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The climate changes impact the surface water quality fed by the glaciers of high altitude throughout the world. Consistent increase in water pollution is observed mainly by rapid industrialization, extreme use of fertilizers to fulfill the ever-growing food demand, urbanization, and other anthropogenic activities. River Mandakini in Kedarnath Valley has not been scientifically studied till date in a composite manner. Hence, we collected water samples from Chandrapuri, Agastyamuni, and Tilwara in seasons such as summer, rainy, and winter. Various water quality parameters like temperature, pH, DO (dissolved oxygen), BOD (biochemical oxygen demand), COD (chemical oxygen demand), TDS (total dissolved solids) and TSS (total suspended solids) of all the samples collected were studied. The results of all these physicochemical parameters of river water have shown a considerable decrease compared with the standard values of BIS. The deteriorated water quality of the river poses potential health hazards to people using this water for drinking purposes and aquatic beings residing in the Ganga River. The findings of the present study reflect an overall decline in the water quality of the river and warn of its uses to human beings and the biotic community of the Ganga River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The medicinal traits of Callicarpa macrophylla Vahl. have been used in traditional and folklore medicinal system, however, scientific evaluation of such medicinal plants have not been much explored yet. Different solvent extracts of the whole plant of C. macrophylla from the Himalayan region are the key subject of interest to evaluate and exhibit their antioxidant properties concerning its phytochemical composition. The different polarity extracts of C. macrophylla were prepared using the Soxhlet apparatus and both of their GC-MS profile outlined their individual components. The antioxidant activity of both extracts was evaluated for DPPH radical scavenging activity, metal chelating activity, and reducing power activity. Thirty-two compounds were identified in the hexane extract, accounting for 63.56% of the total extract composition with tetratetracontane (9.78%), as the prominent compound. A sum of 26 compounds making up 79.74% of the total methanolic extract composition was identified and the major compound was a diterpenoid, trachylobane (31.87%). The methanolic extract exerted potent antioxidant properties when compared, in vitro, to hexane extract as it showed better IC50 values of DPPH radical scavenging activity (91.97 ± 0.33 µg/ml), metal chelating activity (10.90 ± 1.40 µg/ml) and reducing power activity (56.72 ± 0.67 µg/ml). The antioxidant potential of the methanolic extract was also comparable to standards. Therefore, the methanolic extract exhibited better results as compared to hexane extract and had comparable potential with standards in vitro, if further explored might be utilized as an antioxidant agent in various pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drift is a phenomenon of dispersion of invertebrates in freshwater lotic systems such as rivers and streams resulting from its water currents. The aquatic organisms living in the stream display drift because of their low buoyancy, which causes them to be dragged into the water column downstream. The said study was carried out for two annual cycles i.e. from December 2019 to November 2021 for studying drifting pattern exhibited by aquatic mites from the river Ganga near Deoprayag. The DBD Index was also calculated to derive actual number of drifting mites from the total population in a unit time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study envisages the hydrometeorological disasters risk assessment using meteorological and remote sensing data combined with geomorphological and geological information. Landslide susceptibility was analyzed by maximum entropy model (MaxEnt) using 11 conditioning factors. Potentially dangerous lakes for glacial lake outburst flood were identified based on volume, lake type, slope and distance from mother glacier. Rainfall induced flash flood conditioning factors were classified and ranked using weighted overlay approach to get flash flood risk map. About 237 km2 is highly vulnerable to the rainfall induced flash floods, whereas, 259.36 km2 was found high to moderately susceptible to landslides. Most of the settlement areas along the river banks, in and around geological faults are found in high risk zone. The residents of the catchment need to be cautious and appropriate logistic arrangements should be made before rainy season to reduce the fatality and infrastructure damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the first DNA barcodes of water mites collected in Uttarakhand State of India are presented. The first data for nine species were uploaded into the BOLD Systems. Two species, Sperchonopsis himalayaensissp. nov. (Sperchontidae) and Aturus uttarakhandensissp. nov. (Aturidae), are described as new for science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examines the fecundity of the major carp Labeo dyocheilus in the spring-fed Nayar, a tributary of the Ganga that originates in the Garhwal Himalaya. Fish measuring 17.2 cm to 40.5 cm in length, respectively had a fecundity that ranged from a lowest 7,548 to a highest 26,210. More than any other body parameters, ovary weight and length were highly correlated with fecundity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrachnidia commonly known as aquatic mites are a significant group of aquatic macroinvertebrates, which act as potential bio-indicator due to their high vulnerability towards contamination and environmental changes. The present study has been conducted on the river Ganga near Haridwar city for two years with the aim to provide an account of the density and diversity of aquatic mites in river Ganga near Haridwar city, Uttarakhand. A total of 411 individuals m-2 of aquatic mites belonging to 11 species under six genera of four different families i.e. Torrenticolidae, Spherchontidae, Hygrobatidae and Feltriidae were recorded. Family Torrenticolidae was observed as the most diversified family. The maximum density and diversity of aquatic mites were recorded in the month of December (winter) and the minimum in the month of July (monsoon). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yamuna is a major tributary of river Ganga. It originates from Yamnotri glacier at a height of 6387 meters from Banderpooch peaks of the lower Himalayas in Uttarakhand. The present study focuses on the fish diversity of River Yamuna. The study was conducted for a period of 12 months from March 2020 to February 2021. The river was divided into two zones viz. a) Rhithron zone and b) Potamon zone, samples collected from both the sites were preserved in 08% formalin. During this period, a total of 20 fish species was recorded belonging to 14 genera and 06 families. The study revealed that cypriniformes was the most abundant family. Fish fauna of the river have declined over time due to various activities like indiscriminate fishing by the use of destructive methods, illegal mining and dam construction which altered the natural flow pattern of the river. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrachnidia is an important group of aquatic invertebrates. They play an important role in regulating other invertebrate populations, thus influencing the composition and functionality of river ecosystems. The present study aims to assess the habitat ecology, density and diversity of aquatic mites in the Khankra gad, Rudraprayag district for a period of two year on a monthly basis, from July 2018 to June 2020. The Khankra gad is a perennial spring-fed stream originating from the Bansoun peak in district-Rudraprayag of Garhwal Himalaya (800 m asl). A total of 2537 Hydrachnidia samples were collected, belonging to 6 families viz, Torrenticolidae, Sperchontidae, Feltriidae, Hygrobatidae, Lebertiidae and Aturidae. Sperchontidae, Torrenticolidae and Hygrobatidae were the common families recorded in both spots, whereas Feltriidae was recorded in Spot-1, Lebertiidae and Aturidae were recorded in Spot-2. The highest numbers (1842) of Hydrachnidia were collected from Spot-2. A total of 19 aquatic mite species were recorded in Spot-1 and 25 species in Spot-2 throughout the study period. Aquatic mites showed maximum density (177 units.m-2 in Spot-1 and 274units.m-2 in Spot-2) in December and minimum (11 units.m-2 in Spot-1 and 17 units.m-2 in Spot-2) in July. Various ecological parameters of our study indicated that Khankra gad is a good habitat for aquatic mites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three water mite species of the genera Torrenticola (T. kumarisp. nov. and T. muranyiisp. nov.) and Monatractides (M. kontschanisp. nov.) are described from the Uttarakhand State of India (Acari: Hydrachnidia, Torrenticoliade). The number of torrenticolid water mites known from India now tallies 33 species. A key for water mite species of the genera Torrenticola and Monatractides from the Indian Subcontinent is given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study represents first genetic record of single spider species Araniella cucurbitina, genus Araniella from Uttarakhand, India. There are 12 identified species under Araniella genus and they are distributed in Palearctic