Ecological Units Research Articles

The human gut microbiome in health and disease: time for a new chapter?

The gut microbiome, composed of the colonic microbiota and their host environment, is important for many aspects of human health. A gut microbiome imbalance (gut dysbiosis) is associated with major causes of human morbidity and mortality. Despite the central part our gut microbiome plays in health and disease, mechanisms that maintain homeostasis and properties that demarcate dysbiosis remain largely undefined. Here we discuss that sorting taxa into meaningful ecological units reveals that the availability of respiratory electron acceptors, such as oxygen, in the host environment has a dominant influence on gut microbiome health. During homeostasis, host functions that limit the diffusion of oxygen into the colonic lumen shelter a microbial community dominated by primary fermenters from atmospheric oxygen. In turn, primary fermenters break down unabsorbed nutrients into fermentation products that support host nutrition. This symbiotic relationship is disrupted when host functions that limit the luminal availability of host-derived electron acceptors become weakened. The resulting changes in the host environment drive alterations in the microbiota composition, which feature an elevated abundance of facultatively anaerobic microbes. Thus, the part of the gut microbiome that becomes imbalanced during dysbiosis is the host environment, whereas changes in the microbiota composition are secondary to this underlying cause. This shift in our understanding of dysbiosis provides a novel starting point for therapeutic strategies to restore microbiome health. Such strategies can either target the microbes through metabolism-based editing or strengthen the host functions that control their environment.

Plant-Driven Assembly of Disease-Suppressive Soil Microbiomes

Plants have coevolved together with the microbes that surround them and this assemblage of host and microbes functions as a discrete ecological unit called a holobiont. This review outlines plant-driven assembly of disease-suppressive microbiomes. Plants are colonized by microbes from seed, soil, and air but selectively shape the microbiome with root exudates, creating microenvironment hot spots where microbes thrive. Using plant immunity for gatekeeping and surveillance, host-plant genetic properties govern microbiome assembly and can confer adaptive advantages to the holobiont. These advantages manifest in disease-suppressive soils, where buildup of specific microbes inhibits the causal agent of disease, that typically develop after an initial disease outbreak. Based on disease-suppressive soils such as take-all decline, we developed a conceptual model of how plants in response to pathogen attack cry for help and recruit plant-protective microbes that confer increased resistance. Thereby, plants create a soilborne legacy that protects subsequent generations and forms disease-suppressive soils.

Comparative analysis of upper body kinematics in stroke, Parkinson's disease, and healthy subjects: An observational study using IMU-based targeted box and block test

BackgroundThe Box and Block Test (BBT) is an essential and widely used test in rehabilitation for the assessment of gross unilateral manual dexterity. Although it is a valid, simple, and ecological instrument, it does not provide a quantitative measure of the upper limb trajectories during the test. Research questionThe study introduces a new motion-capture-based method (using ecological Inertial Measurement Units - IMUs) to evaluate upper body kinematics while performing a targeted version of BBT (tBBT). MethodsThis observational study compares data from 35 healthy subjects, 35 subjects with Parkinson’s disease, and 35 post-stroke individuals to evaluate upper limb kinematics during tBBT quantitatively. Seven IMUs were placed on the trunk, head, and upper limb of each subject. The joint angles and kinematic scores were calculated and analyzed. Motor task execution time and kinematic scores were statistically correlated with clinical assessment measures. Kruskal-Wallis between groups test and Dunn-Bonferroni post-hoc were used. ResultsThe statistics revealed significant differences (p<0.05) among the three groups. The analyzed joint angles highlight various compensatory strategies in neurological subjects, such as using the trunk to complete a motor task instead of the shoulder and using the wrist instead of the elbow, along with differences in movement fluidity (DimensionLess-Jerk, p<0.05). A positive correlation was found between kinematics and the Fugl-Meyer Assessment-Upper Limb (r=0.7344; p<0.01), and a negative correlation between kinematics and the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (r=-0.5286; p<0.01). SignificanceThe quantitative assessments of joint kinematics correlated to clinical assessments could guarantee a new method of assessment of the upper limb in subjects with motor deficits. This would allow to capture new insight into the characteristics of the subject’s disability, with implications for the choice of a personalized rehabilitation treatment focused on the motor recovery of the upper limb.

