TY - JOUR A1 - Sen, Jaydip A1 - Bogin, Barry A1 - Mondal, Nitish A1 - Dey, Sima A1 - Roy, Shreysai ED - Scheffler, Christiane ED - Koziel, Slawomir ED - Hermanussen, Michael ED - Bogin, Barry T1 - Groundwater arsenic contamination in the Bengal Delta Plain is an important public health issue BT - a review T2 - Human Biology and Public Health N2 - There is a close association between human biology, epidemiology and public health. Exposure to toxic elements is one area of such associations and global concerns. The Bengal Delta Plain (BDP) is a region where contamination of ground water by arsenic has assumed epidemic proportions. Apart from dermatological manifestations, chronic exposure to arsenic causes a heavy toll through several carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic disorders. This article provides a global overview of groundwater arsenic contamination in the BDP region, especially the sources, speciation, and mobility of arsenic, and critically reviews the effects of arsenic on human health. The present review also provides a summary of comprehensive knowledge on various measures required for mitigation and social consequences of the problem of arsenic contaminated groundwater in the BDP region. KW - public health KW - arsenic KW - groundwater KW - India KW - Bangladesh KW - Bengal Delta Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph.v1.7 SN - 2748-9957 VL - 2021 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 31 PB - Universitätsverlag Potsdam CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hobbhahn, Nina A1 - Küchmeister, Heike A1 - Porembski, Stefan T1 - Pollination biology of mass flowering terrestrial Utricularia species (Lentibulariaceae) in the Indian Western Ghats JF - Plant biology N2 - The pollination biology of three mass flowering Utricularia species of the Indian Western Ghats, U. albocaerulea, U. purpurascens, and U. reticulata, was studied for the first time by extensive observation of flower visitors, pollination experiments, and nectar analyses. The ephemerality of the Utricularia habitats on lateritic plateaus, weather conditions adverse to insects, lack of observations of flower visitors to other Utricularia spp., and the predominance of at least. facultative autogamy in the few Utricularia species studied so far suggested that an autogamous breeding system is the common case in the genus. In contrast, we showed that the studied populations are incapable of autonomous selfing, or that it is an event of negligible rarity, although P/O was similarily low as in autogamous species investigated by other authors. In all three species the spatial arrangement of the reproductive organs makes an insect vector necessary for pollen transfer between and within flowers. However, U. purpurascens and U. reticulata are highly self-compatible, which allows for visitor-mediated auto-selfing and geitonogamy on inflorescence and clone level. Floral nectar is present in extremely small volumes in all three species, but sugar concentrations are high. More than 50 species of bees, butterflies, moths, hawk moths, and clipterans were observed to visit the flowers, and flower morphology facilitated pollination by all observed visitors. The results are discussed in the context of the phenological characteristics of the studied species, especially the phenomenon of mass flowering, and the environmental conditions of their habitats. KW - Lentibulariaceae KW - Utricularia KW - mass flowering KW - carnivory KW - India KW - Western Ghats KW - pollination Y1 - 2008 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1055/s-2006-924566 SN - 1435-8603 VL - 8 IS - 6 SP - 791 EP - 804 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Khuroo, Anzar A. A1 - Reshi, Zafar A. A1 - Malik, Akhtar H. A1 - Weber, Ewald A1 - Rashid, Irfan A1 - Dar, G. H. T1 - Alien flora of India taxonomic composition, invasion status and biogeographic affiliations JF - Biological invasions : unique international journal uniting scientists in the broad field of biological invasions N2 - The wide knowledge gaps in invasion biology research that exist in the developing world are crucial impediments to the scientific management and global policymaking on biological invasions. In an effort to fill such knowledge gaps, we present here an inventory of the alien flora of India, based on systematic reviews and rigorous analyses of research studies (ca. 190) published over the last 120 years (1890-2010 AD), and updated with field records of the last two decades. Currently, the inventory comprises of 1,599 species, belonging to 842 genera in 161 families, and constitutes 8.5% of the total Indian vascular flora. The three most species-rich families are Asteraceae (134 spp.), Papilionaceae (114 spp.) and Poaceae (106 spp.), and the three largest genera are Eucalyptus (25 spp.), Ipomoea (22 spp.), and Senna (21 spp.). The majority of these species (812) have no report of escaping from cultivation. Of the remaining subset of 787 species, which have either escaped from intentional cultivation, or spread after unintentional introduction, casuals are represented by 57 spp., casual/naturalised by 114 spp., naturalised by 257 spp., naturalised/invasive by 134 spp., and invasive by 225 spp. Biogeographically, more than one-third (35%) of the alien flora in India has its native ranges in South America, followed by Asia (21%), Africa (20%), Europe (11%), Australia (8%), North America (4%); and cryptogenic (1%). The inventory is expected to serve as the scientific baseline on plant invasions in India, with implications for conservation of global biodiversity. KW - Biodiversity KW - Biological invasions KW - Alien plants KW - Taxonomy KW - Biogeography KW - India Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-011-9981-2 SN - 1387-3547 VL - 14 IS - 1 SP - 99 EP - 113 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER -