An overview of methods potentially suitable for pond biodiversity assessment

AMPHIBIAN CONSERVATION IN HUMAN SHAPED ENVIRONMENTS: LANDSCAPE DYNAMICS, HABITAT MODELING AND METAPOPULATION ANALYSES

Over the last century, around half of all ponds and small wetlands have been lost globally, predominantly from agricultural regions. These losses present a major conservation challenge for aquatic biodiversity and habitat connectivity. While the creation of new ponds is widely advocated as a means of restoring some of these lost habitats, this thesis presents an alternative approach – the resurrection of ‘ghost ponds’, historic ponds in-filled during agricultural intensification. Many aquatic organisms have evolved dormant propagules for surviving periods of habitat desiccation, and can remain viable for centuries buried in wetland sediments. While such long-term viability is well established in extant aquatic habitats, the fate of propagules buried within ghost ponds has remained unexplored. If their viability was proven, ghost ponds could present a crucial overlooked conservation resource. Here, I examine the potential conservation value of ghost pond resurrection within a typical agricultural UK landscape. First, historic declines in pond numbers and pond density are examined for this landscape, and the potential implications of these changes for aquatic biodiversity are explored using a space-for-time replacement approach. The conservation value of ghost ponds is then explored through a series of lab and field studies, that demonstrate the viability of propagules representing at least eight aquatic macrophyte species, after laying dormant for 50 – 150 years. Once resurrected, ghost ponds were quickly (<6 months) re-colonised by a diverse aquatic vegetation. With ghost ponds representing abundant, dormant time capsules for aquatic species in agricultural landscapes, these findings open up exciting new possibilities for aquatic habitat and biodiversity restoration on a global scale.

Biodiversity in Bangladesh is deteriorating gradually due to many anthropogenic activities. Agricultural practices along with modern farming techniques causing depletion of biodiversity. The study was conducted to determine the impacts of agricultural practices on biodiversity in the study area. Cultivable land increase only 1% but total cultivable land came under irrigation. Cropping in wetland area got popular and increase 95% in term of land area. As water level goes down, digging pond in wetland area became a trend recently. Simultaneously, the use of submersible water pumps gaining popularity. Agricultural practices shift dramatically from inorganic fertilizer to organic fertilizer and chemical fertilizer. The numbers of pesticides use reached three folds. On the other hand, floral and faunal species is losing its diversity in the study area. Total, 29% fruit plants, 38% timber plant and 42% medicinal plant species extinct. In case of fauna, 33% wild animal, 26% birds and 46% fish species extinct form the study area. People perception mentioned cultivation land used pattern, use of chemical fertilizer, pesticide etc. irrigation, cultivating hybrid, HYV and exotic plant, use of modern agriculture technology, habitat destruction, infrastructural development, urbanization etc. as the causes of loss of biodiversity. But, in this study finds most of the biodiversity caused by anthropogenic activities. Farmers of the study area have no training of any kinds of fertilizer using but they admit that conserving biodiversity is important. Anthropogenic agricultural effects on biodiversity are a field needs further research, particularly about the conditions where native and diverse species may sustain and flourish.

Accumulated indigenous knowledge and scientific data prove that climate change is real. In the Horn of Africa, climate change is unmistakably visible. Instead of rain coming seasonally, it comes more sporadically. Frequently, the region experiences either severe flooding or drought. Lakes, rivers, and ponds are drying out, and forest fires are becoming more prevalent and intense. The highland regions of the Horn of Africa are fast losing their biodiversity. Climate change is aggravating food insecurity, water scarcity, and increasing the rate of water-food-borne diseases. It causes anthropogenic and zoonosis disease transmission to be more prevalent and aggravates heat-related disorders, such as respiratory and seasonal allergies. These conditions are fostering competition for resources and leading to conflicts. Climate change is becoming a major public health challenge of the century. Objectives: This paper's primary objective is raising awareness of the risks that climate change poses and advancing the need to develop sustainable leadership and institutions. The secondary aim is exploring the role of sustainable leadership and institutions in transforming society, mitigating and adapting to climate change and managing emerging public health problems. Methods: Using the “upstream” public health metaphor, I explore the relationships between climate change and public health problems and provide theoretical reasoning for developing sustainable leadership and institutions. Findings: For the Horn of Africa, climate change is the major public health challenge of the century. Climate change affects health in three major pathways: a) changing the severity or frequency of health problems; b) creating unprecedented or unanticipated health problems; c) multiplying health threats in places where they have not been known. Conclusions: Preventing those complex public health problems requires the development of sustainable leadership and institutions. Effective ways of adapting and mitigating climate change are fostering sustainable development and sustainable culture. The pursuits of public health goals are supported and supplemented by institutional and leadership development. Hence, public health needs to advance the development of sustainable leadership and institutions.

Shipbreaking has obtained great importance in the micro and macro economy of poverty-stricken Bangladesh for being a profitable industry in spite of having a number of environmental and human health hazards. This study focuses on the Ship Breaking and Recycling Industry of Bangladesh to evaluate the pollution in water and measure the adverse effect on biodiversity. Here the water quality parameters like pH, Salinity, Alkalinity, Hardness, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Turbidity, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Pb, Cr, Cd, Fe concentrations of the sea water of shipbreaking yards of Bhatiary, pond water and tube well water has analyzed. Turbidity during tide-1 was observed 2624 NTU where the standard value is 5 NTU. Similarly, BOD was measured about 11.30 mg/l which was above the permissible limit in the seawater during tide-2. Value of Pb was about 0.07018 mg/l in seawater during tide-1 which is above the permitted limit. The elevated level of different physicochemical parameters and heavy metal is a serious threat for pollution not only for the biodiversity but also for the environment. Evaluation of water pollution in water bodies by the establishment of ship breaking industry was assessed by comparing these data with WHO and BSTI standard and evaluation of the adverse effect on biodiversity was established by observing the range of the parameters measured from the water bodies.

Developing spatial prioritisation strategies to maximise conservation impact

An experiment for salinity-gradient solar pond has been constructed and operated at the Dead Sea area over a period of 3 months. The pond has a volume of 5m3 with dimensions of (L, H, W) as 2.0m, 2.0m and 1,25m respectively. The two parameters temperature and salinity concentration profiles were evaluated through the measurements of the solar pond with respect to time. The experimental result shows that the bottom layer has a higher temperature and it reached a maximum temperature of 85 ℃ after 100 hour of operating. In this experiment, the thermal insulation for the pond was successful to keep the boundaries isolated that made it possible to extract the thermal energy stored in the bottom zone during the day time, continuously, while maintaining the stability of the solar pond. The total cost of the pond was about $35/sqm, in which the cost of the salt represents 45% of the total cost of the solar pond which is relatively cheap. Therefore, constructing the ponds close to the Dead Sea area is a cheaper alternative. Resulting low cost of utilizing thermal energy that could be a valuable option for multistage flash desalination plant that is functioning below 100 ℃. The operation of this pond reveals that solar pond technology in the Dead Sea area, as compared with other methods of using solar thermal energy for power generation, is more efficient especially for the utilities where direct thermal energy is required. (Less)

Faecal sludge, with richness in soil nutrients represents an important resource for enhancing soil productivity. In this study, the occurrence dynamics of nitrogen compounds NH3, NO2- and NO3- in engineered waste stabilisation ponds in the Tamale metropolis was monitored for 5 months in the dry season. Four treatment ponds were divided into three units: Influent point, midpoint and effluent point for sampling purposes. Faecal sludge sampling was simultaneously carried out for each of the ponds at marked points and approximate depth of 30 to 50 cm using 500 ml sample collection bottles. Using the Nessler method and Powder Pillows NH3, NO3- and NO2- levels were determined through direct reading with a DR 2800 Spectrophotometer. Mean concentrations of NH3, NO3-, and NO2- were determined to be 42.65, 57.99 and 0.15 mg/l, respectively. The anaerobic pond on average, recorded the maximum concentration levels of all three compounds. The primary facultative pond recorded the average minimum concentration of NO2- while the maturation pond recorded the minimum for both NH3 and NO3. Variation in concentration of nitrogen compounds was statistically highly insignificant by ANOVA at 5% significance level, except NH3. Average NH3 concentrations in stabilisation ponds were observed to be higher than the allowable limit of EPA Ghana for effluent discharge or reuse for agriculture while NO3- was lower aside concentration in the anaerobic pond. The effluent should further be treated to reduce NH3 concentration using different treatment options such as the filter beds or constructed wetland prior to reuse for agriculture. Key words: Faecal sludge, stabilisation pond, nitrogen compounds, nitrification, denitrification.

