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Background: The Thondi coast is rich in valuable natural marine resources and socio-economically significant activities like agriculture, aquaculture, and fishing. The area receives an excess of untreated solid and liquid waste as a result of these activities. The study focuses on the abundance, distribution, and status of the Clean-Coast Index (CCI) of marine debris from the Thondi coast, Palk Bay, Southeast coast of India. This is the first research work focused on assessing the type and quantity of marine debris on the Thondi coast. Results: A total of 1636 marine debris items/m2 and their 4.09 concentration of the items/m2 were determined in the marine debris: plastics (77.49%), cotton swabs (8.62%), cigarette butts (10.15%), and food containers (3.73%). From the result, the CCI had ranged between 4.25 (clean) and 20.4 (extremely dirty) with a mean of 8.92 (moderate) in the Thondi coast assessed. Conclusion: This study was conducted for the first time in this region. Finally, the high CCI value of 20.4 on the coast indicated that the marine debris pollution levels were high at the time of sampling in the middle part of the Thondi coast (most of the beaches are covered with plastic) due to land-based marine debris (62.45%), sea-originated marine debris (21.14%), and unknown sources (16.41%) of the items. Our findings served as a baseline for potential evaluations of the marine environment. Input prevention should be the goal of management efforts, including proper waste management, plastic recycling, and stringent penalties for illegal waste dumping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The concentration of heavy metals and their spatial distribution in surface sediments collected from the Thondi coast, Palk Bay, South India were analysed in this study. The sediment grain size, pH, EC, and major elements (Fe, and Al), heavy metal concentrations (Mn, Cr, Zn, Cd, Ni, Cu, and Pb) were determined and the values for the geoaccumulation index (Igeo), enrichment factor (EF), potential contamination index (Cp), potential ecological risk index (RI), contamination factor (CF), modified contamination degree (mCd), degree of contamination (Cd), and potential contamination factors (Cp) were calculated based on their background values to determine the pollution level of the study area. Multivariate analysis such as Pearson's correlation coefficient, principal component analysis/factor analysis (PCA/FA), cluster analysis, and regression analysis are a versatile method for identifying heavy metal sources and determining the relationship between pollutants in marine sediment. Results: The pollution indices, namely EF, CF, Cd, mCd, CP, RI, and Igeo, revealed that the heavy metal contamination was due to Cd, while a moderate level of contamination was caused by Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cr. The principal component analysis and correlation matrix analysis showed a strong positive loading for Cd due to its high level of contamination in the study area. Anthropogenic inputs such as municipal wastewater, domestic sewage discharge, fishing harbour activities, and industrial and aquaculture wastes led to the increased Cd concentration in the study area. Moreover, the pollution load index revealed that the sediments were polluted by heavy metals. Conclusion: The findings of this study revealed that the increased concentration of heavy metals in the study area increases the toxicity in the marine environment, thus affecting the ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of marine litter is increasing along the Indian coast. For conducting a baseline study to identify and assess the abundance, clean-coast index (CCI), and plastics abundance index (PAI) of marine litter were calculated on the beaches of Kanyakumari, Southern India. A total of 11,439 marine litter items were collected and classified into 33 groups along the 7 beaches of Kanyakumari. From the results, plastics were the most abundant items (65.08 %) followed by foam (21.93 %), along with cloths (4.59 %), rubber (3.09 %), papers (2.26 %), glass (2.16 %), metal (0.38 %), wood (0.26 %), and others (0.26 %). The average CCI value (27.24) indicates that all beaches are ' extremely dirty '; however, the PAI average value (4.37) indicates ' high abundance '. About 96.87 % of the marine litter originates from the land-based sources. This study provides an interpretive framework for further plastic pollution assessment, which could lead to a better marine litter management on Indian beaches. • 11,439 marine litter items, and their density of 6.71 items/m2 were identified. • Plastic litter with an average density of 4.37 items/m2, was the most abundant. • The average value of CCI (27.24) indicates the beaches were ' extremely dirty '. • The PAI (71.43 %) confirmed that five beaches have ' high abundance '. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continuous development of antimicrobial resistance and appearance of new diseases necessitate use of novel and effective antimicrobial molecules. This research work was planned to determine the antimicrobial and metabolite profiling of Streptomyces filamentosus strain KS17 from unexplored regions of Devbag beach, India. The Streptomyce s filamentosus strain KS17 was screened and was subjected to various characterization techniques. Antagonistic activity of ethyl acetate extract was carried out and finally spectral and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis was done. The Streptomyces filamentosus strain KS17 displayed a strong antimicrobial activity on cross streak method. The organism produced greyish and light yellow mycelia and optimal growth was observed at 30–35 ℃ and expressed an evolutionary relationship with Streptomyces filamentosus strain Act74 (KT996121). The UV spectrum exhibited active peak at 213 nm. The ethyl acetate extract exhibited significant antimicrobial activity against bacteria and yeasts, such as S. flexneri , E. coli , K. pneumoniae , B. cereus , S. aureus , E. faecalis , B. subtilis , C. albicans and C. glabrata. The gram negative bacteria P. aeruginosa was unsusceptible. The metabolite profiling through GC-MS acquainted the presence of 30 bioactive compounds having antibacterial, anticancer properties. Pentane, 2,4-dimethyl- (40.75%), Stigmast-5-en-3-ol, oleate (17.09%), 2-methylhexacosane (4.52%), 9-Octadecenoic acid, 1,2,3-propanetriyl ester, (E , E , E)- (3.85%) and Phthalic acid, di(2-propylpentyl) ester (2.82%) were the leading compounds available in extract. These compounds are known to have strong antibacterial and antifungal activity. In conclusion, the results clearly suggest the possibility of Streptomyces filamentosus strain KS17 as optimistic candidate for the development of potential antimicrobial drugs after structure elucidation and detail characterizations of bioactive metabolite. [Display omitted] • Streptomyces filamentosus strain KS17 was isolated from marine sediment samples. • The organism was identified as Streptomyces filamentosus through gene sequencing. • Streptomyces filamentosus strain KS17 showed smooth & rectiflexibiles spore chains. • The organism exhibited significant antimicrobial activity against pathogens. • The GC-MS analysis reported 30 compounds having several biological activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]