region. Here, we used known N = 47 (2 from present study and 45 from GenBank) cytochrome oxidase 1 (CO1) sequences of A. cucurbitina representing seven different geographical groups, additionally 23 sequences of eight Araniella species were used for phylogenetic relationship. The CO1 (561 bp) sequences of A. cucurbitina consisted of n = 14 haplotypes, where haplotype 14 (Hap 14) represents Indian species, while all 13 haplotypes (Hap1-13) shared between six A. cucurbitina groups. The overall ‘h’ and ‘π’ diversities among seven groups of A. cucurbitina were 0.85291 and 0.00888, respectively, while overall evolutionary divergence was 0.04. The Indian Hap 14, showed minimum sequence divergence (0.02) from Italy and Czech Republic haplotypes (Hap 6), it means it is the closest group compared to others. Evolutionary divergence among eight species of Araniella ranges from 0.003 to 0.114. The maximum likelihood (ML) topology based on 14 haplotypes of A. cucurbitina was divided into two major clades and further two subclades. Furthermore, ML topology between eight species of Araniella was divided into three major clades, where A. cucurbitina and A. proxima clustered together in clade ‘A’, while six others were present together in clade ‘B’ and ‘C’. This study helps to identify the Indian species from the rest of Araniella species and other cucurbitina population across the world. This study further needs to be on a large scale to know the exact status distribution and molecular phylogeography of this single species of genus Araniella from India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selinum tenuifolium(Apiaceae) is a perennial aromatic herb, growing in humus rich mountain slopes. Underground parts were extracted for the essential oil by using Clevenger-type apparatus and analyzed. Total twenty two constituents composed of 97.64 % of the essential oil were identified. 3, 5-Nonadiyne (a polyacetylenic compound) was major constituent (94.32 %) of the essential oil.p-Methyl anisole andZ-β-ocimene are not reported so far from this species. Chemical composition of 3, 5-nonadiyne rich accession is presented in detail. Characterization of 3, 5-nonadiyne rich accession will opens new avenues for pharmacological, agricultural and industrial sector. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study analyses the causes and consequences of slope instability around the historical Himalayan town of Joshimath, Uttarakhand, India. The town is in the Higher Himalaya near the Main Central Thrust. The lithology constitutes fissile, shattered and sheared gneiss. Consequently, the slopes are prone to land subsidence and mass wasting. In the last few decades rise in population has led to a surge of infrastructure development, thus causing immense pressure on the finite resources and limited accommodation space on precariously balanced vulnerable slopes. Particularly, the unplanned infrastructure development, lack of adequate drainage and excavation of roads through unstable debris slopes are some of the reasons that seem to have accelerated the ongoing slope instability and land subsidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advance wide field sensor (AWiFS) data of RESOURCESAT-1 and 2 satellites of IRS series were used to produce snow cover products at 10-day interval from 2004 to 2012 covering October to June of consecutive years for Alaknanda, Bhagirathi and Yamuna sub-basins of Ganga basin in the Himalayan region. The snow products were generated using Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) at a spatial resolution of 56 m using green (B2) and SWIR (B5) channels of AWiFS sensor. Minimum and maximum snow cover was found to be 998, 669, 141 sq. km, and 7874, 5876, 3068 sq. km for Alaknanda, Bhagirathi and Yamuna sub-basins respectively. The areal extent of snow was higher than the mean during the years 2004-2005, 2007-2008 and 2011-2012 for all sub-basins. Mean of monthly fluctuations between maximum and minimum snow cover were recorded as 3105, 2305, 1235 sq. km corresponding to variation in snow line altitude of 1613, 1770, 1440 m respectively. A subtle increase in the snow cover has been observed in these three sub-basins during 2004-2012. The results matched well with the variations in temperature taken from nearby ground weather stations. Snow cover products were analysed to understand spatio-temporal variability of accumulation and ablation of snow in the three sub-basins. Monthly fluctuations in snow cover were high during accumulation period than in ablation. This work also attributes in generation of long-term database which will be useful for understanding climatic variations over Himalayan region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]