The pond irrigation system, which is an example of the great wisdom of our ancestors in the early twentieth century, increases the effective rainfall by using geographic features to overcome hydrologic disadvantages. The concept of the pond irrigation system is to reserve excess runoff in farm ponds as if in small reservoirs and then to supply water to farmland during drought periods. The purpose of this study is to promote the original function of the pond irrigation system in Tao-Yuan Area. The irrigation system model shows how agriculture water demand in a region can be satisfied by adjusting system dynamics such as canals, river weirs, and farm ponds. Two methods are (1) deep-ponding irrigation and (2) adjusting the backup storage ratio of farm ponds between up and down stream. The analytical results show that deep-ponding irrigation can use effective rainfall to reduce agricultural water demand from Shih-Men Reservoir and increase the efficiency of water used for farming. Furthermore, during drought periods and/or periods of inadequate reservoir water supply, the downstream region adopts higher ratio in backup storage than upstream, can reduce excessive reserving water in upper ponds and increase storage capacity in lower ponds to store more return flow.

The state of right pond of two nearly located small ponds in Samara-city was described. 47 Rotatoria species (26 genus, 18 familiars) was found in 2010, the list of met rotifer species is quoted. The Brachionidae, Phylodinidae and Synchaetidae have maximum species quantity. The numerity and biomass seasonal dynamics was studied. Two numerity and biomass growths (in May and August) observes in majority Rotifera populations. Brachionidae i Synchaetidae had maximal numerity, Asplanchnidae and Synchaetidae have maximal biomass. The Rotatoria numerity was in twice more than in near located pond. Value of index species similarity of Serensen is equal 7,27. The Shannon and Pielu indexes was calculated. 17 water Insect species lives in pond. Crustaceans, Gastropods, Turbellaria, Nematoda, Oligochaeta and Ciliophora was founded in pond. The fish Perccottus glenii was founded too. The chemical analisis show four water characteristics was greater than LAC values. The pond water toxicity for Daphnia was studied in laboratory, the N.S.Stroganov standart method was used. The pond water didn't show negative influence for Daphnia survival and fecundity. The species numerity in studied pond is greater than in some urbanized water bodies. The pond ecosystem state is close to satisfactory.

The biodiversity are related to environmental status, the natural ponds contained more aquatic plant diversity than paddy field. Some species were found only in paddy fields e.g. Najas Graminea Del., while, some species were found only in natural water pond such as Ceratophyllum demersum Linn. Therefore these major species were selected for herbicide effect testing. The effect of glyphosate and butachlor on aquatic plant was observed in experiment, the color and morphology showed changing related to higher dose treatment. The RAPD profiles was analyzed for genomic template stability (GTS), the results indicated that GTS of Hydrilla verticellata was lowest (7.14%GTS), follow by Utricularia aurea lour (30.77 % GTS), Najas Graminea Del (38.71 %GTS), and Nitella sp. (59.38%GTS), respectively. The results indicated that these herbicides caused abnormally morphology and DNA instability, the RAPD profile cloud be used as biomarker for detection of herbicide contamination in aquatic ecological system.

Safety monitoring of the tailings pond is one of the most important actual issues needs to be solved in the mining development. In this paper, facing the problems that large tailings pond covers a great span and there are no stability features on the tailings pond surface, a novel surface parameter estimation method based on some typical marking poles and the monocular vision-based measurement techniques has been proposed. In this method, after internal and external parameters calibration of the camera system, image segmentation and pole detection are carried out firstly using a linear combination of the suitable color components. Secondly, precise positioning of the contact point between the pole and pond surface will be done based on the priori knowledge about the pole position and the model about the shape of contact area, and then the final plane parameters of the pond surface will be estimated accurately using the contact points of 4 marking poles. Experimental and real case application results show that this proposed method can well meet the accuracy requirements of large tailings pond's surface measurement and safety monitoring.

