Depth distribution and ecological preferences of periphytic algae in Kenyir Lake, the largest tropical reservoir of Malaysia

We studied the depth distribution of periphyton, growing on inundated dead trees in Kenyir Lake, Malaysia in June 1995. The algal floral composition and structure manifested changes down the depth gradient in terms of species richness, abundance, diversity and cell density. In regression analysis, all these algal attributes were negatively correlated with the depth gradients at P<0.05. In terms of species richness, the bacillariophytes showed dominance over the cyanophytes and chlorophytes; whereas with respect to standing crop, the cyanophytes showed dominance over the bacillariophytes and chlorophytes. The chlorophyll a was higher at the mid and bottom-depths than the surface-depth in both the downstream and upstream sites, which showed that vertical productivity or biomass accumulation was greater in low light irradiance. The product-moment correlation analysis showed that conductivity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, reactive phosphate and ammonium-nitrogen were highly correlated with the algal assemblage data. However, photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) showed poor correlation with the community data. These observations have cast some light on the autoecological characteristics, habitat preferences and environmental responses of tropical periphytic communities.     

Geochemical modeling,fate distribution,and risk exposure of potentially toxic metals in the surface sediment of the Shyok suture zone,northern Pakistan

The objective of the current study was to assess the contamination of potentially toxic metals (PTMs) in weathered surface sediment, along stream tributaries, and surrounding area of the river Chitral, Shyok suture zone district Chitral, Pakistan. To understand the geochemical features of 113 sediment, samples were collected from the Mirkhani and Drosh area. Then, different statistical tools including the geo-accumulation index (Igeo), cluster analysis (CA), principal component analysis (PCA), and ecological risk assessment (ERA) were used to unravel the origin, intensity, and exposure level of PTMs to control risk and restore the ecosystem within the study area. The results for the PTMs namely nickle (Ni), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), and cobalt (Co) in Mirkhani and Drosh were in the following ranges: 10–150, 15–210, 15–250, 0.08–1.00, 10–70, 76–240 and 14–51; and 13–240, 17–210, 15–150, 0.08–0.60, 7–140, 47–150 and 13–36 mg/kg, respectively. In consequence, the potential ecological risk caused by Pb, Ni, Cu, Co, Cr, and Zn is reflected by the percentages of samples with an ecological risk index (ERI) greater than one which were 100%, 91%, 100%, 100%, 92%, and 100%, respectively. However, the overall mean decreasing order of ecological risk of PTMs in the district Chitral was Pb > Ni > Cu > Co > Cr > Zn > Cd. Moreover, the PCA yielded 78% variability which indicated that mineral prospects play an important role in the contamination of sediment. Furthermore, the mineral phases of Pb and Zn suggested supersaturation, while that for Cd revealed unsaturation. The results of Igeo, ERI, and CA indicated contamination of PTMs in the study area. The ERI value of Pb, Ni, Cu, Co, Cr, and Zn was higher than 1 suggesting an ecological risk in the study area. Moreover, the current study showed the dominance of geogenic contamination with major contributions from ultramafic rock and known mineral prospects. Therefore, contaminated sediment of the Shyok suture zone is extremely detrimental to the aquatic ecosystem of the study area.     

Unnoticed but important: revealing the hidden contribution of community-based religious institution of the mosque in disasters

The role of community-based religious institutions has been largely undocumented, underestimated and overshadowed in the disaster studies literature. This paper explores the role of the mosque, a community-based religious institution, in disaster management by documenting and analysing its role in rural settings in the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. The study examines the role of the mosque in relation to key actors from the state, civil society and private sector during response, relief, recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation phases of the Pakistan earthquake. Using qualitative research methods and a case study design, this article analyses primary data collected through 5 months of fieldwork (in 2009 and 2010). The findings demonstrate the multifaceted and distinct contribution of the mosque in cultural, economic, social and political aspects of the lives of the earthquake-affected communities. Possible challenges to engagement with the mosque, both gender inclusiveness and political controversy around its role, are also raised. This research suggests that state, civil society and private sector actors involved in disaster management need to understand complex relationships involving people and their religious institutions, and their impact on the social dimension of recovery. The findings of the study contribute to the scarce knowledge about the role of community-based religious institutions including churches, mosques, synagogues and temples and call for engagement: that is, acknowledging and valuing their role for building a synergy between secular and religious efforts for disaster risk reduction and post-disaster recovery.     

