/topics/biodiversity
Biodiversity
Mahua flowers empower tribal women from Odisha
Posted on 18 Jun, 2023 07:12 PMMahua flowers empower tribal women from Odisha to earn their living
![Dried mahua flowers (Image Source: Pankaj Oudhia via Wikimedia Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2023-06/Mahua.jpg?itok=aTwBaJgE)
Conservation and collection practices in the sacred Thal Kedar forest of Uttarakhand
Posted on 20 May, 2023 06:57 PMForests are a primary source of food, water, medicine, fruits, shelter, bedding materials, fuel, fodder, and appliances for agriculture in rural areas, globally. The ‘sacred natural forest sites’ in the Himalayan mountains are a common center of different cultures, social groups, traditions, and beliefs.
![The sacred Thal Kedar forest is a common sacred center for people of different cultures, traditions, and beliefs (Image: Mini Mehta, eUttaranchal)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2023-05/thal-kedar-mini-mehta.jpg?itok=8x8Qi400)
Seeing the ‘unseen’: a spotlight on lesser known inhabitants of freshwater ecosystems
Posted on 20 May, 2023 11:17 AMA number of large and small - and very interesting animals inhabit freshwater ecosystems, depend on them for their survival and play an important role in maintaining the health of freshwater ecosystems. A number of them are vanishing and being threatened as urbanisation, and human induced activities are taking a toll on the natural environment.
![Freshwater ecosystems, under threat (Image Source: Biologia Life Science LLP)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2023-05/pond.jpg?itok=Csi0HVBc)
Solar energy changes the lives of rural women in Rajasthan
Posted on 19 May, 2023 10:30 AMSolar energy changes the lives of rural women in Rajasthan
![Women from rural Rajasthan. Image for representation purposes only (Image Source: Christopher Michel via Wikimedia Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2023-05/Women%20rajasthan.jpg?itok=7glr87iC)
There’s a rare catfish in your well
Posted on 16 May, 2023 10:40 AMA rare species of catfish, has been found in aquifers in Kerala, opening a window to the rich biodiversity that exists even in deep and dark underground subterranean environments where unique organisms survive by adapting to the harsh surroundings informs this paper titled 'Evolution in the dark: Unexpected geneti
![Image Source: By Rajeev Raghavan, Remya L. Sundar, C.P. Arjun, Ralf Britz, Neelesh Dahanukar - Evolution in the dark: Unexpected genetic diversity and morphological stasis in the blind, aquifer-dwelling catfish Horaglanis, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=128832101. Link to image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Horaglanis#/media/File:Horaglanis_populi_live.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2023-05/Horaglanis_populi_live.jpg?itok=dz53EL50)
Heavy metals poison Veeranam lake in Tamil Nadu
Posted on 25 Jan, 2023 02:26 PMWetlands in India, under threat!
![A view of the Veeranam lake in Tamil Nadu (Image Source: Giri9703 via Wikimedia Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2023-01/Veeranam_Lake_-Kattumannar_koil_-Tamil_Nadu_-DSC_0015.jpg?itok=fAmdPKB8)
Greater Chennai Corporation to set up 'sponge parks' to prevent street flooding
Posted on 06 Jan, 2023 09:22 PMGreater Chennai Corporation plans to set up 47 'sponge parks' to prevent street flooding
![Natural spaces such as water bodies and vegetation in cities can act as sponges and absorb rain and prevent flooding (Image Source: IWP Flicker photos)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2023-01/Lake%20near%20chennai%20city.jpg?itok=oMmZE99n)
Radiation not a pollutant, says Pollution Control Committee
Posted on 06 Jan, 2023 10:08 AMRadiation is not a pollutant: Pollution Control Committee
![DPCC claims there is no convincing scientific evidence of causing adverse health effects of radiation (Image: CC0 Public Domain)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2023-01/lead-policy-update.jpg?itok=rOj3UQX6)
River Sharavathi - under siege from microplastics
Posted on 16 Dec, 2022 01:32 PMRivers worldover are choking on plastic and transferring more than two million tonnes per year of microplastics (MPs) into the marine environment informs this paper titled 'Assessment of pollution and risks associated with microplastics in the riverine sediments of the Western Ghats: a heritage site in southern I
![The pristine river Sharavathi (Image Source: Ashwin Kumar via Wikimedia Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp-images/Sharavathi_River_Karnataka_India.jpg?itok=i0PL19Ej)
Assessing the health of river Ganga
Posted on 08 Dec, 2022 07:07 PMDams can bind and gag rivers
Structures such as locks, dams, barrages, and weirs are known to drastically reduce the longitudinal connectivity of rivers, impact downstream flow, and alter riverine ecosystems.
![The polluted Ganges (Image Source: Lane Rasberry via Wikimedia Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp-images/Pollution_of_Ganga.jpg?itok=cN3MQq1G)