Baltic Sea low on oxygen

Anthropogenic activities are reducing oxygen in the Baltic Sea, harming the marine ecosystem

Sewage having metal bound minerals cause bacterial growth on the sea bed, further reducing oxygen

POLLUTION from nutrients such as nitrates and sulphates released from agricultural run-offs and the discharge of untreated sewage is the main reason behind oxygen depletion (hypoxia) in the Baltic Sea, says a research. The research aimed at understanding if the deoxygenation was a result of climate change or human activities.

Hypoxia adversely impacts the marine ecosystem and increases dead zones that are unable to support life. The problem is 10 times worse now than it was a century ago and has been compounded by global warming.

The deepest areas of the Baltic Sea are naturally prone to hypoxia because the inflow of fresh water from oceans is limited. Deoxygenation occurs when the uptake of oxygen at the bottom layers exceeds the amount of oxygen brought in by fresh currents and by winds. In the Baltic Sea, the difference in salt concentrations between the deeper layers and the less denser layer at the top results in water “stratification”. This prevents the mixing of two water types necessary for transferring oxygen to the water near the sea bed. These oxygen depleted water regions have drastically increased during the last century.

The study was led by Jacob Carstensen, professor at the department of bioscience, Aarhus University, Denmark. “We analysed salinity and oxygen content for the past 115 years using spatiotemporal climate models and observed that various nutrients from land are the main cause for widespread deoxygenation in the sea,” says Carstensen. Metal bound minerals, such as ferric phosphates, from sediments favour growth of different types of bacteria in the sea which cause hypoxic conditions.

Climate change has also played a major role in oxygen depletion in the past 25 years. Global warming increases oxygen consumption as the metabolic processes are boosted. Warm climate also reduces oxygen solubility, adding to the problem.

“We cannot hope for future climate to counter the effects of anthropogenic pollution and it is time we joined hands to reduce the release of nutrients into the Baltic Sea,” emphasises Carstensen. The study, published in the April issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was conducted by researchers form Aarhus University, Denmark, Lund University and Stockholm University, Sweden.

Zoltan Kun, chairperson of European Wilderness Society, a pan European advocacy group promoting biodiversity and conservation, says, “Agricultural practices around the Baltic Sea seem to be one of the reasons for increment in nutrient content that poses a serious threat to marine biodiversity.”

INDIA ENVIRONMENT PORTAL

• Research: Deoxygenation of the Baltic Sea during the last century
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Microbial carriers

Microorganisms can enhance the movement of carcinogenic hydrocarbons in soil, making them degrade at a quicker rate

Burning fossil fuel releases polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which settle on soil, polluting it 

PAH or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are a byproduct of fossil-fuel and biomass burning. These hydrocarbons settle and seep into soil, polluting it. They do not mix with water, take very long to degrade and cause cancer in people who eat crops grown on contaminated soil.

But a new study claims to have found a mechanism to remove them from the soil. The study uses ciliates, microorganisms found in soil. Ciliates cling on to PAH, make them diffuse and move through soil layers faster. Diffusion allows PAH better contact with other microorganisms increasing their prospect of biodegrading.

Ciliates have wavy hair-like bodies and they swim and crawl in wet environments. Typically, they are found in stagnant water in flower vases and puddles, feeding on bacteria. Researchers from Aarhus University, Denmark, led by Dorothea Gilbert, have found these motile microorganisms can act as “shuttles” to carry PAH with effective diffusivity about a hundred times more than their normal rate of diffusion.

The study has been published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology in March. For their experiment, the researchers used a microscopic slide with two concentric wells with a connecting chamber to allow diffusion. First, they filled the rings with chemicals and studied how fast PAH diffused through the small microscopic distance. Then they introduced ciliates and found that the transport of PAH became about a hundred times faster.

“Hydrophobic organic chemicals such as PAHs are passively taken up by the microorganisms by diffusion. Also, the larger the microorganisms, the faster they move. For bioremediation, this means that a high number of moving microbes may significantly enhance contaminant turnover,” says Philip Mayer, professor at the Technical University of Denmark, who took part in the study.

“The experiment is still in the laboratory stage, and there is a long way to go. We are yet to discover all the other species that could potentially be more effective than ciliates in diffusing PAHs. As of now, the findings lead us to an understanding that the more microorganisms in soil are nourished, the better the chances of degradation of harmful substances,” says Gilbert.

Green Climate Fund urges countries to convert pledges into contributions

Sweden has provided the largest contribution per capita to the Fund so far

Photo: David Berkowitz/Flickr CC BY 2.0

The Green Climate Fund (GCF), a fund created to enable developing countries adopt climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, had accumulated US $4 billion in contributions as of Thursday, a press release revealed.

Confirming that GCF had managed to convert 42 per cent of all pledges made during the conference in Berlin in November 2014, officials asked countries to hasten the signing of more contribution agreements.

"The Green Climate Fund is grateful to all governments who have been able to conclude their contribution agreements on time," said Héla Cheikhrouhou, executive director of the Fund. "We now call upon all other governments to urgently finalise their agreements to ensure the Fund can start allocating its resources as planned," she said.

GCF is still short of the limit it was authorised to allocate for low-emission and climate-resilient projects in developing countries. As decided, the Fund can allot 50 per cent or $4.7 billion of all funds pledged at the Berlin conference.