Spatial analysis of thunderstorms and lightning casualties in Bangladesh

Considering the adverse outcomes of thunderstorm-mediated lightning in recent years, this study aimed to identify the most thunderstorm-and-casualty prone regions and seasons in Bangladesh, via geospatial mapping. We attempted to forecast the number of yearly thunderstorm (TS) days for each meteorological station and district-level lightning casualties by using TS days as a proxy variable. Data on TS days and lightning casualties were collected from Bangladesh Meteorological Department and Network for Information, Response And Preparedness Activities on Disaster respectively. This study analysed 629 fatalities and 232 injuries. The Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation with Matern covariance function was employed to assess the spatial pattern of TS days. Polynomial regressions were used to forecast the number of TS days and the single clustered Generalized Estimating Equations method was employed to explore the relationship between the number of TS days and lightning casualties. The results indicated that the mean number of TS days per station increased in recent years, particularly in February, March, April, and September. We found the months of April, May, June, and September to be the most threatening months due to TS events and related casualties. The northeast region was identified as the most TS-prone region with the highest number of casualties in Bangladesh. Our analysis suggests that it might remain the most hazardous region in coming years.     

Potentially harmful metals,and health risk evaluation in groundwater of Mardan,Pakistan: Application of geostatistical approach and geographic information system

This study investigates the values of pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), elevation, oxidative reduction potential (ORP), temperature, and depth, while the concentrations of Br, and potentially harmful metals (PHMs) such as Cr, Ni, Cd, Mn, Cu, Pb, Co, Zn, and Fe in the groundwater samples. Moreover, geographic information system (GIS), XLSTAT, and IBM SPSS Statistics 20 software were used for spatial distribution modeling, principal component analysis (PCA), cluster analysis (CA), and Quantile-Quantile (Q-Q) plotting to determine groundwater pollution sources, similarity index, and normal distribution reference line for the selected parameters. The mean values of pH, TDS, elevation, ORP, temperature, depth, and Br were 7.2, 322 mg/L, 364 m, 188 mV, 29.6 °C, 70 m, 0.20 mg/L, and PHMs like Cr, Ni, Cd, Mn, Cu, Pb, Co, Zn, and Fe were 0.38, 0.26, 0.08, 0.27, 0.36, 0.22, 0.04, 0.43 and 0.86 mg/L, respectively. PHMs including Cr (89%), Cd (43%), Mn (23%), Pb (79%), Co (20%), and Fe (91%) exceeded the guideline values set by the world health organization (WHO). The significant R² values of PCA for selected parameters were also determined (0.62, 0.67, 0.78, 0.73, 0.60, 0.87, ?0.50, 0.69, 0.70, 0.74, ?0.50, 0.70, 0.67, 0.79, 0.59, and ?0.55, respectively). PCA revealed three geochemical processes such as geogenic, anthropogenic, and reducing conditions. The mineral phases of Cd(OH)_2, Fe(OH)_3, FeOOH, Mn₃O_4, Fe₂O_3, MnOOH, Pb(OH)_2, Mn(OH)_2, MnO_2, and Zn(OH)₂ (?3.7, 3.75, 9.7, ?5.8, 8.9, ?3.6, 2.2, ?4.6, ?7.7, ?0.9, and 0.003, respectively) showed super-saturation and under-saturation conditions. Health risk assessment (HRA) values for PHMs were also calculated and the values of hazard quotient (HQ), and hazard indices (HI) for the entire study area were increased in the following order: Cd>Ni>Cu>Pb>Mn>Zn>Cr. Relatively higher HQ and HI values of Ni, Cd, Pb, and Cu were greater than one showing unsuitability of groundwater for domestic, agriculture, and drinking purposes. The long-term ingestion of groundwater could also cause severe health concerns such as kidney, brain dysfunction, liver, stomach problems, and even cancer.     

