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The
research articles presented in the special section of January issue-2026 of
Journal of Environmental Biology is a culmination of three days International
Conference on Environmental Hazards in Mountainous Regions: Problems and
Prospects (ICEHMRPP-2024) held on 21st to 23rd of
February 2024 organized by School of Earth Science and Natural Resource
Management, Pachhunga University College Campus, Mizoram University, Aizawl,
Mizoram. The conference provided an important platform for the scientific
community to share different issues relating to environmental research
particularly environmental health, hazards, monitoring and management
strategies, and explore innovative solutions to address the pressing issues
faced by these vulnerable mountainous regions.
As the
editor of this section, I am delighted to present the section entitled:
“Environmental Pollution and Geo-hazards Monitoring”. This section highlights
the research pertaining to field of Invasive ecology, Environmental hazard,
especially geohazards, seismic hazard assessment, environmental pollution
monitoring and landscape ecology. In total 20 research papers received from
the researchers were submitted to Journal of Environmental Biology,
out of which 5 papers after critical peer review and editing were selected
for publication.
Invasive
ecology research article explored the influence of detrital loading of Eichhornia
crassipes on water properties under different nutrient gradients in
mesocosm experiments. This mesocosm study assessed the ecological impacts of
the detrital loading of Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth) on
aquatic ecosystems by analysing changes in water physico-chemical properties
across six nutrient gradients, mesotrophic, eutrophic, and hyper-eutrophic,
each at low and high levels. The study focused on detritus-induced hypoxia in
nutrient-rich systems and aimed to inform effective management strategies for
E. crassipes invasions. This study exemplifies an integrated approach
to environmental monitoring and management by systematically assessing how
detrital loading of Eichhornia crassipes influence water quality
across nutrient gradients.
Geohazard
research article relates to land subsidence in the western part of Aizawl: a
case study of Hunthar, Aizawl, Mizoram, India. The aim of this paper was to
generate landslide susceptibility map of Hunthar locality using AHP method,
demarcating the study area Hunthar landslide and interpreted with its
physico-chemical properties of soils within the study area.
Seismic
hazard assessment article deals with temporal variation of b-value and
seismicity in the Indo-Burma Region: A precursor to large earthquake. It
determines seismicity parameters such as a-value, b-value, and Mc (magnitude
of completeness) for different time periods from 1965 to 2022 in the
Indo-Burmese region. This study also aimed to analyze temporal variations and
their implications for seismic hazard assessment.
Environmental
Pollution monitoring article assessed the relationship between ground level
ozone and key meteorological parameters in Aizawl, Mizoram. The aim of this
study was to explore the relationship between ground-level ozone and key
meteorological parameters in Aizawl, Mizoram, over a period from March 2022
to February 2023.
Landscape
ecology article deals with assessing vegetation health and fragmentation in
Aizawl district using normalized difference vegetation index. The aim of this
paper was to study vegetation dynamics in Aizawl District, Mizoram, India,
from 2013 to 2023, analyzing the impact of urban expansion and reforestation
efforts on forest cover and landscape fragmentation.
I
believe the varied topics presented in this section would be a good reference
material not only for the research scholars, scientists, academicians but
also for the readers who are keen and interested to gain knowledge with the
ongoing research.
I am
immensely thankful to Prof. Dibakar Chandra Deka, Vice Chancellor, Mizoram
University for his patronage and highly indebted to Prof. H. Lalthanzara,
Principal, Pachhunga University College (A Constituent College of Mizoram
University), Aizawl for his treasured and dependable encouragement. I also
offer my heartfelt gratitude to Mizoram University for providing financial
assistance to organize the Conference. I would like to thank my senior
colleagues Dr. R. Ramthara, Associate Professor &Former Head, Department
of Geography and Prof. Saitluanga Sailo, Prof. & Head, Department of
Geology, PUC for their full-hearted support and cooperation from the
beginning of conference to the end of publication of these articles. The
constant cooperation received from the faculty members, research scholars,
students and staffs of our Environmental Science, Geology and Geography
departments are highly acknowledged. I would also like to thank all authors
for contributing research article and panel of reviewers for their insightful
and constructive critical comments for quality improvement of articles.
Finally,
I extend my sincere gratitude to the Editor and Team of R&D Division of Journal
of Environmental Biology for critically evaluating the research papers
and support for accepting the invitation for publication of these research
papers in JEB.
The
entire publication process of this section was a valuable learning experience
for me.
Happy reading!
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