Structure of higher-order interactions in social-ecological networks through Q-analysis of their neighbourhood and clique complex.

This paper studies higher-order interactions in social-ecological networks, which formally represent interactions within the social and ecological units of an ecosystem. Many real-world social ecosystems exhibit not only pairwise interactions but also higher-order interactions among their units. Therefore, the conventional graph-theoretic description of networks falls short of capturing these higher-order interactions due to the inherent limitations of the graph definition. In this work, a mathematical framework for capturing the higher-order interactions of a social-ecological system has been given by incorporating notions from combinatorial algebraic topology. In order to achieve this, two different simplicial complexes, the clique and the neighbourhood complex, have been constructed from a pairwise social-ecological network. As a case study, the Q-analysis and a structural study of the interactions in the rural agricultural system of southern Madagascar have been done at various structural levels denoted by q. The results obtained by calculating all the structural vectors for both simplicial complexes, along with exciting results about the participation of facets of the clique complex at different q-levels, have been discussed. This work also establishes significant theorems concerning the dimension of the neighbourhood complex and clique complex obtained from the parent pairwise network.

IMPACT OF DIFFERENT ORGANIC AND INORGANIC AMENDMENTS ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF MUNG BEAN IRRIGATED WITH TEXTILE EFFLUENTS

Water is an important substance for all life on earth, and it is essential for human beings, financial improvement, and the existence of ecological units. The quality and quantity of the water supply is very important, especially during irrigation. Due to the extensive measurement of water and colour associated with the manufacturing process, textile printing, and dyeing production lines around the world pose a major environmental risk. Textile wastewater contains a lot of pollutants including pH, temperature, shade, COD, BOD, TSS, TDS, EC, and heavy metals. This textile runoff continues to irrigate agricultural land, causing contamination of soils and plant systems with heavy metals. Therefore, adding organic and inorganic modifiers to soil is an effective technique for fixing heavy metals. Irrigate pots with textile wastewater of selected concentrations (10%, 25%, 50%, and 100%) collected in specific industrial sectors. The parameters of vegetative growth are reduced by increasing the concentration of textile effluent. Note the substantial reduction in the growth of plants applying wastewater at 100% concentration. In the case of T5, a significant increase in growth parameters was observed, where only tap water was used to pressurize the sludge, while dilute wastewater also enhanced growth at concentrations of 10% and 25%. For the chlorophyll content of mung bean plants, when the wastewater concentration is 100%, the recorded decrease is greater, followed by 10% and 25% respectively. The presence of heavy metals in wastewater reduces plant growth. In the experiment, all four treatments contained organic amendments (pressed sludge, poultry manure, biogas slurry, and farmyard manure). The other four treatment methods are pressure treatment of textile wastewater and the amount of organic modifier is 2%. By adding a correcting agent, the utilization rate of Cr is reduced, as the correcting agent will increase the pH of the soil, thus reducing the solubility of the metal. In addition, Cr can form insoluble complexes with organic materials, thus reducing its solubility.

Monitoring of Plant Ecological Units Cover Dynamics in a Semiarid Landscape from Past to Future Using Multi-Layer Perceptron and Markov Chain Model

