26-Jun-2019: New Tortoise species discovered in Arunachal Pradesh
A tortoise considered beautiful enough to be named ‘impressed’ has been discovered in Arunachal Pradesh.
A team of herpetologists from the Forest Department and two NGOs — Help Earth and Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) — found the Impressed Tortoise ( Manouria impressa ) in Yazali area of the Lower Subansiri district.
This is the first record of the tortoise in India, taking the count to five and the non-marine chelonian count to 29. Chelonian is an order of reptile that includes turtles, terrapins and tortoises.
There are only two species of tortoises under the Manouria genus. India was known to be the home of only the Asian Forest Tortoise (Manouria emys) until the discovery of the Impressed Tortoise.
The Asian Forest Tortoise, the largest in mainland Asia, is found only in the northeast, as are 20 of the other 28 species of chelonians.
The male Impressed Tortoise is smaller than the female which is 30 cm in length. This Manouria species is one-third the size of the Asian Forest Tortoise.
13-May-2019: Lecanorchis taiwaniana
An Assam forest officer’s chance discovery of Lecanorchis taiwaniana has given India one of its smallest orchids in terms of size and duration of bloom to be recorded botanically. The discovery has been published in the Japanese Journal of Botany.
It has been discovered by an Assamese forest officer Jatindra Sarma in Assam. The orchid was discovered earlier in Japan, Taiwan, and Laos. It is a variant of a Japanese orchid.
Lecanorchis taiwaniana is a mycoheterotroph, one of two types of parasitic plants that have abandoned photosynthesis.
It is India’s one of the smallest orchids in terms of size and duration of bloom to be recorded botanically.
Lecanorchis taiwaniana adds to the orchid wealth of northeast India, which has 800 of some 1,300 species in the country. About 300 species are found in the Western Ghats and 200 in the northwestern Himalayas.
2-May-2019: Arsenic-breathing life discovered in the tropical Pacific Ocean
There are very low levels of arsenic in the ocean. But some organisms could be using arsenic to make a living. The researchers analyzed seawater samples from a region below the surface where oxygen is almost absent, forcing life to seek other strategies. These regions may expand under climate change.
In some parts of the ocean there's a sandwich of water where there's no measurable oxygen. The microbes in these regions have to use other elements that act as an electron acceptor to extract energy from food. The most common alternatives to oxygen are nitrogen or sulfur. But early investigations by scientists suggested arsenic could also work.
The team analyzed samples collected during a 2012 research cruise to the tropical Pacific, off the coast of Mexico. Genetic analyses on DNA extracted from the seawater found two genetic pathways known to convert arsenic-based molecules as a way to gain energy. The genetic material was targeting two different forms of arsenic, and authors believe that the pathways occur in two organisms that cycle arsenic back and forth between different forms.
Results suggest that arsenic-breathing microbes make up less than 1% of the microbe population in these waters. The microbes discovered in the water are probably distantly related to the arsenic-breathing microbes found in hot springs or contaminated sites on land.
Biologists believe the strategy is a holdover from Earth's early history. During the period when life arose on Earth, oxygen was scarce in both the air and in the ocean. Oxygen became abundant in Earth's atmosphere only after photosynthesis became widespread and converted carbon dioxide gas into oxygen. Early lifeforms had to gain energy using other elements, such as arsenic, which was likely more common in the oceans at that time.
Arsenic-breathing populations may grow again under climate change. Low-oxygen regions are projected to expand, and dissolved oxygen is predicted to drop throughout the marine environment.