An appraisal of biological responses and network of environmental interactions in non-mining and mining impacted coastal waters
2015
Fernandes, Christabelle E. G. | Malik, Ashish | Jineesh, V. K. | Fernandes, Sheryl O. | Das, Anindita | Pandey, Sunita S. | Kanolkar, Geeta | Sujith, P. P. | Velip, Dhillan M. | Shaikh, Shagufta | Helekar, Samita | Gonsalves, Maria Judith | Nair, Shanta | LokaBharathi, P. A.
The coastal waters of Goa and Ratnagiri lying on the West coast of India are influenced by terrestrial influx. However, Goa is influenced anthropogenically by iron-ore mining, while Ratnagiri is influenced by deposition of heavy minerals containing iron brought from the hinterlands. We hypothesize that there could be a shift in biological response along with changes in network of interactions between environmental and biological variables in these mining and non-mining impacted regions, lying 160 nmi apart. Biological and environmental parameters were analyzed during pre-monsoon season. Except silicates, the measured parameters were higher at Goa and related significantly, suggesting bacteria centric, detritus-driven region. At Ratnagiri, phytoplankton biomass related positively with silicate suggesting a region dominated by primary producers. This dominance perhaps got reflected as a higher tertiary yield. Thus, even though the regions are geographically proximate, the different biological response could be attributed to the differences in the web of interactions between the measured variables.
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