NOPR Collection:

Benthic biodiversity in natural vis-a-vis artificially developed mangroves of south east coast of India

2016-08-18T11:08:21Z

Title: Benthic biodiversity in natural vis-a-vis artificially developed mangroves of south east coast of India Authors: Murugesan, P; Pravinkumar, M.; Muthuvelu, S.; Ravichandran, S.; Vijayalakshmi, S.; Balasubramanian, T. Abstract: Benthic biodiversity was compared between natural (Pichavaram) and artificially developed mangrove (Vellar estuary) systems in southeast coast of India. As many as 23 species of benthic macrofauna were recorded in Pichavaram (14 species of polychaetes, 7 species of crustaceans 2 species of molluscs), while 19 species of macrofauna were recorded in Vellar (11 species of polychaetes, 5 species of crustaceans and 3 species of molluscs). Population density varied between the habitats (39 and 3346 nos/m² in Pichavaram and 39 and 2908 nos/m² in Vellar). In short, among the faunal groups, crustaceans topped the list in terms of abundance in Pichavaram and polychaetes in Vellar. Calculated diversity indices also varied between these two areas. Species diversity was in the range of 2.47 - 3.17 in Pichavaram and 2.37 - 2.86 in Vellar; species richness ranged from 1.70 to 1.86 in Pichavaram, and from 1.54 to 1.76 in Vellar; species evenness varied from 0.60 to 0.76 in Pichavaram and from 0.59 to 0.71 in Vellar. As observed in the species diversity, taxonomic diversity and phylogenetic diversity values were also more in natural system than those in artificially developed habitat. Page(s): 1049-1058

Virtual Screening of Marine Natural Antifoulant: In Silico Approach to Screen Antifouling Metabolites from Marine Sponges

2016-08-18T10:56:42Z

Title: Virtual Screening of Marine Natural Antifoulant: In Silico Approach to Screen Antifouling Metabolites from Marine Sponges Authors: Inbakandan, D.; Raj, Sumit; Kumar, C.; Venkatesan, R.; Khan, S. Ajmal Abstract: A molecular docking analysis was carried out followed by Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation studies on the metabolites from various marine sponges in order to identify their metabolites being potent inhibitors towards biofouling. The docking analysis reveals that the metabolites from a marine sponge Acanthodendrilla sp. and Agelas cf. mauritiana may act as potent antifouling agents with the docking scores ranging from 68 to 123 for the metabolites. Chemical structure of the most active ligand was converted into a feature-shaped query. This query was used to align molecules to generate statistically valid lead compound. Page(s): 1042-1048

Assessment of seagrass biomass and coastal land forms along palk strait

2016-08-19T04:40:47Z

Title: Assessment of seagrass biomass and coastal land forms along palk strait Authors: Gokulakrishnan, Ramasamy; Sundaram, Ravikumar Abstract: Present study was made an attempt to assess the onshore seagrass biomass and off shore seagrass deposition. Maximum total biomass of Cymodocea serrulata (571.2±78.94 g.dry wt/m²) and Syringodium isoetifolium (240 ± 24.92 g.dry wt/m²) were recorded in Thondi during the month of December-2011. Maximum total biomass of Halodule pinifolia (145.6 ± 57.41 g.dry wt/m²) and Halophila ovalis (142.4 ± 21.83 g.dry wt/m²) were recorded in Manamelkudi during the month of December-2011. Several seagrass parameters viz., above ground biomass, below ground biomass, canopy height, percentage coverage, above and below ground biomass ratio were also examined in this study. Maximum deposition of Cymodocea serrulata (10.73±0.08 Kg.dry wt/m²) and Syringodium isoetifolium (7.93±0.03 Kg.dry wt/m²) were recorded at Thondi coastal area during the month of May-2012. The survey provides enormous information on the seagrass biomass and seagrass deposition along the Palk Strait coast. Page(s): 1035-1041

Isolation of carotenoids producing marine red yeasts

2016-08-18T10:38:07Z

Title: Isolation of carotenoids producing marine red yeasts Authors: Dhaliwal, MK; Chandra, N Abstract: Marine red yeasts were enriched and isolated using sea-water samples from different locations as well as various marine animals. Two red yeast isolates selected were studied for their carotenoids production. Two selected isolates were identified as Rhodosporidium paludigenum and Sporobolomyces novazealandicus based on their cultural, morphological and biochemical characters. The isolates were studied for their carotenoid content using HPTLC and HPLC. The Rhodosporidium paludigenum isolate was observed to produce β-carotene only, whereas isolate Sporobolomyces novazealandicus produced higher amounts of total carotenoids, with an additional pigment. Page(s): 1029-1034