How much do baleen whales eat in a day?

 

The new study has observed that baleen whales can consume as much as 16 tonnes of food per day, which constitutes as much as 30% of their total body mass.

A recently published study in Nature has established that baleen whales, the largest animals on the planet, eat thrice or even more the amount of food than previously thought.

The study, conducted primarily in the Southern Ocean, monitored multiple individuals from seven baleen whale species – humpback, fin, blue, minke, right and bowhead and the Bryde’s whale – as they went about their daily business.Baleen whales are so named because they have bristles (baleens) inside their mouth in which their prey (krill) gets stuck. Their close relatives, from the order Cetacea, are toothed whales that have teeth instead of bristles.

Whales were tagged with sensors that tracked their movements, and acoustics were used to identify places where their prey was concentrated.

The methods used are notable as it is the first time that whale movement and diet could be empirically monitored. Earlier studies employed examining the contents of the stomach of killed whales or by employing mathematical models based on metabolic rates of baleen whales. Both these methods suffered veritable disadvantages.

Direct measurements of stomach contents were often done during specific times of the year, which, however, gave a “biased” picture. Some even tried to fill the stomach up with water or gas, but the elasticity of the stomach membrane decreases significantly upon death. As for mathematical models, the metabolism rates involved were often ‘assumed,’ or taken from some captured toothed whales or dolphins.

The new study has observed that baleen whales can consume as much as 16 tonnes of food per day, which constitutes as much as 30% of their total body mass.

Prior studies, researchers maintain, have grossly underestimated the gargantuan appetites of the largest aquatic mammals, wherein “even their highest assumptions…underestimates reality”.

Generalist whales like fin and humpback, as opposed to specialist ones (the blue, right and bowhead whales), may be better buffered against the effects of climate change on marine life, the authors argue.

Different feeding strategies

The researchers highlight differences in the feeding strategies of these species as well. The right and bowhead whales prey on crustaceans by moving through a swarm of crustaceans with an open mouth, a strategy called ‘ram’ or ‘continuous’ feeding.

Another strategy, called ‘lunge’ feeding, involves discrete jumps (lunges) at prey colonies. Lunge feeding is exhibited by the blue, fin and humpback whales. A single whale adopting a lunge strategy can filter up to 17000 cubic metres of water a day, while a ram feeding tends to process four times as much.

Whales and iron cycle

These findings are particularly important as whales are apex predators in food chains they operate and therefore render important ecosystem services and functions.

The foremost among these is the marine iron cycle. Most iron in the ocean exists in biomass. One of the largest reservoirs of iron in the ocean is krill. Krill populations constitute nearly 24% of the total iron in surface waters, an earlier study has established. Upon devouring krill, whales defecate iron-rich faeces. These are then eaten by the planktonic community, which are then, in turn, eaten by krill. And the cycle goes on.

A 2010 study estimated that the amount of iron in whale faeces can be “ten million times that of Antarctic seawater”, while the present study asserts that whales could recycle 7000 to 15000 tonnes of iron each year.

The authors also highlight how whales play the role of ecosystem engineers by mixing iron in the water by virtue of their sheer movement.

This also explains the ‘krill paradox’ whereby it was observed that krill populations actually declined during the whaling years (1910-70), whereas the prey population usually explodes in the absence of a predator.

Even the numbers of competing predator species, which were expected to increase with whaling, have either declined or remained the same (essentially because their food source, krill, was declining).
“Encouraging cetacean populations to recover may restore ecosystem function lost in the 20th century and lead to enhanced oceanic productivity,” authors hope, even as they acknowledge that twentieth-century whaling reduced baleen whales populations by more than two-thirds.

Written by Ritvik Chaturvedi 

Source: Indian Express, 12/11/21

Remembering Birsa Munda on Janjatiya Gaurav Divas

 

L Murugan writes: He was one of the tallest icons of India’s freedom movement and his contributions, along with others who were part of the struggles organised by tribal communities, must be acknowledged

As India celebrates Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, one name stands tall among the galaxy of stars who fearlessly worked for the freedom of the motherland against the oppressive British Raj — Bhagwan Birsa Munda. Birsa Munda lived a short — just 25 years — but valiant life. His life story, full of gallant efforts to fight injustice and oppression, represents a strong voice of resistance against colonialism.

