Tirthankar Sen | IIT Guwahati (original) (raw)
Papers by Tirthankar Sen
GLOBAL warming is real and the chief culprit is carbon dioxide. It is estimated that more than 80... more GLOBAL warming is real and the chief culprit is carbon dioxide. It is estimated that more than 80% of human carbon dioxide emissions come from burning carbon-based fuels, namely fossil fuels. Scientists are working on ways in which mankind’s dependence on fossil fuels can be reduced and the carbon already present in the atmosphere can be recycled instead of infusing new carbon payloads into the atmosphere. Before we move forward with this discussion, let’s take a step back. When was the last time you licked every drop of cheese from your fi ngertips after devouring the last slice of pizza? Or, when was the last time the ice cream vendor generously sprinkled crushed nuts on top of your ice cream cone? What does cheese, nuts, or food for that matter, have to do with a solution to our fossil fuel dependent civilisation? The answer is closer than you can think. Cheese, cooking oils, butter, etc. are foods rich in dietary fats. Fats fall under a class of bio-molecules called lipids. Lipi...
Metagenomics and Microbial Ecology
Science Reporter, CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication And Information Resources (NISCAIR) Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, 2020
DeeporBeel is a perfect habitat for large numbers of residential water birds, and seasonally harb... more DeeporBeel is a perfect habitat for large numbers
of residential water birds, and seasonally harbours large
numbers of migratory waterfowl each year. It is also home to
the largest nesting colony of Greater Adjutants and hence has
attracted large numbers of ornithologists, tourists and nature
lovers from all over India and the world. It was declared
as an internationally important wetland and included in the
Directory of Asian Wetlands.
The recent years have seen changes in land use cover in
and around the Beel with illegal encroachments and unplanned
developments coming up. The inflow of wastewater from
Guwahati city to this wetland has degraded its water quality
making it hazardous for the aquatic flora and fauna (Govt of
Assam, 1989; Deka and Goswami, 1993). Earlier the natural
feeding canal of the wetland was the river Brahmaputra but
now due to construction of canals and national highway, the
natural water inflow has been permanently stopped. The Beel
is now fed by river Basistha and small catchment areas which
are also heavily populated in recent years.
During the Monsoon season, about 70 per cent of the
Beel is choked with aquatic vegetation mainly by Water lily
and Water hyacinth. The faunal diversity of the wetland
includes globally threatened species of birds such as Spot
billed pelican (Pelicanus philippensis), Lesser Adjutant stork
(Leptoptilos javanicus), Baer’s pochard (Aythya baed), Palas
Sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster), and Greater Adjutant stork
(Leptoptilos dubius). DeeporBeel is among the Important Bird
Area (IBA) sites of India listed by Birdlife International due
to the richness of avian fauna.
The Greater Adjutant (Leptoptilos dubius) is a member
of the stork family Ciconiidae which is one of the permanent
resident members of the Beel. South and South-East Asia have
the richest stork diversity of the world which extends from
India, eastward to Vietnam and southwards to Indonesia. Out
of the 11 stork species that occur in the area, eight are resident
and three are migrant (Luthin, 1987). Nine species of storks
were known to be found in India (Ali and Ripley, 1978),
presently eight (IUCN, 2012) species are found in which six
are resident to India (Khal, 1987).
The Greater Adjutant is a large size bird, standing tall
at 145–150 cm (57–59 in). The average length of this species
is 136 cm (54 in) and the average wingspan is 250 cm (98.5 in)
(Singha and Rahmani, 2006). The Greater Adjutant storks
of DeeporBeel are facing threats as they are forced to feed
upon heaps of municipal waste that gets collected beside the
wetland on a daily basis.
GLOBAL warming is real and the chief culprit is carbon dioxide. It is estimated that more than 80... more GLOBAL warming is real and the chief culprit is carbon dioxide. It is estimated that more than 80% of human carbon dioxide emissions come from burning carbon-based fuels, namely fossil fuels. Scientists are working on ways in which mankind’s dependence on fossil fuels can be reduced and the carbon already present in the atmosphere can be recycled instead of infusing new carbon payloads into the atmosphere. Before we move forward with this discussion, let’s take a step back. When was the last time you licked every drop of cheese from your fi ngertips after devouring the last slice of pizza? Or, when was the last time the ice cream vendor generously sprinkled crushed nuts on top of your ice cream cone? What does cheese, nuts, or food for that matter, have to do with a solution to our fossil fuel dependent civilisation? The answer is closer than you can think. Cheese, cooking oils, butter, etc. are foods rich in dietary fats. Fats fall under a class of bio-molecules called lipids. Lipi...
Metagenomics and Microbial Ecology
Science Reporter, CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication And Information Resources (NISCAIR) Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, 2020
DeeporBeel is a perfect habitat for large numbers of residential water birds, and seasonally harb... more DeeporBeel is a perfect habitat for large numbers
of residential water birds, and seasonally harbours large
numbers of migratory waterfowl each year. It is also home to
the largest nesting colony of Greater Adjutants and hence has
attracted large numbers of ornithologists, tourists and nature
lovers from all over India and the world. It was declared
as an internationally important wetland and included in the
Directory of Asian Wetlands.
The recent years have seen changes in land use cover in
and around the Beel with illegal encroachments and unplanned
developments coming up. The inflow of wastewater from
Guwahati city to this wetland has degraded its water quality
making it hazardous for the aquatic flora and fauna (Govt of
Assam, 1989; Deka and Goswami, 1993). Earlier the natural
feeding canal of the wetland was the river Brahmaputra but
now due to construction of canals and national highway, the
natural water inflow has been permanently stopped. The Beel
is now fed by river Basistha and small catchment areas which
are also heavily populated in recent years.
During the Monsoon season, about 70 per cent of the
Beel is choked with aquatic vegetation mainly by Water lily
and Water hyacinth. The faunal diversity of the wetland
includes globally threatened species of birds such as Spot
billed pelican (Pelicanus philippensis), Lesser Adjutant stork
(Leptoptilos javanicus), Baer’s pochard (Aythya baed), Palas
Sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster), and Greater Adjutant stork
(Leptoptilos dubius). DeeporBeel is among the Important Bird
Area (IBA) sites of India listed by Birdlife International due
to the richness of avian fauna.
The Greater Adjutant (Leptoptilos dubius) is a member
of the stork family Ciconiidae which is one of the permanent
resident members of the Beel. South and South-East Asia have
the richest stork diversity of the world which extends from
India, eastward to Vietnam and southwards to Indonesia. Out
of the 11 stork species that occur in the area, eight are resident
and three are migrant (Luthin, 1987). Nine species of storks
were known to be found in India (Ali and Ripley, 1978),
presently eight (IUCN, 2012) species are found in which six
are resident to India (Khal, 1987).
The Greater Adjutant is a large size bird, standing tall
at 145–150 cm (57–59 in). The average length of this species
is 136 cm (54 in) and the average wingspan is 250 cm (98.5 in)
(Singha and Rahmani, 2006). The Greater Adjutant storks
of DeeporBeel are facing threats as they are forced to feed
upon heaps of municipal waste that gets collected beside the
wetland on a daily basis.