High-performing antifouling bacterial consortium for submerged membrane bioreactor treating synthetic wastewater

Biofouling, associated with membranes, is considered as a major operational challenge in membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology. Interrupting the process for the formation of biofilm by the action of interspecies quorum quenching (QQ) has received a significant attention since recent years. An antifouling bacterial consortium was identified to improve biofouling inhibition performance during MBR operation. For this purpose, various QQ bacteria were isolated from laboratory-scale MBR using enrichment culture method and identified via 16S rRNA. Potential quenching strains including Enterobacter cloaca, Delftia sp., and Pseudomonas sp. were utilized to control biofouling in the MBR operated in the continuous mode for 38 days. Three laboratory-scale MBRs, including two MBRs with different anti fouling consortium and a control, were operated in parallel under similar operating conditions. Biofouling control by QQ bacteria was compared based on the membrane permeability and EPS secretion from biofilm on the membrane. Both MBRs with antifouling consortium (AC-MBRs) experienced around three times less biofouling as compared to conventional MBR leading to significant decrease in acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) concentration in the biocake. More than 90, 45, and 49% of COD, NH₄–N, and PO₄ ^3?–P removal efficiencies elucidate that QQ bacterial consortium could effectively reduce membrane biofouling without compromising the MBR efficiency. Comparatively lower concentration of bound EPS in AC-MBRs restricted the bacterial adhesion to membrane resulting in enhanced membrane permeability depicting that a broader range of signal molecules could be hydrolyzed using antifouling consortium than single or no QQ strain in the submerged MBR.     

Structure and stratigraphy of Rumbli and Panjar areas of Kashmir and Pakistan with the aid of GIS

The project area lies in the southern part of the Hazara Kashmir syntaxis. The Hazara Kashmir syntaxis is an antiformal structure. The project area includes Rumbli, Namb, Chatrora, Chachan, Panjar, Barathian and Utrinna areas of Rawalpindi and Sudhnoti districts. The southeastern limb of the Hazara Kashmir syntaxis is imbricated along Punjal thrust, Main Boundary thrust and Riasi fault. The Jhelum fault truncates the western limb of Hazara Kashmir syntaxis. The core of syntaxis comprises of Himalayan molasse deposits. These molasse deposits represent the part of cover sequence of Indian plate. These Himalayan molasse deposits include the Early to Middle Miocene Kamlial Formation, Middle to Late Miocene Chinji Formation, Late Miocene Nagri Formation and Late Miocene Dhok Pathan Formation. The area is highly deformed resulting folds and faults. The major folds in the project area are the Panjar anticline, Barathian syncline, Barathian anticline, Rumbli anticline, Chatrora antiformal syncline and Namb syncline. The folds are either northwest-southeast trending or southwestnortheast trending. The folds are asymmetric, open, and gentle and close in nature. The folds are southwest, northeast or southeast vergent. The Jhelum fault truncates the northeast and northwest trending structures. The folds and faults are the result of northeastsouthwest or northwest-southeast Himalayan compression.     

An analysis of climatic and human induced determinants of agricultural land use changes in Shupiyan area of Jammu and Kashmir state,India

The economy of the Jammu and Kashmir state depends mostly on traditional forms of occupation. Unaffected and unaltered by modern day industrial developments and changing times, the indigenous traditional occupations of farming, animal husbandry and horticulture forms the backbone of the state economy. But in the last few decades, Agriculture in the state as well as the study area is receiving a set back and Horticulture is flourishing leaps and bounds. The present study aims to analyze various determinants responsible for this change. Climatic as well as field data was thoroughly analyzed to comprehend the situation. A Mann–Kendall test was done on the climatic data to support the hypotheses. It was observed that initially changing climatic trends proved to be the triggering factor supporting this change, but in due course of time, the determinants took an economic and psychological turn. The perusal of Indian Meteorological Data reveals an increasing trend of annual mean maximum temperature from 16.78 °C in 1985 to 17.58 °C in 1995 and an increase from 5.30 °C to 7.00 °C in the annual mean minimum temperature, and as such acting as a triggering factor for the land use conversion. Further, the mean annual rainfall shows a decrease from 100.75 mm in 1981 to 79.43 mm in 1991. The greater economic returns from horticulture as well as the changing behavioral patterns of people over the time further cemented its growth. The farmers have since persisted with the horticulture activity as it has proven to be an economically a much better lucrative enterprise.     

