Community Responses to Mountain Tourism:A Case in Bhyundar Valley,Indian Himalaya

Tourism industry has become an important part of Indian economy,and tourism development has been,however,concentrated to a few areas. Accumulation of tourism activities has reached the critical stage in most of the tourism centers,which pose serious threats to the natural environment. The Bhyundar Valley of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR) in Uttarakhand State of the Indian Himalaya is a burning example of such problems. Land use/cover changes,deforestation and accumulation of garbage are some of the negative impacts of unregulated tourism in the valley. Unsustainable activities of tourists and villagers in the valley make such problems very severe. To deal with the ongoing problems and ensure community involvement in tourism management and environmental conservation,the Biosphere Reserve Authority introduced ecotourism in the form of Eco Development Committees (EDCs) in the Bhyundar Valley. Study reveals that many problems associated with tourism have been minimized to some extent with the help of EDCs but few are still prevailing in valley. However,the existing attempts to conserve the valley from the negative effects of tourism are inadequate and modifications are needed in the current initiatives.

Improved Monitoring Protocol for Evaluating the Performance of a Sewage Treatment Works Based on Sensitivity Analysis of Mathematical Modelling

Extensive historical data of a sewage treatment works are required by numerical models in order to simulate the biological processes accurately. However, the data are recorded mostly for daily operational purpose. They are basically not comprehensive enough to meet the modelling’s requirements. A comprehensive sampling protocol to accurately characterise the influent is required in order to determine all model components, which is very time-consuming and expensive. In a project of evaluating a sewage treatment works in Chongqing by using BioWin 4.1 for mathematical modelling, sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine the most critical parameters for process monitoring. It was found that influent characteristics, wasted sludge flow rate, water temperatures, DO levels of the biological tanks and five bio-kinetic parameters were the most influential parameters governing the plant performance. Therefore, apart from monitoring the effluent quality, regular checking of the afore-mentioned influential parameters can help examine the performance of a sewage treatment works. Moreover, operators of the sewage treatment works can conduct “what-if” analysis to determine how these most influential parameters can be adjusted to improve the treatment performance of the sewage treatment works.

SAIL—striding towards the future with the touch of green

Steel plays a vital role in every facet of our life.Like DNA in our body,steel plays a crucial role in the development of any society.From infrastructure,defence,transportation,research & development and even in day to day life,everywhere steel is used.Per capita consumption of steel is treated as an important index for the socioeconomic development of any country.The rapid and continuing growth of steel industry during last few decades bears testimony to the indispensability of steel as a vital resource for economic development.Though steel as a product is eco friendly,the process of making steel is associated with lot of energy and environmental ramifications.According to International Energy Outlook 2009,iron and steel industry account for about 20%of the total industrial energy consumption.Hence this industrial sector can play a pivotal role to influence the energy and environmental scenario of any country. As a responsible corporate citizen,Steel Authority of India Limited,the largest steel producer in India,has taken various initiatives over the years towards the protection of environment and reduction in energy consumption.This has resulted in the reduction of energy consumption by almost 15.45%over a period of last 10 years.The initiative is also evident in the company's growth plan which aims at almost doubling the production capacity in the near future from the existing level of 13.5 Mt/a.Implementation of tate of it lean echnologies like CDQ,TRT,and waste heat recovery from sinter plants,maximizing CDI & CTI in blast furnaces,augmentation of pollution control devices with more efficient equipment are on the anvil.These reaffirm our commitments for clean and sustainable environment. This paper gives an overview of the efforts taken by SAIL over the years for energy conservation and environmental protection with special emphasis on a few projects like by product fuel for power generation,use of energy efficient burners,maximizing the use of thyristors in place of motor generators,coke dry quenching facility, etc.