Anthropogenic activities and natural disturbances cause changes in natural ecosystems, leading to altered Plant Ecological Units (PEUs). Despite a long history of land use and land cover change detection, the creation of change detection maps of PEUs remains problematic, especially in arid and semiarid landscape. This study aimed to determine and describe the changes in PEUs patterns in the past and present, and also predict and monitor future PEUs dynamics using the multi-layer perceptron-Markov chain (MLP-MC) model in a semiarid landscape in Central Zagros, Iran. Analysis of PEUs classification maps formed the basis for the identification of the main drivers in PEUs changes. First, an optimal time-series dataset of Landsat images were selected to derive PEUs classification maps in three periods, each separated by 16 years. Then, PEUs multi-temporal maps classified for period 1 (years 1986–1988) period 2 (years 2002–2004), and period 3 (years 2018–2020) were employed to analyze and predict PEUs dynamics. The dominant transitions were identified, and the transition potential was determined by developing twelve sub-models in the final change prediction process. Transitions were modeled using a Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) algorithm. To predict the PEU map for period 3, two PEUs classification maps of period 1 and period 2 were used using the MLP-MC method. The classified map and the predicted map of period 3 were used to evaluate and validate the predicted results. Finally, based on the results, transitions of future PEUs were predicted for the year 2036. The MLP-MC model proved to be a powerful model that can predict future PEUs dynamics that are the result of current human and managerial activities. The findings of this study demonstrate that the impact of anthropogenic processes and management activities will become visible in the natural environment and ecosystem in less than a decade.

OmniCharger: CNN-based Hand Gesture Interface to Operate an Electric Car Charging Robot through Teleconference

The automation of the car charging process is motivated by the rapid development of technologies for self-driving cars and the increasing importance of ecological transportation units. Automation of this process requires the implementation of Computer Vision (CV) techniques. However, it remains challenging to precisely position the charger plug autonomously due to the sensitivity of CV algorithms to lighting and weather conditions. We introduce a novel robotic operation system based on hand gesture recognition through teleconferencing software. The users, connected by teleconference, use their hand gestures to teleoperate the electric plug located on the collaborative robot end-effector. We conducted a user study to evaluate the system performance and suitability using OmniCharger and two baseline interfaces (a UR10 Teach Pendant and a Logitech F710 Wireless Gamepad). Except for two trials, all the users were able to locate the plug inside of a 5 cm target using the interfaces. The distance to the target and the orientation error did not present statistically significant differences ( \(p=0.1099\,{\gt}\,0.05\) and \(p=0.0903\,{\gt}\,0.05\) , respectively) in the use of the three interfaces. The NASA TLX questionnaire results showed low values in all the sub-classes, the SUS results rated the usability of the proposed interface above average (68%), and the UEQ showed excellent performance of the OmniCharger interface in the attractiveness, stimulation, and novelty attributes.

Analysis of Wildfire Susceptibility by Weight of Evidence, Using Geomorphological and Environmental Factors in the Marche Region, Central Italy

Fires are a growing problem even in temperate climate areas, such as those in Central Italy, due to climate change leading to longer and longer periods of drought. Thus, knowing the fire susceptibility of an area is crucial for good planning and taking appropriate countermeasures. In this context, it was decided to use only causal factors of a geomorphological and environmental nature in order to obtain a fire susceptibility analysis that can also be applied to climatically under-sampled areas. Vector data of fires in Central Italy from 2005 to 2023 were collected, and the correct areal extent was calculated for each. At the same time, six factors were selected that could have an influence on fire development, such as ecological units, topographic wetness index (TWI), geology, slope, exposure, and altitude. The model was obtained by means of the weight of evidence statistical method, which takes into account past data by reinterpreting them in a future-oriented way on the basis of the identified factors and classes. The model was validated with a test sample and shows an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.72 with a reliability that can be described as good considering the total absence of climatic factors that are known to play a major role in fire development. Furthermore, the identified causal factors were divided into classes, and these were carefully weighted in order to define their relative influence in the study area. Particularly Ecological Units with characteristic and well-defined contrast (C) values, which could lead to a more complete definition of forests that tend to increase fire susceptibility and those that tend to decrease it, allowing the latter to be exploited as a hazard mitigation agent.

