Indian Wildlife Club Forum

Radioactivepollution is very important environmental problem. The effects o radioactivepollution may represent significant health risk to human and other organisms.

Ultraviolet(UV) light is actually electromagnetic radiation with very short wave length(i.e; shorter than that of visible light). UV ray damages the cells of corneaand ultimately results to blindness. It also causes blisters and redness o theskin (skin cancer) by damaging the cells of the skin.

The effectsof radioactivity generate damage to the gene pool, the genetics of all livingspecies. Genetic damage from radiation effects over life time and generations.

The firsteffect of radioactive pollution was noted in the early twentieth century(1909). The miner who were working in uranium mines, suffered from skin burnand cancer. Some of the major biomedical effects of radiation are well known inhistory. During Second World War in Japan (1945), many people were died due toradioactivity of the atom (atomic explosion). Another prominent radioactivedisaster was 1984, Chernobyl, where an atomic power station was met with anaccident.

Thesubstances which have adverse effects on living organisms and environment, asknown as toxic substances.  A toxicsubstance has the ability to cause systemic damage to living organism. Toxic substancesare resent in air, soil, water and in other living things. They can enterinside body in many ways, like; - through ingestion- by eating or drinking,through inhalation- by breathing, through contact with the skin- by absorption,through injection- from syringe or from other poisonous insect or snake bite.

Toxic substancesare mainly of three categories. Chemical, biological and physical. Chemical toxicsubstances include (a) inorganic substances like lead, mercury, asbestos, hydrofluoricacid, chlorine (gas) and (b) organic substances like methyl alcohol, medicineand poison from living things.

The dosageor concentration of the toxic substances is very important. Or properfunctioning of organism, many substances may be essential at low doses, butthat particular substance can be dangerous at higher doses. For example,manganese is so important for an pregnant woman, that a deficiency of manganeseduring pregnancy reduce growth and can cause mortality of the offspring, whereas workers exposed to high levels of manganese (manganese mines) sufferingbrain damage that causes memory impairment, disorientation and acute anxiety.

I work as freelance birding guide to North India, Chambal, Bharatpur, Nainital, Corbett, Kanha, Pench and Bandhavgarh. Here are my observations at various places.      

Find checklists of birds of Jabalpur, Kanha, Nauradehi, Amarkantak situated in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Most of these are less known less explored but fantastic birding destinations. Can add to sighting of different avi fauna and add to your lists. The tiger reserves offer double benefits - Birding and Animal Watching...Tigers and birds together

   
Ten thousand years ago,their habitat ranged from the Mediterannean to the wilds of India.They now cling precariously to theirmodern habitat,an impossibly small domain Gir National Park.A rough census at the time of independence shows about 250 lions,the 2010 census quotes 411.This may sound like good news but this large number is ironically the main cause for concern.It may be odd to think of the Asiatic lion as endangered,but the truth is that Gir is way overpopulated and needs quite a few of its lions relocated urgently.Ignorance and false pride from the state goverment's part can have disastrous consequences as the sanctuary is proving to small for the big cats.With the shortage of territory to command,lions are fast moving out of the sanctuary.Some of them have even taken to the beach!.To survive the lions have to put up with factors such as acute inbreeding given that the 400 plus population has been said to have been derived from around a dozen individuals.
 

A broader look to know what inbreeding actually means-

Inbreeding is the reproduction from the mating of two genetically related parents,which can increase the chances of the offspring being affected by rrecessice traits.This generally leads to a decreased fitness of the population,which is called inbreeding depression
 
Results of inbreeding-
1.Increase in genetic disorders
2.lower birth rate
3.slower growth rate
4.Reduced fertility
5.Higher infant mortality rate
6.Loss of immune system
7.Small adult size

O'Brien,a renowned genecsist suggested that "If you do a DNA fingerprint,Asiatic lions look like identical twins because they descended from as few as a dozen individuals that was all left at the turn of the century".This makes them specially vulnerable to diseases.As it is perpetuating the species is a difficult task as the big cats have to copulate no less than 500 times to produce a litter.The most serious threat is the fear of the outbreak of a disease that could wipe out the entire population,bringing into account the fact that this has already happened once before.In 1994 canine distemper killed more than a third of Africa's serengeti lions.Lets pray our lions dont meet the same fate.

Hopes of a secure future in the Reintroduction Project Plan-

The Asiatic lion Rentroduction project plan aims to establish a second independent population of Asiatic lions at the Kuno Wildlfie santuary in the state of Madhya Pradesh,in an effort to save the lions of Gir which are living under the threat of natural disasters and epidemics.Wildlife Institute of India researchers confirmed that Palpur-Kuno WLS is the most promising location to re-establish a free ranging population and certified it ready to receive its first batch of translocated lions.Kuno WLS was selected as the reintroduction site because it is in the former range of the lions before they were hunted to near extinction.Twenty four villages which lived inside the remote core area set aside for the reintroduction of lions have been moved out with adequate compensation and promise of better facilities and provisions given to each family.However,it was still a controversial case of species preservation  via dislocation of human population.

The most shocking thing so far is that,the Chief minister of Gujrat,Narendra Modi has strictly opposed relocation plans arguing that lions were the main tourist attraction of the state saying that the lions are 'Gujrat's pride'.Perhaps he does not want Gujrat to lose its Status as the only state home to Asiatic lions.It is unclear whether there is any political agenda behind it,but so far the goverment's constant refusal has only underlined its ignorance.Modi continues to put ona resistance despite our Uninion environment and forest minister,Jairam Ramesh pressuring Gujrat to part with some of its lions with Madhya Pradesh,he has also expressed concern over the fear of inbreeding and a potential epedemic.So lets just keep our fingers crossed and hope that whatever being done is done with the lions best interests in mind.

The other less damaging but nevertheless serious threats to the lions-

1.Poisoning by farmers as an act of revenge for killing livestock
2.Natural or man made calamities such as floods,forest fires and epedemics(Drought does not count as a threat as the construction of 4 new dams and 300 water points makes sure problems related to water insuffiency for the animals do not arise.
3.Wells dug by the farmers for irrigations act as trap,leading to lions drowning
4.Farmers on the periphery of the Gir forest use crude and electrical fences which are powered from high volatage electricity deom the overhead power lines.This is primarily done to protect their crop from nilgais but are also responsibly for many lion deaths.
5.Habitat decline due to overgrazing.

Pollutants (or materials) in the environment are broadly of two types- a. biodegradable ones and b. Non- biodegradable ones. Biodegradables are subjected to microbial decomposition and thus with no or minimum persistence time in environment, and accordingly follow the regular cyclic material flow. While non-biodegradables are not decomposed by microbes. They have thus long persistent in environment, and are introduced in the biotic organisms along with nutrients food-stuff. They are neither metabolized nor excreted, but retained in unaltered state in higher concentration in organisms of higher trophic levels in the food-chain of an ecosystem. Thus they lead to irreversible disease and death of the organisms and misbalancing the ecosystem.

The process where the stable and persistent non-biodegradable pollutants (matters/ chemicals) are accumulated in tissues of biological organisms in a concentration that is much higher than its environmental concentration, which usually causes irreversible disease and death of organisms, ultimately lead to ecological imbalance is known as biomagnification.

Causes- Usually stable and non-biodegradable pollutants are lipophilic in nature, means they have the attraction towards lipid. For this lipophilic character, they are partitioned from surrounding water into the lipid or adipose tissues of organisms. Examples are DDT, PCBs (Poly Chlorinated Biphenyls), salts of heavy metals (mercury, lead, cadmium etc.) and so on.

Tulip Das.