Born on November 15, 1875, in Ulihatu village in present-day Jharkhand, Birsa spent his childhood in abject poverty in a tribal Munda family. This was the time when the exploitative Raj started penetrating the deep jungles of Central and Eastern India, disrupting tribals living in harmony with nature. The Britisher introduced a feudal zamindari system in the Chhota Nagpur region, destroying the tribal “Khuntkatti” agrarian system. The Raj brought in the outsiders — moneylenders and contractors, as well as feudal landlords — who aided the British in their exploitation. The unrelenting missionary activity continued with the active support of the Raj, insulting and interfering with the religious-cultural ethos of Adivasis.

During the 1880s, Birsa closely witnessed the Sardari Larai movement in the region, which demanded the restoration of tribal rights through non-violent methods like sending petitions to the Raj. However, the oppressive colonial regime paid no heed to these demands. The zamindari system soon reduced the tribals from the status of landowners to that of labourers. The feudal setup intensified the forced labour (veth bigari) in the forested tribal areas. The exploitation of tribals now reached a breaking point.

This culminated in Birsa taking up the cause of Adivasis. He shed new light on the religious domain. He stood firm against missionaries who were belittling tribal life and culture. At the same time, Birsa worked to refine and reform religious practices, discouraged many superstitious rites. He brought in new tenets, prayers and worked to restore tribal pride. Birsa impressed upon the Adivasis the importance of “sirmare firun raja jai” or “victory to the ancestral king” — thus invoking the sovereignty of the tribals’ ancestral autonomous control over the land. Birsa became a mass leader and began to be considered as Bhagwan and Dharati Aba by his followers.

Birsa knew who the real enemy was — in addition to the dikus, it was the oppressive Raj. He was clear that “abua raj setar jana, maharani raj tundu jana” (let the kingdom of the Queen end and our kingdom be established). Bhagwan Birsa ignited the minds of the masses. The Mundas, Oraons, other Adivasis and non-Adivasis responded to his call and joined the “Ulgulan” or revolt against the colonial masters and exploitative dikus. Birsa asked the people not to pay any rent, and attacked the outposts of feudal, missionary and colonial authorities. With traditional bows and arrows, the tribals of Central and Eastern India waged an effective armed resistance against the British. In doing so, however, Birsa was careful that only the real exploiters were attacked, and the common people were not troubled. Birsa became an image of vitality and divinity. Soon, he was captured by British police and lodged in jail, where he died in captivity on June 9, 1900. But Bhagwan Birsa Munda’s spirited struggle did not go in vain. It compelled the British to take cognisance of the plight and exploitation of tribals, and bring in the Chhota Nagpur Tenancy Act of 1908 for their protection. This Act restricted the transfer of tribal land to non-tribals, giving Adivasis a huge relief and became a landmark legislation for the protection of tribal rights. The British regime also took steps to abolish Veth Bigari or forced labour.

Bhagwan Birsa Munda continues to inspire millions of Indians, 121 years after his death. He is an icon of valour, courage and leadership. He was a leader who took great pride in his rich culture and great traditions, but at the same time, did not shy away from reforming his own faith wherever necessary.

He is one of the tallest icons of our freedom movement. India’s freedom struggle was strengthened by several tribal communities such as Mundas, Oraons, Santhals, Tamars, Kols, Bhils, Khasis, Koyas and Mizos, to name a few. The revolutionary movements and struggles organised by tribal communities were marked by their immense courage and supreme sacrifice and inspired Indians all over the country.

However, established historians could not do justice to their immense contribution to India’s freedom struggle. Our visionary Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to all Indians to celebrate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and to study and understand the valour and sacrifice of many such unsung heroes in India’s freedom struggle. Under his dynamic leadership, for the first time, tribal pride and contributions are being given a fitting tribute by celebrating Janjatiya Gaurav Divas, on November 15 — the birth anniversary of Bhagwan Birsa Munda.

On this Janjatiya Gaurav Divas, let us remember and recognise the efforts of India’s tribal people for the preservation of their cultural heritage and the promotion of Indian values of valour, hospitality and national pride.

Source: Indian Express, 15/11/21

Quote of the Day November 12, 2021

 

“Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.”
Oprah Winfrey, American Actress

“भाग्य अवसर और तैयारी के मिलन की बात है।”
ओपरा विनफ्री, अमरीकी अभिनेत्री

Climate changes MAJOR CAUSE OF CONCERN

 

World leaders from 195 countries who signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) treaty will be meeting at Glasgow, Scotland from today till November 12. For Goa, India’s smallest state, the climate changes for the past few years have left scientists worried. SHWETA KAMAT delves deeper to find out how hailstorms in winter, chain of cyclones, rising temperatures, extended monsoon period and flooding of rivers are some of the climatic changes occuring and talks to scientists who foresee a major cause of concern for the State, known for its tourism worldwide

As world leaders from 195 countries are set to meet for an all-important climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, for India’s smallest State Goa -- known for its tourism worldwide — the unusual weather phenomenon as a result of climate changes, has left scientists worried who foresee a “major cause of concern”. 

