ZSI to record climate change impact on animals in Himalayas

Kolkata: Zoological Survey of India has started five long-term monitoring plots in the Himalayas to document the impact of climate change on animal world.

The project, funded by the Ministry for environment, forest and climate change, will monitor indicators in species like fish, butterflies, bees and other insects to find how their distribution has been affected by climate change, officials said.

ZSI director Kailash Chandra said it has very old records and will compare the distribution of species in the past and present to come out with a study report on the impact of climate change on their survival.

The project will run for three years in West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh and more than Rs 2 crore has been earmarked for the exercise.

Last year, 262 new animal species were discovered from India out of which 70 have been credited to ZSI scientists.

Chandra said the number of scientists working in ZSI has decreased over the years. He said only 80 scientists were working with the organisation now as compared to 120-130 in the past.

This has also resulted in the decline of reporting of new species. An average of over 100 new species was recorded by ZSI scientists in the past which has now come down, he said.

India is home to 94,515 species from the animal kingdom as on 31 December 2015.

 

Taken from TOI

Rupture along the Himalayan Front

In an article in March, geologists noted that the 700-km-long 'central seismic gap' is the most prominent segment of the Himalayan front not to have ruptured in a major earthquake during the last 200-500 years. This prolonged seismic quiescence has led to the proposition that this region, with a population of more 10 million, is overdue for a great earthquake.' 

A little more than a month on, the area experienced a magnitude 7.8 earthquake, centered in Nepal (25 Apr. 2015).
In their study, Morell and colleagues use a series of complementary geomorphic and erosion rate data to define the ramp-flat geometry of the active detachment fault that is likely to host a large earthquake within the hinterland of the northwest Himalaya. Their analysis indicates that this detachment is sufficiently large to host another great earthquake in the western half of the central Himalayan seismic gap.
Specifically, their data sets point to a distinctive physiographic transition at the base of the high Himalaya in the state of Uttarakhand, India, characterized by abrupt strike-normal increases in channel steepness and a tenfold increase in erosion rates.
When combined with previously published geophysical imaging and seismicity data sets, Morell and colleagues interpret the observed spatial distribution of erosion rates and channel steepness to reflect the landscape response to spatially variable rock uplift due to a structurally coherent ramp-flat system of the Main Himalayan Thrust. They write, "Although it remains unresolved whether the kinematics of the Main Himalayan Thrust ramp involve an emergent fault or duplex, the landscape and erosion rate patterns suggest that the décollement beneath the state of Uttarakhand provides a sufficiently large and coherent fault segment capable of hosting a great earthquake."
In conclusion, they note, "While this hypothesis remains speculative, it is supported by independent records of historical seismicity."

This story is taken from Science Daily