National Institute of Oceanography, India

About: National Institute of Oceanography, India is a facility organization based out in Panjim, Goa, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Monsoon & Population. The organization has 4713 authors who have published 6927 publications receiving 174272 citations.

Heavy metals distribution in the coral reef ecosystems of the Northern Red Sea

Abstract: Concentrations of seven heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Ni, Co and Fe) were measured in the seawater, sediments, common scleractinian reef-building corals and soft corals (Octocorallia : Alcyonacea) at seven reef sites in the Northern Red Sea: I (Hurghada), II (Ras Za’farana), III (El-Ain Al-Sukhna), IV (El-Tur), V (Sha’b Rashdan), VI (Sharm El-Sheikh) and VII (Dahab). Levels of heavy metals were considerably elevated in seawater, sediments and corals collected from reef sites exposed to increased environmental contamination, as a result of diversified natural and anthropogenic inputs. Soft corals of genera Lithophyton, Sarcophyton and Sinularia showed higher concentrations of Zn, Pb, Cd and Ni than hard coral genera Acropora and Stylophora. Soft coral Sarcophyton trocheliophorum collected from El Ain Al-Suhkna (Gulf of Suez) had greater concentration of Cu, followed by hard corals Acropora pharaonis and Acropora hemprichi. The elevated levels of Zn, Cd and Ni were reported in the dry tissue of soft coral Sinularia spp. On the other hand, the soft coral Lithophyton arboreum displayed the highest concentration of Pb at Sha’b Rashdan (Gulf of Suez) and elevated concentration of Zn at Sharm El-Sheikh. Sediments showed significantly higher concentration of Fe than corals. The higher levels of Fe in hard corals than soft corals reflected the incorporation of Fe into the aragonite and the chelation with the organic matrix of the skeleton. The greater abundance of soft corals in metal-contaminated reef sites and the elevated levels of metals in their tissue suggesting that the soft corals could develop a tolerance mechanism to relatively high concentrations of metals. Although the effects of heavy metals on reef corals were not isolated from the possible effects of other stresses, the percentage cover of dead corals were significantly higher as the concentrations of heavy metals increased.

Transcriptional stress responses to environmental and husbandry stressors in aquaculture species

Abstract: Stress of aquatic animals occurs due to physical and physiological disturbances in the aquatic environment or system when transportation, crowding, handling or changes of physical and chemical factors take place. There are three regulatory systems having a vital role in stress response: the neural, endocrine and immune systems. Fish exhibit multiple genomic and physiological responses to adjust the compensatory or adaptive mechanism that allows them to mitigate the stressors, maintain their haemostasis and survive. In this review, we describe multiple important genes that are associated with responses to environmental and husbandry stressors and that could be used as biomarkers of environmental and husbandry stressors in fish. The described environmental and husbandry stressors include salinity, temperature, hypoxia and hyperoxia, confinement, density and handling. The main role of stress response in aquatic animals is to compensate or adapt their biological systems and arrange the metabolism to afford the energy required by the stressor and a wide array of metabolic processes and pathways are involved. We summarized and discussed highly significant genes in several organs and tissues that are involved and active during this adaption process. The traditional stress biomarkers in some circumstances have some difficulties in interpretation of results and lead to tricky diagnosis and searching and understanding alternative tools is critical for aquaculture, fisheries and fish welfare. Using genomic tools to study the candidate genes associated with stress responses are often unique signatures or imprints of specific stressors and could determine early signs of stressors.

The stratigraphic evolution of the Indus Fan and the history of sedimentation in the Arabian Sea

Abstract: The Indus Fan records the erosion of the western Himalayas and Karakoram since India began to collide with Asia during the Eocene, ∼50 Ma. Multi-channel seismic reflection data from the northern Arabian Sea correlated to industrial well Indus Marine A-1 on the Pakistan Shelf show that sedimentation patterns are variable through time, reflecting preferential sedimentation in deep water during periods of lower sea-level (e.g., middle Miocene, Pleistocene), the diversion of sediment toward the east following uplift of the Murray Ridge, and the autocyclic switching of fan lobes. Individual channel-levee systems are estimated to have been constructed over periods of 105–106 yr during the Late Miocene. Sediment velocities derived from sonobuoys and multi-channel stacking velocities allow sections to be time-depth converted and then backstripped to calculate sediment budgets through time. The middle Miocene is the period of most rapid accumulation, probably reflecting surface uplift in the source regions and strengthening of the monsoon at that time. Increasing sedimentation during the Pleistocene, after a late Miocene-Pliocene minimum, is apparently caused by faster erosion during intense glaciation. The sediment-unloaded geometry of the basement under the Pakistan Shelf shows a steep gradient, similar to the continent-ocean transition seen at other rifted volcanic margins, with basement depths on the oceanward side indistinguishable from oceanic crust. Consequently we suggest that the continent-ocean transition is located close to the present shelf break, rather than >350 km to the south, as previously proposed.