Trend in Coral-Algal Phase Shift in the Mandapam Group of Islands, Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve, India

The present study revealed proliferation of macro-algae modifying coral reef ecosystems in a different manner due to diseases and sedimentations in the Mandapam group of islands in the Gulf of Mannar. Benthic surveys were conducted with major attack of seven coral reefs diseases with high sedimentation rate, nine species of fleshy macro-algae(Turbinaria ornata, Turbinaria conaides, Caulerpa scalpelliformis, Caulerpa racemosa, Kappaphycus alvarezii, Padina gymnosphora, Sargassum wightii, Ulva reticulata and Calurpa lentillifera) proliferation against major corals life forms(Acropora branching, Acropora digitate, Acropora tabulate, coral massive, coral submassive, coral foliose and coral encrusting). The results confirm that diseased corals most favor to macro-algae growth(15.27%) rather than the sedimentation covered corals(8.24 %). In the degradation of coral life forms, massive corals were more highly damaged(7.05%) than any other forms. Within a short period of time(May to September), coral coverage shrank to 17.4% from 21.9%, macro-algae increased 23.51% and the average sedimentation rate attained 77.52 mg cm^(-2) d^(-1) with persisting coral reef diseases of 17.59%. The Pearson correlation showed that the coral cover decreased with increasing macro-algae growth, which was statistically significant(r =-0.774, n = 100, P < 0.0005). The proliferation of the various macro-algae C. scalpellifrmis, T. ornata, C. racemosa, T. conaides, U. reticulata, S. wightii, K. alvarezii, P. gymnosphora and C. lentillifera increased with percentages of 6.0, 5.8, 5.7, 4.9, 4.2, 3.7, 2.7 and 1.9, respectively. If this trend continues, the next generation of new recruit corals will undoubtedly lead to a phase shift in Gulf of Mannar corals.

Calibration of Hydrological Streamflow Modeling Using MODIS

LULC （land use and land cover） plays an important role in mathematical hydrological modeling. As many countries, available LULC are not always updated to reflect the most current situation. In this regard, the objective of this study was to investigate the potential capability of moderate resolution satellite imagery such as MODIS （Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer）, acquired in 2010 for updated LULC. This issue was illustrated through the application of the most current LULC as one of the data inputs of the SWAT （Soil and Water Assessment Tool） model in the Tonle Sap Lake Basin, a sub-basin of the Mekong River. The streamflow was tested using moderate resolution LULC of 500 meters. The statistical evaluation results at a monitoring station for model calibration and validation showed that the R2 for daily and monthly values range from 0.76 to 0.88 and 0.86 to 0.89 respectively, whereas the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency daily and monthly values range between 0.75 to 0.85 and 0.76 to 0.87 respectively. The simulation result based on MODIS imagery demonstrates LULC at moderate resolution holds considerable potential as an effective hydrological modeling tool. An additional level of confidence is provided by the notion that the methods described here could be applied in similar watershed conditions.

Restricted cross-scale habitat selection by American beavers

Animal habitat selection, among other ecological phenomena, is spatially scale dependent. Habitat selection by American beavers Castor canadensis （hereafter, beaver） has been studied at singular spatial scales, but to date no research addresses multi-scale selection. Our objectives were to determine if beaver habitat selection was specialized to semiaquatic habitats and if variables explaining habitat selection are consistent between landscape and fine spatial scales. We built maximum entropy （MaxEnt） models to relate landscape-scale presence-only data to landscape variables, and used generalized linear mixed models to evaluate fine spatial scale habitat selection using global positioning system （GPS） relocation data. Explanatory variables between the landscape and fine spatial scale were compared for consistency. Our findings suggested that beaver habitat selection at coarse （study area） and fine （within home range） scales was congruent, and was influenced by increasing amounts of woody wetland edge density and shrub edge density, and decreasing amounts of open water edge density. Habitat suitability at the landscape scale also increased with decreasing amounts of grass frequency. As territorial, central-place foragers, beavers likely trade-off open water edge density （i.e., smaller non-forested wetlands or lodges closer to banks） for defense and shorter distances to forage and obtain construction material. Woody plants along edges and expanses of open water for predator avoidance may limit beaver fitness and subsequently determine beaver habitat selection.