Effect of voluntary cooperativisation on livelihood capital of smallholder dairy farmers in the southwest of Bangladesh

GeoJournal - This study investigated the effects of voluntary cooperativisationas conducted by the Community-Based Dairy Veterinary Foundation (CDVF) on the livelihood capital of smallholder dairy...     

Holocene climate forcings and lacustrine regime shifts in the Indian summer monsoon realm

Extreme climate events have been identified both in meteorological and long-term proxy records from the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) realm. However, the potential of palaeoclimate data for understanding mechanisms triggering climate extremes over long time scales has not been fully exploited. A distinction between proxies indicating climate change, environment, and ecosystem shift is crucial for enabling a comparison with forcing mechanisms (e.g. El-Niño Southern Oscillation). In this study we decouple these factors using data analysis techniques [multiplex recurrence network (MRN) and principal component analyses (PCA)] on multiproxy data from two lakes located in different climate regions – Lonar Lake (ISM dominated) and the high-altitude Tso Moriri Lake (ISM and westerlies influenced). Our results indicate that (i) MRN analysis, an indicator of changing environmental conditions, is associated with droughts in regions with a single climate driver but provides ambiguous results in regions with multiple climate/environmental drivers; (ii) the lacustrine ecosystem was ‘less sensitive’ to forcings during the early Holocene wetter periods; (iii) archives in climate zones with a single climate driver were most sensitive to regime shifts; (iv) data analyses are successful in identifying the timing of onset of climate change, and distinguishing between extrinsic and intrinsic (lacustrine) regime shifts by comparison with forcing mechanisms. Our results enable development of conceptual models to explain links between forcings and regional climate change that can be tested in climate models to provide an improved understanding of the ISM dynamics and their impact on ecosystems. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Landslide susceptibility assessment of national highway 1D from Sonamarg to Kargil,Jammu and Kashmir,India using frequency ratio method

GeoJournal - This study is an attempt to carry landslide susceptibility assessment along national highway 1D a lifeline to the Ladakh region using Frequency Ratio Method in GIS environment. The...     

Environmetric and GIS techniques for hydrochemical characterization of the Dal lake,Kashmir Himalaya,India

This research explains the background processes responsible for the spatial distribution of hydrochemical properties of the picturesque eutrophic Himalayan Lake, Dal, located in Kashmir valley, India. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were used to understand the spatiotemporal variability of 18 hydrochemical parameters comprising of 12,960 observations collected from 30 sampling sites well distributed within the lake at a grid spacing of 1 km² from March 2014 to February 2016. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) grouped all the sampled data into three clusters based on the hydrochemical similarities, Discriminant analysis also revealed the same clusters and patterns in the data, validating the results of HCA. Wilk’s λ quotient distribution revealed the contribution of ions, nutrients, secchi disk transparency, dissolved oxygen and pH in the formation of clusters. The results are in consonance with the Principal Component Analysis of the whole lake data and individual clusters, which showed that the variance is maximally explained by the ionic component (46.82%) followed by dissolved oxygen and pH (9.36%), nitrates and phosphates (7.33%) and Secchi disk transparency (5.98%). Spatial variability of the hydrochemistry of the lake is due to the variations in water depth, lake water dynamics, flushing rate of water, organic matter decomposition, and anthropogenic pressures within and around the Dal lake ecosystem. Overall, the water quality of the lake is unfit for drinking due to the presence of coliform bacteria in the lake waters.     

Chromium uptake by giant reed under rhizobacterial inhibition

The role of rhizospheric microbes of giant reed (Arundo donax L.) in Cr uptake from hydroponic culture was investigated. The control group was exposed to Cr in range of 25–100 mg L^?1 containing a control itself (with no metal addition). The experimental group received same Cr treatments, but in addition was exposed to antibiotic treatment in order to inhibit rhizospheric bacteria. The range of Cr accumulated in the roots was 3–7.65 mg L^?1; in stem it ranged 2.15–42.4 mg kg^?1; while in leaves, the range of Cr content was 13.7–15 mg kg^?1. Overall, Cr uptake in A. donax (without rhizobacterial inhibition) was root < leaf < stem. However, the amount of Cr uptake in plants with rhizobacterial inhibition was significantly less (~4.6-folds in 100 mg L^?1 Cr treatment) than those without such inhibition clearly highlighting that rhizobacterial inhibition decreased the Cr uptake. The experimental results clearly demonstrated that the inhibition of the rhizobacterial populations had great influence on the Cr uptake. However, Cr uptake could not be completely inhibited as some metal uptake was observed after the rhizobacterial inhibition although it was significantly less than the Cr uptake of plants without such inhibition.