Assessment of tree species diversity and above-ground biomass in two disturbed tropical dry evergreen forests of Coromandel coast of India

The tree diversity and carbon stock of all woody plants were investigated in two-hectare square plots (100 m x 100 m) were established in Suryanpet (SP) and Velleripet (VP) which is tropical dry evergreen forest (TDEF) sites on the Coromandel Coast of peninsular India. All trees ? 10 cm girth at breast height measured at 1.3 m from the rooting point were enumerated. A total of 35 tree species (? 10 cm gbh) belonging to 34 genera and 23 families were recorded in tropical dry evergreen forests. Tree species richness in 27 (dominant species Dimorphocalyx glabellus Thw.) and 18 (dominant species Strychnos nux-vomica L.) in SP and VP respectively. A total density of woody plants 671 and 1154 individuals in SP and VP respectively. The basal area of trees in the two study sites SP (40.70 m2 ha-1) and VP (45.46 m2 ha-1). Most abundant families are Loganiaceae, Euphorbiaceae and Rutaceae and its family index value (FIV) is 56.14, 39.12 and 21.40 respectively. The aboveground biomass (AGB) of trees totaled in site SP (405.3 Mg ha-1) and VP (721.3 Mg ha-1). The extent of tree species diversity and estimated carbon stock of the TDEF sites, which provides the baseline data on the floristic structure and diversity of this forest for better management and conservation.

​An Annotated Checklist of Elasmobranchs Along the Coromandel Coast of Tamil Nadu, Southeast Coast of India

Background: Elasmobranch is one of the largest marine fish resources, consisting of sharks, sawfishes, rays and skates. A worldwide estimate of elasmobranch diversity reveals 815 species coming under 9 orders, 42 families and 164 genera, of which 359 species are sharks and 456 are skates and rays. Hence, it has been planned to investigate the biodiversity and fishery of elasmobranchs along the Coromandel Coast of Tamil Nadu, Southeast India. Methods: Elasmobranch specimens were collected during June 2019 to March 2020 from three main landing centres of Coromandel Coast of Tamil Nadu viz Royapuram (Chennai), Cuddalore and Nagapattinam Fishing Harbours. Sampling was done fortnightly in the above three landing centres. The specimens were collected from the catches of trawl nets, bottom set gillnets and hook and lines. The specimens were identified morphologically in the landing centres itself based on the valid taxonomic keys. Result: In the present study, 67 species of elasmobranch belonging to 7 orders, 21 families and 46 genera were recorded. Of the 7 orders, Carcharhiniformes had the largest number of species (27). Among the 25 families, Carcharhinidae (21) had the largest representation.

Conversations with the Malabar Pagans (according to the Documents of the Danish Royal Tranquebar Mission)

At the beginning of the 17th century, the Danish East India company (Dansk Østindisk Kompagni) was established in Europe. In particular, Tranquebar (Dansborg fortress) became the stronghold of the Danes in India. In another hundred years, at the very beginning of the 18th century, the first Lutheran missionaries appeared on the Coromandel coast. At this time the Danish Royal mission was established in Tranquebar, funded by king Frederick IV. It consisted mainly of Germans who graduated from the University of the Saxon city of Halle. Those missionaries not only actively preached among the local population, but also studied languages of the region, translated Gospels into local languages and then published it in the printing house they created. They also trained neophytes from among the local children. One of the first missionaries in Tranquebar was pastor Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg, who lived in India from 1706 to 1719. Information about Pastor's activities in the Royal Danish mission has been preserved in his letters and records. These letters and papers were regularly printed in Halle in the reports of the Royal Danish Mission («Ausführliche Berichte an, die von der königlichen dänischen Missionaren aus Ost-Indien»). However, besides letters and reports, this edition constantly published texts of a special kind, called «conversations» (das Gespräch). They looked like dialogues between pastor Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg and local religious authorities. Those brahmans explained the basic principles of the Hindu religion, and their opponent showed them the absurdity of their creed by comparing it with the main tenets of Christianity. The following is a translation of one of these dialogues.

Blue carbon stock of the seagrass meadows of Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay off Coromandel Coast, south India

Blue carbon stock of the seagrass meadows of Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay, off Coromandel Coast, south India, were computed from the organic carbon content and dry bulk densities of sediment core taken from the seagrass meadows of these two ecosystems. The Gulf of Mannar (GoM) and Palk Bay (PB) harbour 13 seagrass species dominated by Cymodocea serrulata and Syringodium isoetifolium. The soil carbon density of both GoM and PB were higher in subsurface cores. The blue carbon stock of seagrass meadows of the GoM was estimated as 0.001782 Tg and that of PB as 0.043996 Tg. The estimated value of blue carbon stored in seagrass meadows of GoM was 17820 US$ and that of PB was 43,99,682 US$. The results of this study are discussed in the light of climate change mitigation, emphasising the need to conserve these underwater meadows.

Catalogue of herpetological specimens from peninsular India at the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology & Natural History (SACON), India

We list the herpetological voucher specimens in the holdings of the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology & Natural History (SACON), a wildlife research institute in India. Most of the collections are the fruition of fieldwork by SACON’s herpetologist and a coauthor of this work—late Dr. Subramanian Bhupathy (1963–2014). Taxonomically, the collection represents 125 species, comprising 29 amphibian species belonging to eight families and 96 reptilian species belonging to 17 families. Geographically, the material in this collection originates from the Western Ghats, the Eastern Ghats, the Deccan Plateau, and the Coromandel Coast, comprehensively covering all ecoregions of peninsular India. A total of 15 taxa (three amphibians, 12 reptiles) remain to be fully identified and are provisionally referred to most-resembling taxa, with cf. prefix. All the specimens in this collection are non-types as on date.