Latest news with #BodolandUniversity
The Hindu
3 days ago
- Science
- The Hindu
Grassland invaders stifle Assam's island-like national park
GUWAHATI A new study has identified at least two native plants that have joined invasive species to alter the riverine ecosystem of eastern Assam's Dibru-Saikhowa National Park (DSNP), the only habitat of feral horses in India. These species have added to the changes in the grassland-dominated DSNP landscape, largely attributed to the recurring Brahmaputra River floods and increasing anthropogenic pressures from forest villages located within its boundaries, the study said. The native 'grassland invaders' are Bombax ceiba and Lagerstroemia speciosa, flowering trees known as Simalu and Ajar in Assamese. Their impact on the local vegetation has been as worrying as that of the invasive species, which include shrubs Chromolaena odorata and Ageratum conyzoides, herb Parthenium hysterophorous and climber Mikania micrantha. The study titled Grasslands in Flux, analysing the land use and land cover (LULC) changes in Dibru-Saikhowa from its designation as a national park in 1999 through 2024, was published in the latest issue of Earth, an international, peer-reviewed journal on earth science. The authors of the study are Imon Abedin, Sanjib Baruah, Pralip Kumar Narzary, and Hilloljyoti Singha from Bodoland University, Tanoy Mukherjee from Zoological Survey of India, Shantanu Kundu from South Korea's Pukyong National University, and Joynal Abedin from Women's College, Tinsukia. The researchers used remote sensing and geographic information systems to analyse the LULC changes in DSNP, an island-like formation between the Brahmaputra to the north and the Dibru River to the south. According to their study, grasslands covered 28.78% of the 425 sq. km DSNP in 2000, followed by semi-evergreen forests (25.58%). By 2013, shrubland became the most prominent class (81.31 sq. km), and degraded forest expanded to 75.56 sq. km. 'During this period, substantial areas of grassland (29.94 sq. km), degraded forest (10.87 sq. km), semi-evergreen forest (12.33 sq. km), and bare land (10.50 sq. km) were converted to shrubland. In 2024, degraded forest further increased, covering 80.52 sq. km (23.47%),' the study said. This change was the outcome of the conversion of 11.46 sq. km of shrubland and 27.48 sq. km of semi-evergreen forest into degraded forest, indicating a substantial and consistent decline in grassland, the study noted. Forest degradation, even without a decrease in forest area, can lead to loss of biodiversity, threaten the survival of local fauna, and reduce carbon storage, potentially intensifying climate change. Grassland recovery sought Dibru-Saikhowa, straddling the Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts, was named after the Dibru Reserve Forest and Saikhowa Reserve Forest that were amalgamated to create a wildlife sanctuary in 1995. UNESCO declared the area a Biosphere Reserve in 1997, two years before it became a national park. The study stated that the changes in the 'natural structure and function' of the DSNP landscape pose a serious threat to the survival of grassland-obligate faunal species, many of which are already globally threatened due to ongoing habitat loss. 'The concern is heightened by the fact that numerous species are endemic to the grasslands found in the floodplains of this region. Notable species which are rapidly decreasing include the Bengal florican (Houbaropsis bengalensis), hog deer (Axis porcinus), and swamp grass babbler (Prinia cinerascens),' the study said. The national park is also home to some 200 feral horses, which are descendants of military horses abandoned during World War 2. The study recommended a targeted grassland recovery project that would encompass the control of invasive species, improved surveillance, increased staffing, and the relocation of forest villages to reduce human impact and support community-based conservation efforts. 'Protecting the landscape through informed LULC-based management can help maintain critical habitat patches, mitigate anthropogenic degradation, and enhance the survival prospects of native floral and faunal assemblages in DSNP,' it concluded.