Of the contributors, Sweden has provided the largest contribution per capita to GCF. Other countries which have contributed either full or half of their pledges include Austria, Belgium, Chile, France, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

A case of 'diminishing' returns

Despite repeated attacks on it by science, homeopathy is the fastest growing medicine in the world today

Homeopathy doesn't work. In fact, you are probably better off without it. This caveat comes from Australia’s National Health and Medicine Research Council (NHMRC), which last month declared homeopathy as useless in treating ailments ranging from common cold to malaria.

The reviewers didn’t get into the complex and rather futile debate over homeopathy’s slippery theoretical foundations. Instead, they kept it simple by asking whether it really worked. This approach, called evidence-based medicine, is now a popular method of inquiry into the claims of alternative medicine.

Predictably, the finding has reignited verbal skirmishes between opposing camps. Respected British naysayers like Ben Goldacre and Edzard Ernst took the opportunity to denounce homeopathy as not only unscientific but also a con job on gullible patients and helpless taxpayers alike.

Defenders of homeopathy were quick to slam the review as biased and flawed, arguing that randomised controlled trial, the gold standard in Western medicine, treats every human being as the same when it comes to treating any given ailment. This, they argue, contradicts the very individualised nature of homeopathic treatment.

This isn’t the first attempt by science to “expose” homeopathy. In August, 2005, British medical journal The Lancet published a cluster of studies damning homeopathy as no “better than a placebo”. However, the studies were later attacked for being biased and lacking in rigour. Again, in 2010, a study by the British House of Commons rubbished homeopathy as quackery and even recommended that the National Health Scheme (NHS) stop funding it. The government though, decided against it as homeopathy had a large following.

Homeopathy gets under the skin of scientists not just because of its mass appeal but also because it flies in the face of scientific logic. It is founded on the belief that “like cures like” and that the more diluted the medicine (most homeopathic medicines are diluted 1060 times in alcohol or distilled water), the more potent and effective it is. Now, this degree of dilution will render the original substance ethereal, leaving behind its “memory” or “essence”. That this ghostly presence cures the body of its many aberrations is pure bunkum, claim critics.

Patrons of homeopathy do concede that it is counter-intuitive. To make sense of it, they grasp at any proverbial straw, such as nanoparticles, or the sheer complexity of the healing process that can’t be reduced, as modern medicine does, to a linear “A cures B” formula. Nonetheless, what matters is that it works for many. As British novelist Jeanette Winterson wrote in The Guardian, “Where is the scientific sense in saying that because we don’t understand something, even though we can discern its effects, we have to ignore it, scorn it, or suppress it?”

The scientific critique of homeopathy seems a tad tiresome now with both sides recycling the same old arguments. A more fascinating conundrum to mull over is how is it that millions of people put their money in something they believe works for them but which science trashes as bogus. No ready or simple answers there. However, authors of the present review believe that their findings will at least provoke people into thinking about medical evidence, and help them judge better. Wishful thinking, given the growing public disillusionment with modern medicine.

For now, homeopathy seems to be winning. It is reportedly the fastest growing medicine in the world today, and by 2035, its projected worth would be about US $1.1 trillion. In India alone, there are half-a-million registered homeopaths catering to 100 million patients. To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of homeopathy’s death have been greatly exaggerated.

CURRENT AFFAIRS APRIL/31/2015

CURRENT AFFAIRS APRIL/31/2015

1. ONE BELT, ONE ROAD INITAITIVE BY CHINA’S NDRC:

i. China’s NDRC (National Development and Reform Commission) has released a new action plan One Belt, One Road Initiative.

ii. One Belt, One Road Initiative is taken to establish new routes linking Asia, Europe and Africa.

iii. One Belt, One Road Initiative has two parts:

(i)  Silk Raod Economic Belt (SREB): Linking China to Europe

(ii)  Maritime Silk Road (MSR): Linking China’s port facilities with the African Coast.

2.        1000 RUPEES PENSION SCHEME UNDER EPS TO CONTINUE:

i. Union Government of India has approved the continuation of 1000 Rs monthly pension scheme under Employees pension scheme (EPS).

ii. This move will benefit over 20 lakh pensioners under social security scheme run by EPFO.

iii. This move will cost additionally 850 crore Rs. to the exchequer of the Government.

Note: EPFO: Employees Provident Fund Organization

3. WHITLEY AWARDS FOR WILDLIFE CONSERVATION:

i. Two Indians Dr. Ananda Kumar and Dr. Pramod Patil have won the prestigious whitely awards for their contribution to wildlife conservation.

ii. The awards were presented in a ceremony held in London.

iii. A total of 7 Conservationists were awarded the Whitley Awards for their efforts to protect wildlife in Developing countries.

Note: Whitley Awards are also known as Green Oscar.

4. WTO GETS A NEW MEMBER:

i. World Trade Organization has added Seychelles as its 161^stmember.

ii. With just 90,000 in habitants, Seychelles has become the smallest member of WTO.

iii. Seychelles has applied for WTO membership on 31^st May 1995 but had to wait for 20 years as the country was negotiating its accession terms.

5. RBI IMPOSED 1.5 CRORE RUPEES FINE EACH ON 3 PSB’S:

i. RBI has imposed 1.5 crore fine each on 3 Public Sector Banks.

ii. The Ban is imposed for violating KYC norms and AML norms

iii. The penalties have been imposed under the provisions ofsection 47(A) (1) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

iv. 3 Banks on which fine is imposed are;

      (i) Dena Bank

      (ii) Oriental Bank of Commerce

      (iii) Bank of Maharashtra

Note: KYC – Know Your Customer

      AML- Anti Money Laundering