How does tourism affect the coastal ecosystems?

When you think about going on a holiday, one of the first things that comes to your mind is the beach. Be in Goa, Andaman, Pondicherry, Miami, Sydney or the amazing beaches of France, it seems to attract everyone (63% Europeans prefer the coast as a holiday destination). A thriving tourism industry exists in almost […]

Coastal ecosystems severely under threat due to climate change

The narrow zones of the world where the land meets the sea hosts some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. Coastal wetlands, estuaries, backwaters, deltas, lagoons, reefs, bays all come under a broad term called coastal ecosystems. Together, they add up to 1.6 million kilometers. of coastline. Each one is unique, but has […]

Botanical support: How can plants help control landslides?

Landslides, when occur, account for huge destruction to both life and property. What landslides are and what are the measures one could take to prevent them has been already mentioned here. When it comes to prevention of landslides, a neat relationship between landslide and botany is seen. One of the measures is to grow trees up […]

Geoengineering: Is this the only way to save the world?

With the world slowly but steadily descending into living hell (no, I’m not exaggerating), scientists in the field of environmental science are hard pressed for solutions. There have been many that have been proposed and implemented. Some of which, I have mentioned in my blogs as well: restoration ecology, wildlife conservation, genetic modification and manipulation, […]

Food for the soul

Today, I spent some time with my soul… Flashback-

The connection between living and non-living: A look at dams in floodplains

Every ecosystem, at the end of the day, is governed by the environmental factors that exist there. This, I’ve mentioned time and again. How intricate is this relationship? Take a look! One single dam can alter the geomorphic (or landscape or environmental) factors of the entire floodplain. These changes are immediately seen in the ecology […]

Ever wondered what happens when you sweep fallen leaves?

Autumn has just passed us by. Every autumn, we see a spectacle of colors all around us. In most temperate regions, leaves change into many different colors. Then, they fall off. The only irritating thing about autumn is the fallen leaves. It can clog up drains, create a mess in our gardens and roads, and […]

Positive feedback loops: Controlling global climate

(This is the fifth post in the “feedback loops” series.) Climate is weather, over a long period of time. Unlike weather, climate is predictable. It has a number of factors like solar insolation, rainfall, temperature and latitude/altitude that controls it in a particular place. Also, climate encompasses a large area. Because of the spatial and […]

Disturbance: Driving changes in the universe

(This is the fourth post in the “feedback loops” series) Imagine a world where nothing interacted with anything. Each entity, molecule and atom remained in isolation. They could not feel or touch each other, directly or indirectly……. That would be a dead world.

Alien Australian possums could be helpful, not harmful to recovering ecosystems in New Zealand — Evolution Story Time

Can alien species be helpful to some ecosystems? Apparently so! Horror stories of an alien species taking over and annihilating diversity in a native ecosystem have become pervasive in ecological news. This happens as our world continues to become more and more interconnected: species are moved around by humans- be it intentional or not. There […]