Reference site selection based on state-and-transition models for soil health gap evaluation within cropland reference ecological units

Comparative soil health studies are critical in soil conservation and gauging the success of different management practices in soil health improvement. A primary challenge in these studies is the selection of a consistent natural reference site. Current choices vary widely, from minimally disturbed areas to pristine prairies. This methodological paper underscores the need for deliberate and thoughtful reference site selection for benchmark soil properties. Utilizing the State &Transition models, the study introduces a framework for this selection, drawing upon the ecological site (ES) and reference plant communities detailed in an ecological site description (ESD) within a respective Major Land Resource Area (MLRA). This study advocates for a localized classification within the framework of the Cropland Reference Ecological Unit (CREU), emphasizing the significance of local precipitation and soil data to ensure unbiased comparisons. Soil samples from eastern (MLRA 106) and western (MLRA 67A) Nebraska were collected, representing distinct pedogenetic and climatic differences. Analysis of soil organic matter between MLRAs displayed substantial variations, suggesting potential biases and complexities in soil health gap calculations when using reference sites and croplands not in the same MLRA, soil types (texture class), or precipitation zones. However, refining the comparisons by delineating the MLRA, soil, and precipitation zones within the framework of CREU yielded more consistent and realistic comparative data. Integrating the MLRA and ES, complemented by granular soil and precipitation data, provides a robust method for establishing soil health benchmark data.

Landscape Ecological Risk Assessment of Saihanba under the Change in Forest Landscape Pattern

Examining the Saihanba Mechanical Forest Farm, this study utilized Landsat remote sensing data from 1987, 1997, 2001, 2013, and 2020 to interpret land use from the Support Vector Machine (SVM) method, and to decipher evolving land use patterns over the last four decades. Grounded in landscape ecology theory, an innovative evaluation index for landscape ecological risk was introduced, leading to the delineation of 382 ecological risk evaluation units. Employing landscape pattern indices and a method of spatial autocorrelation, we analyzed the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics and spatial correlation patterns of landscape ecological risk across five distinct periods. Geostatistical approaches were used to explore the driving factors of landscape risk. The results indicate that since 1987, there have been significant changes in land use types, especially in forest landscapes, their proportion increasing from 23.19% to 74.55%. In 1987, the proportion of high-risk areas was 72.30%, but in 2020, high-risk areas had significantly decreased and clustered in specific locations. The landscape ecological risks in each period of the study area showed a positive spatial correlation and tended to gather in space. After comprehensive exploration using a geographic detector, we found that landscape type, temperature, and vegetation coverage are the main risk factors. Among them, landscape type has the greatest impact on the landscape and works together with slope, aspect, and precipitation. In forest farm management, only the adaptation and adjustment of single factors are often paid attention to, while the compound effects of multiple factors are ignored. The results of this study bring important reference value to the operation and development of forest farms.

Research on Family Sex Education of Chinese College Students Based on System Ecology Theory

The enlightenment and development of family sex education is very important for students, and college students have better protection to avoid a high number of sexual accidents. To prove the importance of enlightenment and development of family sex education, this paper accesses to proper method and attitude to spread sex education in the microsystem of system ecology theory, that is sex education in the family. A comprehensive study was conducted by analyzing a series of papers from the perspective of system ecology theory. Many sexual defects lead to a high number of accidents in college students, but also physical injuries and psychological trauma. Sex education is analyzed in terms of the family as the smallest unit in system ecology because the family should be the unit that initially enlightens sex education. The shortcomings of sex education in China are one of the most serious problems in education. It is clear to recognize the present situation of family sex education which is also regarded as a microsystem in the concept of system ecology, such as the influence of parents’ sexual concepts and parents' educational level. Suggestions for family sex education are necessary to be carried out. Chinese college students lack enlightenment and development of sex education, especially family sex education, the smallest sex education development unit. Therefore, parents should be allowed to establish the concept of correctness and cultivate their ability to sex education at the same time. Sex knowledge in the social publicity should also cooperate with family sex education.