Mathematical modeling of biologically mediated redox processes of iron and arsenic release in groundwater

A one dimensional reactive transport model was developed in order to illustrate the biogeochemical behavior of arsenic and iron reduction and release to groundwater that accounts for the reaction coupling the major redox elements under reducing environment. Mass transport equation and the method of characteristics were used considering fundamental geochemical processes to simulate transport processes of different pollutants in mobile phase. The kinetic sub-model describes the heterotrophic metabolisms of several microorganisms. To model a complete redox sequence (aerobic or denitrifiers, Fe(III)-reduction, respiration bacteria of iron and arsenic compounds, and As(V) reduction) four functional bacterial groups (X ₁, X ₂, X ₃, and X ₄) were defined. Microbial growth was assumed to follow Monod type kinetics. The exchange between the different phases (mobile, bio, and matrix) was also considered in this approach. Results from a soil column experiment were used to verify the simulation results of the model. The model depicts the utilization of oxygen, nitrate, iron oxide and arsenic as electron acceptors for oxidation of organic carbon (OC) in a column. The OC as electron donor is one of the most important factors that affect the iron and arsenic reduction bacterial activity.     

Assessment of degradation of agricultural soils arising from brick burning in selected soil profiles

The study was conducted with the selected soil profile of burnt (soil around brick kilns) and unburnt (agricultural land) soils in the Dinajpur, Rangpur, Rajshahi, Khulna and Patuakhali districts at the western part of Bangladesh to evaluate the effects of brick kilns on soil degradation and environmental pollution. The pH values of the unburnt soils increased as a function of the soil depth for Rangpur, Khulna and Patuakhali, while decreased for the soil profiles in Dinajpur. Burning of soils significantly (p<0.05) decreased the average pH values of soils by 0.4 pH units (7 % increased over average content = IOAC), but strikingly increased the average EC values from 0.26 to 1.77 mS/cm (592 % IOAC) and the effect was pronounced with the depth function. The average sand content of the soil profiles increased by 330%, while the silt and clay contents decreased by 49 and 40 %, respectively. The average losses arising from the burning of agricultural soils were amounted to 63% for organic matter, 56 to 86 % and 23 to 88 % for available and total N, P, K and S, respectively. This huge loss through the burning of 1 m deep soil profile, i.e. almost 3/4^th of the deterioration of soil fertility is not only reducing the crop production but also polluting the associated environment and atmosphere. The burning of enormous C, N and S not only degrade the agricultural soils but also contributing to the changes in the global climate.     

Analysis of wheat farmers’ risk perceptions and attitudes: evidence from Punjab,Pakistan

Natural Hazards - Agriculture involves multiple risks of which environmental and production threats are major ones. Farmers’ risk attitudes and risk perceptions have a significant role in...     

Geochemistry of subsurface Late Quaternary ironstones in Rajshahi and Bogra Districts,Bangladesh: implications for genetic and depositional conditions

The present study deals with the geochemistry of Late Quaternary ironstones in the subsurface in Rajshahi and Bogra districts, Bangladesh with the lithological study of the boreholes sediments. Major lithofacies of the studied boreholes are clay, silty clay, sandy clay, fine to coarse grained sand, gravels and sands with(fragmentary) ironstones. The ironstones contain major oxides, Fe_2 O_3*(*total Fe)(avg. 66.6 wt%), SiO_2(avg. 15.3 wt%), Al_2 O_3(avg. 4.0 wt%), MnO(avg. 7.7 wt%), and CaO(avg. 3.4 wt%). These geochemical data imply that the higher percentage of Fe_2 O_3* along with Al_2 O_3 and MnO indicate the ironstone as goethite and siderite, which is also validated by XRD data. A comparatively higher percentage of SiO_2 indicates the presence of relative amounts of clastic quartz and manganese-rich silicate or clay in these rocks. These ironstones also have significant amounts of MnO(avg. 7.7 wt%) suggesting their depositional environments under oxygenated condition. Chemical data of these ironstones suggest that the source rock suffered deep chemical weathering and iron was mostly carried in association with the clay fraction and organic matter. Iron concretion was mostly formed by bacterial build up in swamps and marshes, and was subsequently embedded in clayey mud.Within the coastal environments, the water table fluctuates and goethite and siderite with mud and quartz became dry and compacted to form ironstone.