Biodiversity and Environment

Contents: Foreward. Preface. I. Organismal Response/Bioindicators: 1. Radioecology by 21st century/Anjali Mookerjee. 2. Responses of antioxidase and detoxifying enzymes of Balanus balanoides and Saccostrea cucullata collected from polluted and non-polluted zones of Hooghly Estuary/S. Biswas, S. Niyogi & A.G. Dutta. 3. Inorganic mercury specifically binds to rat platelet membrane and initiates a cascade of actions/Shelley Bhattacharya, S. Vinaya Kumar & R. Bose. 4. Impact of roadside soil extracts on germination and growth of Phaseolus aureus Roxb and Dolichos biflorus L./V. Roopashree & R.K. Somashekar. 5. Heavy metal accumulation in fish: an assessment in sewage fed aquafarm of East Calcutta, India/S.C. Santra and N. Bano. 6. Bioindicators for freshwater Mussel, Lamellidens marginalis (Lamarck) farming/A. Biswas and S.K. Raut. 7. Effect of industrial effluent on germination and growth of Phaseolus aureus L./A.G. Malini Shetty and R.K. Somashekar. II. Human Impact on Ecosystem: 1. Heavy metal pollution of subernarekha river: its ecological impact on water quality and biota/J.S. Datta Munshi, A.N. Mishra and J. Datta Munshi. 2. Digestive enzymes in Porcellio laevis (Isopoda : crustacea) as indicator of heavy metal toxicity in soil/S. Joy, S.K. Maity and V.C. Joy. 3. Influence of environmental factors on the SGR of Catla catla grown in sewage ecosystem investigated with multiple regression analysis/A.K. Roy, M. Rout, P.K. Saha and A.K. Datta. 4. Impact of anthropogenic activities on Hugli estuary with special reference to the distribution pattern of intertidal macrozoobenthos/S. Paul, A Mitra and N.C. Nandi. 5. Cumulative effect of bactericide and insecticides on nutrient release from leaf litter by detritivore soil arthropods/R. Pramanik, K. Sarkar and V.C. Joy. 6. Importance of biodiversity/J.R.B. Alfred. III. Invertebrate Biodiversity : Aquatic Environment: 1. The problem of Hydra photoresponse/C. Taddei-Ferretti, C. Musio, S. Santillo and A. Cotugno. 2. Glimpses of the biodiversity of culicoides insects (diptera : ceratopogonidae) in India/D. Gangopadhyay and S.K. Dasgupta. 3. Induced abnormalities and Neoplasia in planarians, Dugesia bengalensis, Kawaskatsu/S. Mitra and A.K. Aditya. 4. The macroinvertebrate diversity of some urban wetlands of Calcutta/M. Mukherji, S. Paul and N.C. Nandi. 5. Insect fauna associated with large waterhyacinth in fresh water wetlands of West Bengal/D.K. Bhattacharya. 6. Divesity in population composition of a medically important freshwater snail species Lymnaea (Radix) acuminata (Lamarck)/T.K. Misra and S.K. Raut. 7. Ecology and diversity of cladocerans in some Calcutta wetlands/C. Sinha and R.A. Khan. 8. Macrophyte preference and insect diversity of freshwater wetlands in southeastern Bengal/S. Pal, S.R. Dey and D.K. Bhattacharya. IV. Invertebrate Biodiversity : Terrestrial Ecosystem: 1. Diversity in soil mites (Acari) of West Bengal/A.K. Sanyal and A.K. Bhaduri. 2. Insect biodiversity in agroecosystem : consequences of insecticide use and remedial role of integrated pest management/G.T. Gujar. 3. Biodiversity in island environment with special reference to Andaman and Nicobar islands/A.K. Das. 4. A contribution to the diversity of insects with reference to pollination mechanism in some angiosperms/A. Bhattacharya and S. Mandal. 5. Acaciasides and root-knot nematode extract suppress Meloidogyne incognita infection in lady's finger plants/S.C. Datta, R. Datta (Nag), S.P. Sinha Babu and N.C. Sukul. 6. Studies on the biodiversity in acridids (Orthoptera : Acridoidea) at Santiniketan, West Bengal, India/P. Haldar, A. Das & R.K. Gupta. 7. Polyphagy in plant-parasitic nematodes: a favourable force for speciation and biodiversity/A. Chatterjee and D. Sen. 8. A new method of kitchen waste compositing by Perionyx excavatus/P.S. Chaudhuri and G. Bhattacharjee. 9. Biodiversity of aphids in India (Homoptera : aphididae)/R.C. Basu and L.K. Ghosh. 10. Studies on cocoons of some tropical earthworms/G. Bhattacharjee and P.S. Chaudhuri. 11. Implications of the spatial distribution pattern of the plant community on the insect diversity in a scrub jungle ecosystem/D. Suresh Chand, K.P. Sanjayan and M.C. Muralirangan.

From the Foreward: "The book "Biodiversity and Environment" is provided by what one would like to think of as basic knowledge of ecosystems, productivity and Biodiversity not withstanding this there is the first chapter dealing with the organismal response and bioindicators, chapter II very well illustrates the Human Impact on Ecosystem, the IIIrd one depicts the picture of Invertebrate Biodiversity in Aquatic environment while the last chapter narrates the Invertebrate Biodiversity in Terrestrial Environment. It is hoped that the book will definitely serve developing a proper concern to the readers for our deteriorating environment and also encourage them to become actively involved in matters related to the environment for its proper management. The common goal is to gain a universally better quality of life.

The present text is an attempt to make the people aquainted thoroughly with the knowledge of ecosystem, and the factors concerned with the deterioration of the environment and its valued resources with the view to plan and manage the developmental programmes in such a way that expolitation of natural resources may not upset the balance of nature."