The Hindu
5 days ago
- Science
- The Hindu
Assam researchers find fungal formula to produce biodiesel
GUWAHATI A team of researchers in Assam has found a fungal formula to produce clean fuel from a blend of oils, some edible. The team developed an efficient catalyst utilising 'spent mushroom substrate', a term used for the waste generated after mushrooms are harvested, to produce an alternative to fossil fuel from four different oils – jatropha, neem, soybean, and rice bran – mixed and stirred in equal ratio. The paper explaining the process was published in the latest issue of Bioresource Technology Reports. The authors of the study are Sujata Brahma and Sanjay Basumatary from Bodoland University's Department of Chemistry; Bipul Das from the Chemical Engineering Division of the Jorhat-based CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology; Biswajit Nath from the Department of Chemistry in Kokrajhar's Science College; Rebecca Daimari from Bodoland University's Department of Botany; and Raju Ali, Papia Das, Sharmistha Brahma Kaur, Jonali Owary, and Sandeep Das from Bodoland University's Department of Biotechnology. Assam begins eviction drive to clear encroached forest land on Nagaland boundary According to the study, a new catalyst was synthesised by converting powdered waste substrate of the Ganoderma lucidum mushroom into graphene oxide with the use of ferrocene, followed by its magnetisation and impregnation with potassium carbonate. This yielded a nanocomposite material, which was applied for the trans-esterification of the four-oil blend. Trans-esterification reactions involve the conversion of fats and oils into biodiesel. 'Biodiesel, commonly called fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), stands to fit the need for an environmentally benign and efficient alternative to fossil fuels. It is mainly synthesised by trans-esterification of triglycerides present in vegetable oil and animal fats with alcohol in the presence of a suitable catalyst,' Sandeep Das said. 'A catalyst is crucial for the trans-esterification to produce FAME. Heterogeneous catalysts are mostly recommended as they are easily recoverable, reusable, and inexpensive, with very little wastewater production, making researchers focus on waste biomass,' he said. The study outlined the global expansion of mushroom cultivation because of its rich nutritional content and medicinal benefits. 'Mushrooms are mostly cultivated on various agricultural wastes such as paddy straw, corn waste, sawdust, tea waste, sugarcane bagasse, fruits and vegetables peels, and onion wastes. The spent mushroom substrate or post-harvest waste is either dumped or incinerated and can create a major environmental concern,' the study noted, underscoring the advantages of utilising the waste for energy or fuel production. The researchers also emphasised the importance of blending edible and non-edible oils, including waste cooking oil, to produce biodiesel without triggering an edible oil crisis.
The Hindu
24-07-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Global childhood vaccination slowed by pandemic: study
GUWAHATI Global childhood vaccination rates, hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, did not return to the pre-pandemic levels by 2023, a study published in The Lancet has revealed. The study also marked India among eight countries that accounted for more than half of the world's 15.7 million 'zero-dose' children in 2023. Zero-dose refers to children who did not receive the first dose of diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP). The other seven countries are Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Somalia, and Sudan. 'The study highlights the progress and challenges in global childhood vaccination efforts from 1980 to 2023. it shows that the coverage for key vaccines for DTP, measles, polio, and tuberculosis nearly doubled over this period, but the positive trend hides some worrying developments,' Hemen Sarma, an associate professor at Assam's Bodoland University, said on July 24, 2025. A GBD (Global Burden of Diseases) senior collaborator with the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Mr Sarma is one of the authors of the study involving researchers worldwide. The study underscored the slowdown in the vaccination progress in many countries and territories between 2010 and 2019, with 21 out of 36 high-income nations witnessing a drop in coverage for at least one vaccine. It said the COVID-19 pandemic made things worse, 'with global rates for these vaccines declining sharply since 2020, and still not returning to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels as of 2023'. 'Vaccines introduced more recently, such as those for pneumonia, rotavirus, and the second dose of the measles vaccine, continued to expand during the pandemic, but at a slower pace. Only the third dose of DTP is expected to meet the global target of 90% coverage by 2030, and that too in the most optimistic scenarios,' Mr Sarma said. One of the concerns underlined by the study was the rise in the number of zero-dose children during the pandemic after dropping sharply from 1980 to 2019, peaking at 18.6 million in 2021. Most of these children live in conflict zones or areas with limited healthcare access, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The study has warned that unless urgent action is taken, global immunisation targets will not be met. It called for focused efforts to strengthen healthcare systems, fight vaccine misinformation, and reach the most underserved communities, especially in Africa and South Asia. Campaigns like the World Health Organisation's 'Big Catch-Up' and efforts to restore routine immunisation must prioritise these areas to regain lost ground and ensure every child is protected, the study said. The study has provided updated global, regional, and national estimates of routine childhood vaccine coverage across 204 countries and territories for 11 vaccine-dose combinations recommended by WHO for all children globally. Employing advanced modelling techniques, this analysis accounted for data biases and heterogeneity and integrated new methodologies to model vaccine scale-up and COVID-19 pandemic-related disruptions. To contextualise historic coverage trends and gains still needed to achieve the WHO's Immunisation Agenda 2030 coverage targets, the researchers assessed the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on vaccine coverage, forecast coverage of select life-course vaccines up to 2030, and analysed the progress needed to reduce the number of zero-dose children by half between 2023 and 2030.