From extended monsoon period to excess rains leading to flooding, to anomalous rain post New Year and hail storms in winter, chain of cyclones over last few years, rising temperature, decreasing oxygen level in sea to sudden high tides, are some of the changing climatic trends that the coastal State is going through for last couple of years. 

The State Action Plan for Climate Change (SAPCC) too had rung the alarm bell that the State’s temperatures will rise by over 2 degrees Celsius in less than 15 years and also the fact that very heavy and exceptionally heavy rainfall events in the State will increase by a dramatic more than 100 per cent. 

“Everywhere, globally, the climate change is evident and early signs of climate changes are seen in Goa too and these signs are of serious concern. Climate change is an unavoidable phenomenon but definitely we could delay it,” former chief scientist of National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) Dr Baban Ingole told HERALD. 

Extended rainfall activities and excess rains is one of the immediate evidence of climate change that Goa can see, Ingole said, adding that though one can see it as not a problem, it can cause devastating impact on the State's economic activities like agriculture, fisheries and even tourism. 

Since 2010, the Southwest Monsoon rainfall in the State has been above normal seven times –2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 and this year. In fact, the year 2020, with 165.4 inches of rain, recorded 41 per cent surplus showers- highest in a century. Before that the highest rainfall of 33 per cent above normal was recorded in 2019.

The monsoon, this year too, ended on a 6 per cent surplus note. The State’s average seasonal rainfall is 117.14 inches. 

Various factors have been attributed to the increased rainfall, including back to back formation of low-pressure belts in the Arabian Sea, chain of cyclones like Nisarg, Nivar, Gati, Tauktae, low-pressure areas in Bay of Bengal, cyclonic circulations, offshore trough etc.

“It’s a scientifically proven fact that the oceans’ temperature is increasing and as a result of it, the frequency and life span of cyclones may increase. Being a coastal state that is a matter of concern for Goa,” Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Goa Obervatory in-charge Rahul M said. 

The Country as whole is experiencing an extended monsoon period and Goa is not an exception to it. According to IMD data, as against its normal date on October 14, in 2020, the monsoon withdrew from Goa on October 28 and in 2019 it was on October 16. In 2018, the withdrawal was on October 25. This year too, the withdrawal took place on October 24. 

“I would say the whole of India is experiencing Climate Change, Goa being not an exception. This year we had hailstorms in the winter months which we never heard of. Also seasonal rainfall also had significant changes with extreme rainfall events happening all over India, including the state of Goa,” former NIO scientist Ramesh Kumar said. 

He also said that the Arabian Sea has been witnessing more and more cyclones in the past one decade and the year 2019 we had 8 cyclones out of which 5 formed in the Arabian Sea. “These cyclones caused lot of damage to Goa and affected its ecology,” Kumar said. 

Goa is also experiencing an increase in temperature higher than 35 degree celsius during summer. “We have seen an increase in the number of days with such high temperatures,” IMD scientist Rahul said. 

However, scientist Ingole claims that not just in summer, but winters too, are experiencing temperatures above 30 degree celsius, which is not a normal trend. “Winters have started with rising temperatures rather than drop in temperature,” he explained. 

The scientist points out that unexpected high tides are yet another sign. “These are worried signs for coastal State,” Ingole said, adding the rise in pollution, temperature and sea level may have a complex and harmful impact on benthic organisms and can be seen with mass mortality of fish and appearance of jelly fish this year. 

Source: Herald, 31/10/21

November 15 declared as ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Divas

 On November 10, 2021, Union Cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi approved declaration of November 15 as Janjatiya Gaurav Divas.

Key Points

• The day was declared as a part of year-long celebration of 75 years of India’s independence, in a bid to commemorate brave tribal freedom fighters.
• November 15 also marks the birth anniversary date of Birsa Munda who is considered as God by tribal communities across India.
• Birsa Munda had made significant contributions in India’s Independence by fighting against exploitative system of British colonial system.
• He belonged to the Munda tribe and spearheaded an Indian tribal religious Millenarian movement in late 19th century across the tribal belt of present-day Bihar and Jharkhand.

The Janjatiya Gaurav Divas

The Janjatiya Gaurav Divas will be observed to commemorate tribal freedom fighters. It will make the coming generations aware of sacrifices made by tribal freedom fighters during India’s independence movement. The day will be celebrated every year to recognize the efforts made by tribals in preserving cultural heritage and promoting Indian values of national pride & hospitality.

