LITORIA MIRA Subject: Environment Context: Recently, a team of Australian scientists has discovered a curious “chocolate frog” tree frog i.e. Litoria Mira in the lowland rainforests of New Guinea. Concept: About Litoria Mira It is a species of frog lives in the rainforests of New Guinea that appears to be made from chocolate. […]
ASSAM TO INCREASE FIREPOWER OF KAZIRANGA GUARDS Subject : Environment Context : The Assam government has approved a proposal to increase the firepower of the guards of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve and provide commando training to them. These measures are aimed at preventing poaching. Concept : It is located in the […]
DECLINING FOREST BIRD SPECIES IN WESTERN HIMALAYAS Subject : Environment Context : Researchers add that there is strong decline in some of the Habitat Guilds in the areas that undergone land use changes. Concept : Habitat guilds are groups of bird species that have common habitat preferences. For instance, forest specialists include species […]
RIPPLES FROM YAAS & SURGING TIDES DEVASTATE SUNDERBANS Subject : Environment Context: Ghormara Islands with a population of about 3500 people is entirely flooded. Concept: About Ghoramara Island It is located 92km south of Kolkata in the Sundarbans Delta complex of the Bay of Bengal In fact, every year, with houses and acres […]
CAN BEES BE TRAINED TO SMELL CORONA VIRUS? Subject : Environment Context : Recent research by startup InsectSense and WageningenBioveterinary Research in the Netherlands suggests bees can be trained to smell and detect coronavirus. Concept : The coronavirus, like other diseases, causes metabolic changes in the body that causes a smell. Bees can […]
ROLE OF MANGROVES IN COASTAL PROTECTION Subject : Environment Context : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has inquired about the 50 million mangrove plants that her previous government had planted in 2020 after Cyclone Amphan and which could not protect the Sundarbans from Cyclone Yaas. Concept : Mangroves help in coping with […]
TREE TRANSPLANTATION Subject: Environment Context: The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) wants to transplant over 1,800 trees which are inside what used to be the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) complex, as part of the Central Vista redevelopment project. Concept: A tree cannot be transplanted by simply uprooting it and […]
NEW SPIDER CRICKET Subject: Environment Context: Recently, a team of zoologists headed by DrRanjanaJaiswara of the Zoology Department of Punjab University, Chandigarh has discovered a new spider cricket from Chhattisgarh. Concept: It has been found in the Kurra caves of Chhattisgarh. The new subgenus was named Jayanti after Professor Jayant Biswas, one of […]
CARTEGENA PROTOCOL Subject : Environment Context : There is a multilateral template in place for clean bio research — the 1992 UN Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992, and the 2000 Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety Concept : On 29 January 2000, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP5) adopted […]