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The lack of information regarding biodiversity status hampers designing and implementing conservation strategies and achieving future targets. Northern Pakistan consists of a unique ecoregion mosaic which supports a myriad of environmental niches for anuran diversity in comparison to the deserts and xeric shrublands throughout the rest of the country. In order to study the niche suitability, species overlap and distribution patterns in Pakistan, we collected observational data for nine anuran species across several distinct ecoregions by surveying 87 randomly selected locations from 2016 to 2018 in Rawalpindi District and Islamabad Capital Territory. Our model showed that the precipitation of the warmest and coldest quarter, distance to rivers and vegetation were the greatest drivers of anuran distribution, expectedly indicating that the presence of humid forests and proximity to waterways greatly influences the habitable range of anurans in Pakistan. Sympatric overlap between species occurred at significantly higher density in tropical and subtropical coniferous forests than in other ecoregion types. We found species such as Minervarya spp., Hoplobatrachus tigerinus and Euphlyctis spp. preferred the lowlands in proximal, central and southern parts of the study area proximal to urban settlements, with little vegetation and higher average temperatures. Duttaphrynus bengalensis and D. stomaticus had scattered distributions throughout the study area with no clear preference for elevation. Sphaerotheca pashchima was patchily distributed in the midwestern extent of the study area as well as the foothills to the north. Microhyla nilphamariensis was widely distributed throughout the study area with a preference for both lowlands and montane terrain. Endemic frogs (Nanorana vicina and Allopaa hazarensis) were observed only in locations with higher elevations, higher density of streams and lower average temperatures as compared to the other seven species sampled. It is recommended to provide legal protection to amphibians of Pakistan, especially endemic species, through revision in the existing wildlife laws. We suggest studying the effectiveness of existing amphibian tunnels and corridors or designing new ones tailored to the needs of our species to prevent their local extinction due to ongoing or proposed urban development which might affect their dispersal and colonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managing municipal solid waste (MSW) is indispensable for public health and quality living standards in urban and rural environments. Suitable landfill site selection (LSS) requires the consideration of many diverse criteria. This study uses various environmental, social and economic criteria in a sophisticated multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) within the geographical information system (GIS) and aims to provide a scientific basis for the identification of suitable landfill sites which can efficiently be used for MSW in one of the most urbanized cities (Peshawar district) in Pakistan. The methodology involves pairwise comparisons of the selected and ranked criteria using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). A weighted linear combination (WLC) was applied to generate the most suitable landfill site for MSW disposal within the study area. The results show that approximately 11.4% (14,485.15 ha) and 16.6% (21,211.95 ha) of the total study area are either very highly suitable or highly suitable, 20.8% (26,525.56 ha) area is unsuitable and the remaining areas are either low (27.3%; 34,834.84 ha) or moderately suitable (23.8%; 30,356.84 ha) for the construction of landfill sites. It is recommended that using the proposed landfill sites would have the least consequences of public health risks and environmental degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land is one of the most vital nonrenewable resources that guarantee the survival and development of humans on planet Earth. In the 21st century, rapid population growth accompanied by expeditious industrialization and urbanization has led to land degradation and irreparable damage. In Pakistan, land degradation has affected the livelihood of 3.58% of the total population. This study aimed to identify the soil erosion-based land that is degraded in Pakistan through an analytical hierarchal process (AHP). For this purpose, climatic parameters such as vis-a-vis precipitation, temperature, land use/land cover, soil parameters (i.e., soil pH, soil texture, soil bulk density, and soil moisture content), and topographic parameters (i.e., slope, elevation, aspect, and drainage density) were taken into the consideration. Weights and scores were assigned in integration with a weighted overlay analysis (WOA) to the prioritized parameters. The findings revealed that Zone A comprising high mountains is severely affected by land degradation, followed by Zone D and E (Sindh and Balochistan). Key factors operating in Zone D and E are hyper-arid climatic conditions along with inefficient land management practices. The overall results validated the hypothesis that soil erosion strongly correlates with an increase in the magnitude and severity of land degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change could affect lentic breeding amphibians directly by reducing their survival and fecundity, or indirectly by altering their habitats. Increase of temperature and thermal variation may affect breeding phenology, shift distribution patterns, and the possible spread of epidemics. We have provided a critical review on climate change and extreme weather events in Pakistan to discuss possible future scenarios for assisting with the survival of Pakistan's amphibians. Amphibian species of Pakistan, such as Duttaphrynus himalayanus, Bufotes latastii, B. pseudoraddei, B. baturae, Scutiger occidentalis, Allopaa barmoachensis, A. hazarensis, and Nanorana vicina inhabiting the northern region of the country might experience the effects of warmer atmospheric temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, glacier melting, and flash floods while species found in the southwestern arid terrain, such as Bufotes surdus, B. zugmayeri, Duttaphrynus olivaceus, and Chrysopaa sternosignata are expected to suffer from drought and excessive heat. We suggest studying the impact of these changes in the climate to understand the