Significance of the Day

The Janjatiya Gaurav Divas will acknowledge the cultural heritage and glorious history of tribal communities.

How this day will be celebrated?

• To mark this day, Indian government will launch a week-long celebration to commemorate 75 years of history of tribal people. It will start from November 15 and will conclude on November 22, 2021.
• Central and State government will organize several activities as a part of celebration.
• The theme of each activity will showcase achievements of tribals in Indian Freedom Struggle.
• Government will undertake several initiatives in health, education, skill development, livelihood, and infrastructure.

Jharkhand’s Singhbhum region may have been earliest continental land to rise above ocean, reveals study

 

Scientists from India, Australia and the US have found that the Earth’s first continents emerged from the ocean 700 million years earlier than thought.

Researchers have always been intrigued about when the landmasses we reside on came into existence and till recently, it was widely accepted that continents rose out of the ocean about 2.5 billion years ago. However, a recent study has changed that notion.

A recent research has shown that the Earth’s first continents may have risen out of the ocean about 700 million years earlier than previously thought. And to the surprise of many, the earliest continental land to have risen about 3.2 billion years ago may have been Jharkhand’s Singhbhum region. Scientists from India, Australia and the US have found sandstones in Singhbhum with geological signatures of ancient river channels, tidal plains and beaches over 3.2 billion years old, representing the earliest crust exposed to air.

When asked as to how Singhbhum came into the picture of research related to Earth Sciences, Dr Priyadarshi Chowdhury of Monash University, the study’s lead author, told indianexpress.com that the answer to “when the first landmasses were formed lay in the sedimentary rocks of the region”.

“We found a particular type of sedimentary rocks, called sandstones. We then tried to find their age and in which conditions they have formed. We found the age by analysing the uranium and lead contents of tiny minerals. These rocks are 3.1 billion years old, and were formed in ancient rivers, beaches, and shallow seas. All these water bodies could have only existed if there was continental land. Thus, we inferred that the Singhbhum region was above the ocean before 3.1 billion years ago,” Chowdhury said.

But, Chowdhury said, patches of the earliest continental land also exist in Australia and South Africa.

Speaking about how they determined that the region rose above ocean during the timeframe mentioned above, Chowdhury explained: “We studied the granites that form the continental crust of the Singhbhum region. These granites are 3.5 to 3.1 billion years old and formed through extensive volcanism that happened about 35-45 km deep inside the Earth and continued on-and-off for hundreds of millions of years until all the magma solidified to form a thick continental crust in the area. Due to the thickness and less density, the continental crust emerged above surrounding oceanic crust owing to buoyancy.”

“This is the most direct, unambiguous date yet for the emergence of continental land,” Chowdhury said. The findings have appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a US research journal.

The research also tends to break another well-accepted notion: continents rose above the ocean due to plate tectonics, which is the major driver today for increases in the elevation of land masses.

“We have plate tectonics today to control the elevation. When two continents’ (plates) collide, you form the Himalayas, you form the Alps,” he said. “That wasn’t the case 3 billion years [ago]. The first continents probably rose above sea level as they were inflated by progressive injection of magma derived from deep in the Earth.”

The researchers believe that the earliest emergence of continents would have contributed to the proliferation of photosynthetic organisms, which would have increased oxygen levels in the atmosphere. “Once you create land, what you also create is shallow seas, like lagoons,” Chowdhury added, accelerating the growth of oxygen-producing life forms that may have boosted oxygen in the atmosphere and ocean.

Exhorting on the importance of such studies, Chowdhury said that at a time when the entire world was debating about changes in climate, it is very important to understand how our atmosphere, oceans and climate came into existence and how they interacted with geological processes operating deep inside Earth to make our planet habitable.

“It allows us to link the interior of Earth to its exterior in deep time. India has three other ancient continental fragments — Dharwar, Bastar and Bundelkhand regions. We need to understand their evolution. What we did in Singhbhum may serve as a template for studying these other cratons,” he added.

Written by Rounak Bagchi

Source: Indian Express, 11/11/21

Hunger isn’t about biology. It’s about politics

 

Shah Alam Khan writes: In the absence of an organised food security net and political commitment, India is being crippled by the challenge of pervasive hunger and malnourishment

A busy day ended and I started walking towards my car in the hospital parking lot. With the setting sun in my eyes, I saw this seven- or eight-year-old boy standing at the hospital entrance speaking to his younger sister. Their father and an old lady (probably their grandmother) sat on their haunches nearby. The little boy had returned after visiting his ailing mother, who was admitted in our hospital. The visit of the young boy had coincided with lunch being served to admitted patients. This stroke of luck had given him a chance of a lifetime. It was now his turn to describe the menu to his younger sister.

