microbial community and the associated emergent behaviors resulting in integrated resource recovery by the Bheris were analyzed under the lens of complexity to gain an understanding about the qualitative features. To carry out quantitative characterization, ideas of scaling and power law relationships were emphasized through statistical analysis of observed data. Results: On comparing the plankton diversity of the Bheris with rain water and waste water fed ponds located within Calcutta (India) as well as Dhaka (Bangladesh), the former indicated clear evidence of exhibiting power law behavior (which is a strong signature of complexity). The adequacy of observations was reflected in the saturation of the curves obtained on plotting the number of observations against the Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTU). Conclusion: This study clearly reveals Bheri as a biological complex system both at qualitative and quantitative levels as compared to rain water as well as waste water fed ponds.

/pdf/bheri-a-unique-example-of-biological-complex-system-5jwy75o8bt.pdf

Bheri-A Unique Example of Biological Complex System

Ammonia is required for various commercial applications while its production by standard process is im mensely energy intense. Dairy industry on the other hand pr oduces huge volume of effluent needing treatment before discharge. This study aims at developing an eco-fri endly microbial approach for conversion of dairy in dustry effluent into ammonia under atmospheric pressure and 37°C temperature at laboratory scale. Thus the ne ed for huge energy for ammonia production would be avoided. Moreover the dairy effluent would generate revenue while getting treated. This study is also an attemp t to develop a bioinformatics approach for strain i dentification. Standard cultivation techniques and in-silico appro ach of analysis of draft genome was undertaken to d ecipher the identity of this industrially important strain. Aeromonas sp. MCC 2167 (isolated from active dairy sludge) was capable of treating un-amended dairy effluent with 6% inoculum while producing ammonia as by product at a 11 folds higher rate than the modified Habers Process. Though the strain showed maximum identity with Aeromonas hydrophila , there were certain differences in terms of substr ate utilization. Majority of the contigs showed ide ntity with Aeromonas hydrophila , however there was significant difference among th e two strains in terms of intergenomic distance (genome to genome distance calculator from DSMZ), inversion and frame shift (dot plot analysis) as well as genome rearrangement (MAUVE analysis). As per the rapid annotation using subsyste m technology analysis 53% of the contigs belong to th e subsystem category while the remaining 47% do not match with existing sequences in the database. The above finding proposes bioinformatics validation of the w etlab based data pointing towards this industrially important s train to be a novel isolate of Aeromonas sp. This would lead to an energy efficient economically viable alternative for ammonia production while treating large bulk o f effluent generated from dairy industry that needs to be trea ted before being discharged.

/pdf/combination-of-conventional-and-in-silico-approach-for-l9y01nmlzf.pdf

Combination of conventional and in-silico approach for identifying an industrially important isolate of aeromonas

Denaturation of supercoiled DNA: a Monte Carlo study.

γ -Ray-Induced DNA Damage and Repair in Methanosarcina barkeri

The draft genome sequence of an amylase-, protease-, lipase-, oxidase-, and catalase-producing Gram-negative bacillus (Aeromonas sp. MDS8 strain MCC2167) with the ability to produce ammonia during 16 h of growth at 37°C, isolated from dairy sludge, with a size of 4,841,753 bp and a G+C content of 63.1%, is reported here.

https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/genomeA.00710-13

Ashoke Ranjan Thakur

Papers

Bheri-A Unique Example of Biological Complex System

Combination of conventional and in-silico approach for identifying an industrially important isolate of aeromonas

Denaturation of supercoiled DNA: a Monte Carlo study.

γ -Ray-Induced DNA Damage and Repair in Methanosarcina barkeri

Draft Genome Sequence of Ammonia-Producing Aeromonas sp. MDS8 Strain MCC2167 from Sludge of a Dairy Effluent Treatment Plant.