The impact of cross-regional social and ecological interactions on ecosystem service synergies

Increasing socioecological systems (SESs) sustainability requires establishing a reasonable cross-regional social and ecological interaction. In this study, we examine how cross-regional ecological and social interactions affect synergistic effects. Using InVEST and correlation analysis with data from 2010 through 2020, we assessed ESs (i.e., water retention-WR, nutrient retention-NR, and carbon storage-CS) in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region. A small watershed, a river network, and settlement development capacity are used to delineate ecological and social interactions units. Based on a Bayesian network model that considers population, economy, and spatial agglomeration patterns between social units, we assessed the potential for achieving a synergistic improvement of ESs and the driving forces behind them. The results show that ESs in the BTH region compete, only a small percentage (6.38%) shows synergetic improvement across CS, WR, and NR. It is beneficial for upstream watersheds to retain water and nutrients, but to maintain carbon storage they may sacrifice water retention. Upstream areas with less development and higher vegetation density have better ecosystem integrity of up- and down-stream watersheds, and can be enhanced with minimal human impact, as social interactions and settlement spatial structures influence ES synergies. There is a higher risk for ecological issues in downstream areas, but greater awareness and collaboration can lead to better ES synergies.

대학 교양으로서 일반생물학 수업에서 ‘기후 변화’ 교육

Climate change is an urgent and important problem that all humanity must solve. Therefore, it is indisputable that climate change education should be provided in universities, especially as part of liberal education. This study explored possible climate change education in biology. For this purpose, we analyzed the contents of the general biology curriculum in the general education curriculum and investigated and analyzed the topics of the general biology curriculum offered by public and private universities in the metropolitan area and local regions. As a result we came to the conclusion that general biology classes as a liberal arts subject must, in principle, include an ecology unit in the curriculum. However, most universities in Korea do not include this unit in their general biology curriculum. As a countermeasure, even if the entire ecology unit cannot be included in the curriculum for one or two semesters, the class can connect five to six topics related to climate change to other units. Otherwise, like some universities, there is a need to open a separate ecology course. Alternatively, other science courses that include climate change could be offered. In this case, though, guidance is needed for students to take the courses, and the need for climate change education for teachers in charge of course guidance remains an issue. In addition, various other liberal arts education subjects, including not only biology but also natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences, should also make such attempts to help solve the problem of climate change. Moreover, we propose adding content on climate change to the ‘Purpose of Liberal Education’ statement established by the Korea National Institute for General Education.

Ecosystem service values provided by National Parks to residential property owners

This paper focuses on the ecosystem service benefits to homeowners from living in close proximity to three National Parks. Knowing these ecosystem service benefits is of policy and management relevance as expansion of existing Parks and protected areas along ecosystem boundaries often requires acquisition of undeveloped private land or other multiple use public lands, something that local officials may oppose. While the effects on house prices from urban parks, and two other types of U.S. Federal lands have been studied, the effect of lands in the U.S. National Park System on house prices had not been studied at the time of this research. To fill this information gap, hedonic price models were estimated to calculate the effect on residential house prices of proximity to three National Parks (NPs). After controlling for other characteristics of the house, neighborhood, and several other types of open space (e.g., National Forests, County Parks), we estimate house sale prices were on average 9.8% higher for houses within 2 km of National Park boundaries. This house price premium represents the value of the ecosystem services received by homeowners from living in close to these NPs. Quantifiable information on local ecosystem service benefits may ameliorate some concerns by local governments about converting private land or other agencies' multiple use lands in order to expand NPs or protected areas to better reflect ecosystem boundaries rather than historical, and often arbitrary boundaries. In addition, quantifiable information on enhancement of property values may broaden stakeholder groups to include the real estate industry. Thus, our results may support agencies in better achieving their objectives of managing NPs as ecological units.