Jaffna district located north part of Sri Lanka comprising 7 islands and lies beneath by Miocene limestone aquifer where groundwater found within the karst holes created in the aquifer. Over one thousand ponds are playing a major role in aquifer refilling along the Jaffna district. Seawater barrier between the Navatkuli and Thondamanaru assists to hold rainwater in the lagoon and control seawater intrusion. The population of the Jaffna Peninsula depend on their drinking water requirement from dug wells and tube wells where agriculture purposes most of the farmers are using the ponds and agro-wells. Land use practices of the Jaffna is influenced the groundwater quality. The study ares covers whole Jaffna penesula and three island namely Pungudutheevu, Nagadeepa and Karainagar (929 km2). The area represent 68% of agriculture lands, 19% urban lands and 13% other land use. Thus, in the present study 41 groundwater and 9 surface water samples were collected to represent the agricultural and urban areas of the Jaffna district. Water temperatures, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), pH, and Electric Conductivity (EC) were measured at the site itself using standard meters. N-NO3-, N-NO2-, N-NH3, Total Phosphate (TP), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Hardness (TH) and fluoride were measured using the standard methods. Total Coliform (TC) and Faecal Coliform (FC) count were obtained from membrane filtration methods. Water temperature, EC and DO in groundwater ranged from 27.5 to 31.8o C, 482 to 15750 μS/cm and 2.0 to 15.9 mg/L respectively and ponds water were ranged 28.9 to 32.9o C, 381 to 2227 μS/cm and 0.6 to 17.6 mg/L. Concentration range of N-NO3-, N-NO2-, N-NH3, TP, fluoride, TH and COD in groundwater were <0.1 to 42.1 mg/L, <0.1 to 40.6 μg/L, 1.1 to 10.0 μg/L, 46.2 to 209.8 μg/L, <0.02 to 0.60 mg/L, 80 to 584 mg/L and 1.3 to 311.1 mg/L respectively and these parameters in ponds water ranged from 0.6 to 3.5 mg/L, 1.1 to 2.3 μg/L, <0.1 to 2.5 μg/L, 70.4 to 338.8 μg/L, <0.02 to 0.90 mg/L, 40 to 340 mg/L and 1.3 to 194.6 mg/L. Out of 41 groundwater sources tested, 90% exceed EC, 14% N-NO3- and 34% exceeded TH where 86% and 28% ponds exceeded the EC and TH given by the SLSI drinking water standards. All most all ground and surface water samples were contaminated with TC where 94% of the samples were contaminated with FC. Thus, the over role assessment of water quality in Jaffna district showed that water sources are not good in healthy condition for drinking and much more attention should give to provide safe drinking water. Keywords: Jaffna, Water quality, Microbial contamination

In situ yields inprimary productivity of sand mine ponds of the Otamiri River in Owerri,southeastern Nigeria was investigated during the wet and dry seasons of2012/2013. Eighteen sampling points designated as WC 1-WC 18 and located within9 artificial ponds where active sand mining was ongoing and 9 ponds where ithad ceased were studied. In situ measurements were made for surface watertemperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, conductivity, salinity and totaldissolved solids (TDS) using standard methods. Measurements were also made ofother physicochemical variables. The single factor ANOVA, means plots,Principal Components Analysis (PCA), Pearson correlation (r) and student’st-test were used to analyse data. Gross and net primary productivity (GPP &NPP) as well as community respiration (CR) varied as follows: 0.1800-0.6550(0.3121 ± 0.0377), 0.1013-0.6000 (0.2761 ± 0.0382) and 0.0100-0.0810 (0.03363 ±0.0055) mgCL-1d-1 respectively. There was significant spatial heterogeneity inmean variance of primary productivity [F(169.80)>Fcrit(3.93)] at P<0.05,with the actively sand mined pond showing higher productivity, accompanied withhigher nutrients (PO42-, NO3-, SO42-) concentrations and slightly higherturbidities than the non-mined pond. Productivities also differed markedly(Sig. t=0.000) between the seasons, with higher dry than wet season yields. Thefirst four PCs formed the extraction solution in the original 16physicochemical parameters measured with a cumulative 95% variabilitycontribution. The components had high loadings for the nutrients and turbidityfactors. GPP correlated with PO42- (r=0.976), NO3- (r=0.955) and turbidity(r=-0.946) at P<0.01. Active sand mining appeared to enhance primaryproductivity in the mine pond through re-suspension and elevation of growthnutrients in water column, even as this was associated with slightly increasingturbidities.

Biodiversity is a key element of ecosystem of which function provides essential product and service in human life. In the course since development projects often causes damages to biodiversity, environmental impact assessment technique must be capable of accurately assessing potential impact from flora and fauna and to entire ecosystem. Korea needs improvement of its assessment technique that is compatible with Korean environmental regulatory standard that is generally stricter than that of most countries. This study attempts to explore both domestic and overseas biodiversity assessment techniques and analyze each stage of environmental impact assessment. The data is collected from numbers of literatures selected by navigating both domestic and overseas literature database with certain keywords. Among the 44 selected papers, overseas publications outnumber those of domestics, and there are more researches on assessment methodology of biodiversity than assessment tool and model. In terms of environmental impact assessment, the number of papers on environmental impact forecast exceeds the numbers of papers on current state of environment and the impact minimizing solution. Therefore, contents and trends of those researches in the different stages of environmental impact assessment discussed in this paper not only suggest potential impact on biodiversity and minimization solutions in detail, but is also a valuable resource particularly