response of amphibian species of Pakistan so that appropriate mitigation strategies, such as ditch draining in areas experiencing drought, could be devised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using bibliometrics enables the identification of hotspots in the literature and the discovery of patterns in science. The study was carried out to systematically analyze the published articles on fluoride (F) research from September 2011 to 2020 via the Scopus database, which turned out 1,006 records of research articles after specifying the search parameters. Bibexcel and VOS viewer was used to examine and illustrate the data. A total of 46 countries were highlighted which published the highest number of articles; among them, India was on the top with 193 research articles, followed by China (89), the USA (26), Pakistan (43), and Iran (31). The unexpected overall expansion in the distribution of F-related research from 2015 to 2020 is evident proof of the rising issue of worldwide F tainting. Southeast Asian countries, viz India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Iran, seem more prone to fluoride contamination in drinking water. A potential reason for the increase is an increasing number of cases of dental and skeletal fluorosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Registering association between urban features and occurrence of herpetofauna provides useful information to urban planners and wildlife managers. We conducted the present study to see if likelihood of occurrence of various herpetofauna species is explained by land use categories, such as forest, open area, croplands, urban areas or wetlands. We aimed to document changes in the urban extent (from 2006 to 2016) and evaluate perception about herpetofauna in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. We recorded ten species of amphibians and 25 of reptiles including Narrow-headed Soft-shell Turtle (Chitra indica) and Soft-shell Turtle (Nilssonia gangetica), listed as Endangered and Vulnerable in the IUCN list of threatened species, respectively. The binary logistic regression was statistically significant and explained likelihood of occurrence of Murree Hills Frog, Hazara Torrent Frog, Fat-tail Gecko, Striped Grass Skink and Russell's Viper in natural areas such as forest and open land while Brown River Turtle, House Gecko, Black Cobra and Saw-scale Viper in urban features such as roadside, residential areas, urban streams and croplands. The satellite images showed considerable increase in built up and urban areas in Rawalpindi, Gujar Khan, and Islamabad Capital Territory. The univariate generalized linear model revealed that the change in area of all the other studied land use categories was also significant. Of 251 respondents interviewed from the study area, 76% were interested in the study of birds, 20% in mammals and only 1% in amphibians and reptiles. Interestingly, 58% of the respondents were unaware of significance of herpetofauna such as their role as bio-indicator and role in food chain which might have caused this bias in their perception. The awareness level differed significantly between male and female respondents. The survey data suggested that social media is the best platform to create awareness about amphibians and reptiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequency and intensity of extreme weather events are immensely changing throughout the world. This study aims to give insight into the changing climatic patterns leading to severe flood and drought conditions in the interior of Punjab province of Pakistan and devise adaptation strategies for risk governance. Landsat TM 30 m imagery was processed for flood analysis, while for drought analysis, Land Surface Temperature, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI) were calculated from MODIS (MOD11A2 and MOD13A2) imageries. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted to prepare a management plan based on views of experts and local communities. The main regions affected by extreme events (flood and drought) in interior Punjab were Bahawalpur, Faisalabad, Mianwali, Multan, Sargodha, and Rahim Yar Khan. Supervised classification shows flooding in the Mianwali district during August 2010, and TVDI values show that drought prevailed during the year 2000 in the Bahawalpur district. Annual precipitation showed a significant trend in Sargodha and Mianwali with the magnitude of 6.95 mm/year and 2.97 mm/year, respectively. However, SPI moves to positive in the case of all studied districts except Sargodha where temperature change is 0.6 °C. Climatic analysis and survey show that the people of districts, i.e., Faisalabad, Mianwali, Multan, and Sargodha, were more affected by floods, whereas the people of districts, i.e., Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan, were affected by both flood and drought. Adaptation strategies suggest that the flood water should be conserved which can help farmers in irrigation throughout the year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to assess the spatial patterns of selected dust-borne trace elements alongside the river Indus Pakistan, their relation with anthropogenic and natural sources, and the potential risk posed to human health. The studied elements were found in descending concentrations: Mn, Zn, Pb, Cu, Ni, Cr, Co, and Cd. The Index of Geo-accumulation indicated that pollution of trace metals were higher in lower Indus plains than on mountain areas. In general, the toxic elements Cr, Mn, Co and Ni exhibited altitudinal trends ( P < 0.05 ). The few exceptions to this trend were the higher values for all studied elements from the northern wet mountainous zone (low lying Himalaya). Spatial PCA/FA highlighted that the sources of different trace elements were zone specific, thus pointing to both geological influences and anthropogenic activities. The Hazard Index for Co and for Mn in children exceeded the value of 1 only in the riverine delta zone and in the southern low lying zone, whereas the Hazard Index for Pb was above the bench mark for both children and adults (with few exceptions) in all regions, thus indicating potential non-carcinogenic health risks. These results will contribute towards the environmental management of trace metal(s) with potential risk for human health throughout Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the identification and quantification of airborne pollen