Application of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Geographic Information System (GIS) in flood hazard analysis in the Rawa Pening Sub-Watershed, Indonesia

The watershed is one of the ecological functional units in a region. The Rawa Pening Sub-Watershed, located in Semarang Regency and its surroundings, is the upper region of the Tuntang Watershed, which experiences periodic floods. Flood hazard disasters occur due to several contributing factors. This phenomenon significantly affects the residents in the Rawa Pening Sub-Watershed, particularly in the agricultural sector, specifically in the local paddy fields. With the development of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in disaster management, it is possible to provide preliminary information on predicting flood hazard zones, particularly in the Rawa Pening Sub-Watershed. This study aimed to determine the most influential parameters and areas highly prone to flood hazards in the Rawa Pening Sub-Watershed. Nine parameters, including elevation, slope, curvature, precipitation, land use, soil type, distance to the river, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, and Topographic Wetness Index, were analyzed based on their respective roles. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) techniques were employed to obtain the flood hazard map. The nine parameters were weighted according to a Forum Group Discussion. The results yielded a flood hazard map divided into five zones: very low (3451,64 Ha / 13,16%), low (5024,29 Ha / 19,16%), moderate (6049,35 Ha / 23,07%), high (7949,67 Ha / 30,31%), and very high (3750,93 Ha / 14,30%).

Genomic basis of environmental adaptation in the widespread poly-extremophilic Exiguobacterium group.

Delineating cohesive ecological units and determining the genetic basis for their environmental adaptation are among the most important objectives in microbiology. In the last decade, many studies have been devoted to characterizing the genetic diversity in microbial populations to address these issues. However, the impact of extreme environmental conditions, such as temperature and salinity, on microbial ecology and evolution remains unclear so far. In order to better understand the mechanisms of adaptation, we studied the (pan)genome of Exiguobacterium, a poly-extremophile bacterium able to grow in a wide range of environments, from permafrost to hot springs. To have the genome for all known Exiguobacterium type strains, we first sequenced those that were not yet available. Using a reverse-ecology approach, we showed how the integration of phylogenomic information, genomic features, gene and pathway enrichment data, regulatory element analyses, protein amino acid composition, and protein structure analyses of the entire Exiguobacterium pangenome allows to sharply delineate ecological units consisting of mesophilic, psychrophilic, halophilic-mesophilic, and halophilic-thermophilic ecotypes. This in-depth study clarified the genetic basis of the defined ecotypes and identified some key mechanisms driving the environmental adaptation to extreme environments. Our study points the way to organizing the vast microbial diversity into meaningful ecologically units, which, in turn, provides insight into how microbial communities adapt and respond to different environmental conditions in a changing world.

Geo-spatial variability in coconut productivity in different agro - ecological units in Kerala-An analysis

Geo-spatial variability in coconut productivity in different agro - ecological units in Kerala-An analysis

Multifunctional Use of Agricultural Land with Support for Selected Ecosystem Services in the Territory Protected Water Management Area Žitný Ostrov

Agroecosystems represent one of the largest managed systems in the world and are also considered to be the largest surface polluters. This is particularly evident in highly vulnerable areas such as the model area assessed in our study, the Protected Water Management Area Žitný Ostrov, which contains the most productive soils in the Slovak Republic. At the same time, the Žitný Ostrov represents the largest groundwater reserves in Central Europe. We based this study on the information system of valued soil ecological units (VSEUs) and their spatial extension to the agricultural soils of Slovakia. We used the synthetic–parametric method for a summary (aggregated) evaluation of the production potential of provisioning soil services, which we have classified into 10 categories (1—very low potential; 10—very high potential). Overall, there were 3000 individual VSEUs identified in the area of interest. By eliminating repetitive VSEUs, we evaluated 72 subtypes and, based on similarity parameters, they were further aggregated into 40 soil subtypes. The result is a spatial representation of the proposed zones within the model area (zones for sustainable economic use of soils with the support for ecologization of agricultural technologies, non-productive land use, cultural and social development of rural areas, and the protection and revitalization of the landscape and its components). The approach is also suitable for use in other areas.

CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS FOR THE USE OF GIS TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE STUDY OF COASTAL ECOSYSTEMS OF THE AZOV-BLACK SEA BASIN IN THE FRAMEWORK OF BLUE GROWTH

Topicality. The paper discusses the possibility of using modern GIS technologies for studying coastal ecosystems of the Azov-Black Sea basin within the framework of blue growth. Today, GIS technologies greatly facilitate the study of the impact of natural and anthropogenic factors on the natural environment. The development of these technologies has increased greatly in recent decades. Now they can be used as a separate and independent tool for research in various areas of production. Based on the results obtained on the basis of GIS technologies, it is possible to draw scientific conclusions or create and implement management decisions to maintain sustainable or resilient development of the state of the environment under significant environmental pressure. Also conduct an economic, environmental, social assessment of the consequences of anthropogenic and natural impacts on marine and coastal ecosystems and the terrestrial ecosystem.Aim and tasks. Scientific substantiation of the possibilities of using modern GIS technologies regarding the sustainable development of the coastal ecosystem of the Azov-Black Sea basin within the framework of blue growth was the aim of the study.Materials and Methods. The studies were based on coastal mapping methods. The classification of environmental parameters based on United States Geological Survey (USGS) data was the initial information. The ecological coastal classification (Ecological Coastal Units (ECU)) was developed by the US Geological Survey (USGS) in collaboration with Esri and the Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON). These data were developed as part of a Group on Earth Observation (GEO) initiative called GEO Ecosystems (GEO ECO). They are linked to the GEO ECO task of developing global data on coastal ecosystems.Research results. The state of the coastal strip of the seas of Ukraine according to the classification of environmental parameters based on data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) was described in this paper. It was stated that the ecological status of coastlines is classified into five ocean parameters, two land parameters and three coastal parameters. The research results showed that the ecological situation of the coastal strips of the seas of Ukraine generally corresponds to the second, third, sixth and fifteenth classes according to the ecological coastal classification.Conclusion. It is presented that the coastal strip classification method discussed in this paper based on US Geological Survey (USGS) data can serve as a very powerful tool in the process of managing coastal zones of the Azov-Black Sea basin. It has been established that GIS technologies at the current stage of development have very great potential for studying coastal ecosystems of the Azov-Black Sea basin within the framework of blue growth.

Distribution of Papaya Ring Spot Virus Infecting Papaya in Kerala, India

In the midst of the rising interest of papaya cultivation in Kerala, it is inevitable to study the current status of the Papaya ring spot disease in the state. Knowing the severity and distribution of PRSV isolates, causing ring spot disease, helps in the better formulation of effective management strategies against it. Purposive sampling surveys carried out in 2021-22 across five agro ecological units (AEUs) of Kerala, recorded papaya ring spot disease incidence (PRSD) ranging from 50 to 100 per cent in the cultivated areas with vulnerability index of 33.54 to 98.22. Highest disease incidence was recorded from AEU 8- Southern Laterites: Thiruvananthapuram (100.0%) and highest vulnerability index was recorded from Kalliyoor (98.22). Twenty symptomatic samples tested positive for PRSV in double antibody sandwich- ELISA (DAS-ELISA) using PRSV polyclonal antiserum. RT-PCR using coat protein gene specific primers RKJ 52 and 3 yielded amplicons of size approximately ~890bp in all the samples. Virulence of the Kerala isolates was evaluated based on the symptom expression, disease incidence and vulnerability index, upon mechanical transmission of PRSV on two months old papaya plants (variety- Red Lady). PRSV isolate from Kalliyoor (TVM1) inoculated on papaya plants expressed chlorosis, mottling, malformation of leaves and stunting with 96.80 vulnerability index. Maximum vulnerability index and severe symptoms including stunting in the inoculated plants were observed in isolates from southern and central Kerala, which include Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha and Thrissur had the most virulent PRSV isolates compared to north Kerala.