“There was dal. There was roti. There was dahi….” He spoke like a lover who has just won a duel. His sister listened in awe. Her half-open mouth and shining eyes had an element of surprise. “What else was there?” she asked nervously. Her golden-brown hair, a sign of malnutrition, added misery to her innocent face.

“And there was achaar,” he continued with a snick of the tongue. Every food item he mentioned widened the little girl’s eyes.

I kept listening to them. The click of his tongue, the warmth of the rotis, the precise salt in the dal — good food had turned him into a master storyteller. Her sister’s face was slowly falling apart, her excitement turning into anxiety. Her sparse eyebrows were raised like parentheses. She was beginning to realise what she had missed. The storyteller continued. By now, darkness had engulfed his face. His brittle voice followed me into the car park. I drove into the darkness promising myself to quickly forget hiA few months after this incident, the Global Hunger Index (GHI) report ranked India at 101 out of a total of 116 countries. Despite my resistance, the two children returned to haunt me. Very unceremoniously, we were again labelled the republic of hungry citizens. To add misery to this horrible truth is the fact that in the crop year 2019-20 (July-June), the country’s foodgrain output was at a record 297.5 million tones. Hunger in India is thus a classic case of the crisis of capitalism, which Karl Marx, the best food theorist I know, had once warned us against.

In his book, Hunger: A Modern History, James Vernon has described hunger as a “timeless and inescapable biological condition”. Wrong. Hunger has always been political. The soul of hunger lies in the evil of the ruling class. The biology of hunger resides inside the coffers of the state and its cronies. In a 2008 paper, Hunger in the Contemporary World, Amartya Sen enumerated the interdependence of food deprivation and hunger on multiple factors. According to him, hunger involves much more than food. Different interconnections of food or lack of it are well-being of economic sectors, women’s education, public activism and social commitment, employment, military expenditure, political incentives and government policies, people’s income and inter-family food distribution rules. The complex diversity of these interconnections is what makes India vulnerable to pervasive hunger.

Having said this, it is interesting to note that in the current GHI, India has fared worse than neighbours Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. These are countries with a similar subset of factors and “food interconnections” as ours. It won’t be wrong to, therefore, conclude that we need to evaluate our responses in the fight against hunger in the backdrop of what these nations did right in standing up to the menace of hunger.

In the last decade or so, Bangladesh has shown significant progress on many socio-economic parameters. Infant mortality rate (IMR), which is considered to be one of the best indicators of overall health of the society, is 23.6 per thousand live births for Bangladesh as against India’s IMR of 28.7 per thousand live births. Female literacy in Bangladesh is 72 per cent, higher than that of India at 66 per cent. There is thus no surprise that they have done fairly well in the GHI. A study conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) on food security post the Covid-19 crisis in Bangladesh concluded that though the lockdown brought significant food insecurity, it quickly went back to the pre-pandemic levels with extensive government involvement. A similar conclusion for India will need a leap of imagination.s sister’s miserable face and the meagre food he described. I dreamt of them that night.

On the day that the GHI released its rankings, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country’s goal under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign was to emerge as the most powerful military in the world. However, our expenditure on health over the last five years has either remained static or declined. Health is the single most crucial “interconnection of food”. Political will and commitment come a close second. In the absence of an organised food security net, particularly in urban India, our rank in the GHI will fall further.

India is a signatory to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). We need to achieve these 13 targets and 28 indicators by 2030. The SDG target 2.1 enumerates that by 2030 we need to end hunger and ensure access of all people, in particular the poor and vulnerable, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round. In 2020, we were ranked 94 (out of 107 countries) in the GHI. Our deterioration in 2021 is a grim reminder of our potential inability to achieve the SDG 2.1 target unless we do something drastically different; something more than committing ourselves to war, and a vulgar display of power. Unless that happens, we, the republic of hungry people, shall continue to find truth in what Charlotte Bronte, had written in Shirley, the Tale:

“Take the matter as you find it: ask no questions; utter no remonstrances: it is your best wisdom. You expected bread, and you have got a stone; break your teeth on it, and don’t shriek because the nerves are martyrised: do not doubt that your mental stomach — if you have such a thing — is strong as an ostrich’s — the stone will digest.”

Source: Indian Express, 12/11/21