grains from allergenic plant species and their relationship with meteorological factors, i.e. maximum and minimum daily temperature, relative humidity, rainfall and wind speed in the city of Islamabad, Pakistan. An aerobiological data set (2010–2012), collected using rotorod samplers in five different sectors of the city, was supplied by the Pakistan Meteorological Department. Pollen of eight allergenic species was identified amongst whichBroussonetia papyriferaexceeded the highest pollen level and, therefore, likely played a key role in aggravating the symptoms of pollen allergy in the city. The mean weekly pollen counts were next correlated with the weekly number of allergic patients visiting hospitals during 2010–2011. Clinical data were acquired from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences. The highest number of allergic patients visiting hospital was usually observed during weeks with high pollen level. These results suggest a close relationship between the pollen concentration in the air and the allergy symptoms. Spearman’s rank correlation analysis was performed to establish the relationships between meteorological parameters and daily average pollen counts. A pollen calendar for the Islamabad city was also prepared to provide a guide for the timing and duration of season for all encountered pollen types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flooding is among the most catastrophic and common natural events. It not only endangers human lives, their livelihoods, and possessions but also devastates the nation’s economy. Increased flooding is an inevitable consequence of climate change. Hence, Identification of flood suspectable hotspots is vital for flood risk management along with disaster handling. The primary objective of this research is to use a frequency ratio model to classify flood-prone zones in two provinces of Pakistan. The flood inventory map was developed using 230 flood location points in Northern Sindh and Southern Punjab. Aspect, profile curvature, elevation, slope, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference soil index (NDSI), distance from the road, distance from the river, land use/land cover (LULC) and rainfall were among the ten (10) determining factors. The data were randomly divided into two distinct datasets, with 70% flood points (161) used for inventory formulation and the other 30% (69 flood points) for result validation. The flood vulnerability map was categorized into five different zones ranging from very low (19.73%) to very high (20.37%) susceptibility range. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) and area under curve (AUC) was used to demonstrate the prediction result that yielded a reasonable score of 77.4%. The study suggested that in comparison to other studied districts, Jacobabad is the most prone region with acute vulnerability and constrained resilience. The presented data can serve as a source for tracking, assessing, and predicting potential flood activity in the area and could be beneficial for planners and decision-makers involved in early disaster response planning within the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provided the first hand data of trace elements into fish muscles (N = 65) collected from river Chenab in Pakistan during 2013, using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). We monitored the health risk associated with consumption of contaminated fish of river Chenab, by the local population. The mean concentrations (μg/g, wet weight), in descending order were: Zn (35.5–54.4), Cu (1.38–4.57), Mn (2.43–4.5), As (0.23–1.21), Cr (0.21–0.67), Ni (0.14–0.34), Pb (0.14–0.31), Co (0.09–0.12), Cd (0.07–0.12) with higher concentration to be observed in the herbivore fish species (i.e., Cirrhinus reba and Catla catla ). The levels of trace elements in different fish species found in this study were compared with similar data worldwide, and with the international standards for consumption. The concentration (μg/g) of arsenic in many cases (>65%) exceeded the FAO/WHO expert committee on food additives permissible limits. From the human health point of view, this study highlights that the local inhabitants, (i.e., fisher folk communities and population frequently consuming fish at about 100 g/day) along the river Chenab are exposed chronically to arsenic pollution with carcinogenic (10 −4 to 10 −6 ) and non-carcinogenic (THQ>1) risks, especially from the intake of Cirrhinus reba . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The consumption of contaminated drinking water is one of the major causes of mortality and many severe diseases in developing countries. The principal drinking water sources in Pakistan, i.e. ground and surface water, are subject to geogenic and anthropogenic trace metal contamination. However, water quality monitoring activities have been limited to a few administrative areas and a nationwide human health risk assessment from trace metal exposure is lacking. Using geographically weighted regression (GWR) and eight relevant spatial predictors, we calculated nationwide human health risk maps by predicting the concentration of 10 trace metals in the drinking water sources of Pakistan and comparing them to guideline values. GWR incorporated local variations of trace metal concentrations into prediction models and hence mitigated effects of large distances between sampled districts due to data scarcity. Predicted concentrations mostly exhibited high accuracy and low uncertainty, and were in good agreement with observed concentrations. Concentrations for Central Pakistan were predicted with higher accuracy than for the North and South. A maximum 150–200 fold exceedance of guideline values was observed for predicted cadmium concentrations in ground water and arsenic concentrations in surface water. In more than 53% (4 and 100% for the lower and upper boundaries of 95% confidence interval (CI)) of the total area of Pakistan, the drinking water was predicted to be at risk of contamination from arsenic, chromium, iron, nickel and lead. The area with elevated risks is inhabited by more than 74 million (8 and 172 million for the lower and upper boundaries of 95% CI) people. Although these predictions require further validation by field monitoring, the results can inform disease mitigation and water resources management regarding potential hot spots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]