A team of scientists from the University of Kerala; Central University, Kasaragod; and Natural History Museum, London, have reported the discovery of a new species of caecilian (limbless) amphibian from the southern region of the Western Ghats in Kerala.

Gegeneophis primus belongs to the Indotyphlidae family comprising African, Seychellean and Indian varieties. It is the first new species of Gegeneophis reported from Kerala since1964.

Peat deposits unearthed from coastal wetlands in South Kerala are emerging as a powerful tool for scientists to track climate history and geological evolution back over thousands of years.

Scientific analysis of the fossil woods found in the sub surface deposits has traced their existence to the Holocene period, 6,000 to 10,000 years back in time.

Having a kitchen in the house is a priority for an overwhelming majority of Malayalis, but safe drinking water remains a dream for more than 70 per cent of the households in the State while 3.8 per cent still defecate in the open.

The latest Census figures reveal that Kerala pales in comparison with most other States in access to piped drinking water. Only 29.3 per cent of the houses in the State are serviced by the water supply network and just 23.4 per cent get treated water.

Talking to The Hindu on her arrival here to attend a Climate Conclave organised by the British Council, Association of British Scholars and TKM Institute of Management, she outlined the challenges posed by climate change and socio-economic factors to the conservation efforts worldwide. Balancing development needs with conservation holds the key to survival of species, she asserts. She said climate change was likely to trigger droughts and flooding of low lying areas, leading to population migration between and within countries.

Urbanisation, influx of pilgrims, fertilizer-intensive farming, and indiscriminate sand-mining have impacted on the water quality of Manimala river, a major source of drinking water in Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts.

A report published in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, an international journal devoted to progress in the use of monitoring data in assessing environmental risks to man and environment, highlights the deterioration in water quality caused by human intervention, especially in the upper reaches of the Manimala river.

Project to be supported by Union Ministry of Earth Sciences

Efforts to locate oil in the Kerala-Konkan offshore basin may have failed so far, but the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) appears not about to give up. The Maharatna firm has entered into a collaboration with the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) here for fluid inclusion studies that would help locate and tap the immense hydrocarbon reserves in the South Ratnagiri and Kerala-Konkan offshore basins.

Pointing to the rich biodiversity of the Andaman and Nicobar islands, a team of researchers from the city has identified a new species of earthworm.

Jaya Manazhy and Aja Manazhy, senior research scholars in the Department of Zoology, Mar Ivanios College, under the guidance of K. Vijayakumaran Nair, identified the species from samples collected from Port Blair by CSIR Emeritus scientist Oommen V. Oommen and Assistant Professor K. Ramachandran.

A team of researchers from the University of Calicut has discovered a new species of wild ginger endemic to the Silent Valley National Park on the Western Ghats, one of the biodiversity hotspots in India.

The discovery, reported by M. Sabu, V.P. Thomas, and K.M. Prabhu Kumar of the Department of Botany, has been published in a recent issue of Phytokeys , a journal on biodiversity research. The new species, named Amomum nilgiricum , is a member of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae) consisting of 53 genera and over 1,200 species, many of which are widely used as spices, in medical formulations, or simply for decoration.

Effluents from KMML (Kerala Metals and Minerals Ltd), a public sector unit based at Chavara in Kollam, are polluting water sources, degrading the environment, and posing a public health hazard, a study conducted by the Department of Geology, University of Kerala, has revealed.

The study found that the plant manufacturing titanium dioxide was responsible for the deterioration in the quality of groundwater sources. Highly toxic trace elements were detected in water samples.

‘Sequence and timing of tremors a pointer'

Even as the government is going all out to pacify the people affected by the tremors experienced in parts of Idukki district last Friday, a section of earth scientists feel that the increased seismic activity in the area can be attributed to the reservoir of the Idukki arch dam.