PhD Theses (SACON)

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Pesticide Residues in select components of an Agroecosystem adopting organic and conventional farming in Padayetti Village, Palakkad District, Kerala
(SACON, 2014) Ganesan, K.; Muralidharan, S.
The ever increasing human population and the corresponding demand for food have forced the producers to intensify their efforts to increase the productivity. Among the grain crops, paddy is the highest pesticide consuming crop in India. Increasing awareness on health and many environmental issues associated with the indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has led to interest in alternate methods of agricultural farming which are environment-friendly and economically feasib le. The Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) through Department of environment and Climate Change (DoEee) launched a demonstration project known as "Granary of Kerola" in Palakkad district in 2009 to conserve biodiversity associated with agroecosystems by totally avoiding chemical inputs in agriculture. To protect the paddy crop from weeds, insects and diseases, pesticides such as insecticides, herbicides and fungicides are used. Moreover, determination of pesticide residues in paddy has become increasingly essential for consumers, producers and authorities responsible for quality control. Hence, this study was conducted to investigate pesti cide residues in different environmental components adopting two different types of cultivation methods, namely organic and conventional.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF BIRDS IN BHARATHAPUZHA RIVER BASIN, KERALA
(SACON, 2024) P N , Anoop Raj; Kumara, H N
Bharathapuzha also known as the Nila River is the second-longest river in Kerala. It is considered as one of the most important rivers in Kerala for its ecological, cultural, and historical importance. Thus, it is known as the cradle of civilisation in Kerala. This river originates from the northern and southern rims of the Palakkad Gap. It flows towards the west through the Coimbatore district in Tamil Nadu and the Palakkad, Thrissur, and Malappuram, districts of Kerala before draining into the Arabian Sea. The river's total length is 209 km with a drainage area of 6186 km2. Chitturpuzha, Kalpathipuzha Gayathripuzha, and Thoothapuzha are major tributaries of this river. Birds are considered as indicators of habitat quality. They play an important role as predators, prey, pollinators and scavengers in nature. Understanding the natural bird assemblage, its patterns, and its process will help prioritize the potential conservation areas. Many researchers have attempted to study bird communities in the different habitats in the Western Ghats. Their observations on birds provided useful information to understand the distribution trend of birds. Most of such studies focused on the forest ecosystems in the protected area network. Understanding the distribution pattern of birds and their drivers in highly disturbed ecosystems outside the protected area network is less attempted. From the origin to the mouth, the river passes through various ecosystems and topographic conditions. Bharathapuzha originates and runs through forest ecosystems in the Western Ghats hill ranges initially, then travels through various human habitations, and agrarian lands and finally reaches the Arabian Sea. So, it supports bird communities of different forest ecosystems, agrarian lands, water bodies, and human habitations including the urban areas. Most of these ecosystems are located outside the protected area network and are vulnerable to anthropogenic pressures. Deforestation in the hill region, construction of check dams, indiscriminate sand mining, the spread of weeds and invasive plants inside the river channel, expansion of monoculture plantations, encroachment and water pollution are the major threats to the river ecosystem. This study attempted to understand the patterns of avifaunal assemblage in the Bharathapuzha river basin which is highly disturbed due to anthropogenic pressures that destroyed the riverine habitats, water quality, and natural water flow.
Study of the Bird Community in Agasthyamalai hills, Western Ghats, Kerala, India
(SACON, 2018) Panigrahi, Madhumita; Azeez, P A
patterns of occurrence or distribution and generality of the pattern (Weins 1989, Vellend 2010). A community is structured by wide array of factors, competition, niche availability, spatial heterogeneity, predation, climatic stability, productivity, dispersal, speciation and many more (Hutchinson 1959, Pianka 1966, Vellend 2010). On the other hand, distribution of species may be influenced by species composition, abundance, behaviour, morphology and their association with the environment (Weins 1989). Owing to the complexity of the systems and interactions among them, the study of community ecology is rightly stated by Schoener (1986) as the ‘most tumultuous and alluring of ecology’s subdisciplines’. Studies on avifauna have been playing a pivotal role in addressing intricate questions and testing varied hypotheses relating to community ecology. As widely noted, methodological advances, well-studied taxonomy and natural history, mostly diurnal behaviour and conspicuousness make birds an easy species to study

PhD Theses (SACON)

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