Center for Environmental Sciences & Engineering

<p>Shiv Nadar University is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, research-focused, and student-centric University offering a full range of academic programs at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level. With state-of-the-art infrastructure, the University comprises of academic wings, sophisticated labs, international standard sports facilities, amphitheaters, auditorium, conference rooms and smart classrooms. The University&rsquo;s goal is to become internationally recognized for the quality of its research and creative endeavors and their applicability to improving quality of life, generating new insights and expanding the boundaries of human knowledge creativity. Committed to excellence in teaching, research and service, the University aims to serve the higher education needs of India and the world beyond.</p>

Shiv Nadar University

Soil moisture represents a vital component of the ecosystem, sustaining life-supporting activities at micro and mega scales. It is a highly required parameter that may vary significantly both spatially and temporally. Due to this fact, its estimation is challenging and often hard to obtain especially over large, heterogeneous surfaces. This study aimed at comparing the performance of four widely used interpolation methods in estimating soil moisture using GPS-aided information and remote sensing. The DistanceWeighting (IDW), Spline, Ordinary Kriging models and Kriging with External Drift (KED) interpolation techniques were employed to estimate soil moisture using 82 soil moisture field-measured values. Of those measurements, data from 54 soil moisture locations were used for calibration and the remaining data for validation purposes. The study area selected was Varanasi City, India covering an area of 1535 km2. The soil moisture distribution results demonstrate the lowest RMSE (root mean square error, 8.69\%) for KED, in comparison to the other approaches. For KED, the soil organic carbon information was incorporated as a secondary variable. The study results contribute towards efforts to overcome the issue of scarcity of soil moisture information at local and regional scales. It also provides an understandable method to generate and produce reliable spatial continuous datasets of this parameter, demonstrating the added value of geospatial analysis techniques for this purpose. © 2019 by the authors.

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GIS and remote sensing aided information for soil moisture estimation: A comparative study of interpolation techniques

Environment and Ecology 37 (3B)

Gregarious colonization of Tribulus terrestris L.(Puncture Vine): Ecological implications

Modern Phytomorphology

Occurrence of Symphyotrichum squamatum ( Spreng .) G . L . Nesom in Uttar Pradesh , India : A new record

Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry

Farmer participatory approach to utilize landraces and local cultivars for germplasm conservation

Turbulent flow characteristics around the braid bar are not thoroughly studied till now. In the current paper, the quadrant method is used to analyze the turbulence characteristics of flow around the island in a braided river model. An attempt has been made herein to relate the depositional characteristics around the island in the braided river model to the sweep and ejection events. The new parameter bursting ratio is defined in this paper; it is observed that the bursting ratio is strongly related with the erosion/deposition characteristics around the island in a braided river model. The transition probability of 16 possible bursting movements are computed for four different experimental condition, the results shows that the, movements are closely related with the erosion/deposition magnitude around the bar in a braided river model. The values of sweep ratio and ejection ratio at 12 different points around the island for four different experimental conditions are computed using Box Cox analysis. The results found that the sweep and ejection ratio have positive linear correlation with scouring/ deposition magnitude, thus sweep and ejection ratio are important parameters which are related to the scouring/ deposition magnitude around the island in a braided river model. © 2017 Indian Society for Hydraulics.

ISH Journal of Hydraulic Engineering

Study of turbulent characteristics of flow around island in a braided river model using quadrant technique

Integration of GPS and in-situ sensor information for large scale soil moisture estimation

Knowledge of farmers about post-harvest practices of fennel in Sirohi district of Rajasthan

Annals of Horticulture

Indian vegetable seed industry

Vegetation and climate during later part of Pleistocene to major part of Holocene (∼16.6–3.5 ka) has been reconstructed based on the palynological and magnetic susceptibility proxies from an exposed section of lacustrine deposit at Rukti, Sangla valley, Kinnaur, western Himalaya. Study shows that along with the general tree line succession to higher altitudes since early Holocene, the area has also captured the major climatic events of late Pleistocene to early-mid Holocene time. The area exhibits a continuation of mixed conifer - broadleaved forest at least since ∼16.6 ka with intermittent phases of expansions of broadleaved tree taxa especially Oaks (Quercus) or invasion of conifers especially Pine (Pinus) with an increase (moist) or decrease (dry) of Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) respectively. This is also supported by the variations in the magnetic susceptibility values. The climate was warm and moist during ∼16.6 ka and changed to cool ∼13.3 ka, followed by increasing ISM since ∼11.5 ka. Distinct spike in the magnetic susceptibility values between ∼8.7 and ∼7.8 ka could correspond to global 8.2 ka cool event thus indicating strengthening of westerly influence and low evaporation. Subsequent warm conditions could be generalized by the advancement of Birch (Betula) line to higher altitude following the resultant retreat of the glacial body. Study has put forth the potential of such Himalayan sites to uncover the major climatic events of global correlation captured by various proxies within a region.

Quaternary International

Late Pleistocene - Holocene vegetation and climate from the palaeolake sediments, Rukti valley, Kinnaur, Himachal Himalaya

Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies,

Prevalence of yellow vein mosaic virus of okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench] in Sheoganj, transitional plain of Luni Basin (ZoneIIb) of Rajasthan