An appraisal of biological responses and network of environmental interactions in non-mining and mining impacted coastal waters

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 22; no. 16; pp. 12544 - 12558
• Main Authors: Fernandes, Christabelle E. G., Malik, Ashish, Jineesh, V. K., Fernandes, Sheryl O., Das, Anindita, Pandey, Sunita S., Kanolkar, Geeta, Sujith, P. P., Velip, Dhillan M., Shaikh, Shagufta, Helekar, Samita, Gonsalves, Maria Judith, Nair, Shanta, LokaBharathi, P. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.08.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Anthropogenic factors; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; Biomass; Carbon; Coastal waters; Coasts; Detritus; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Environmental Monitoring - statistics & numerical data; Environmental Pollution - analysis; Fisheries; Hydrology; India; Metals, Heavy - analysis; Mining; Phytoplankton; Phytoplankton - physiology; Plankton; Productivity; Regions; Research Article; Seasons; Seawater - chemistry; Sediments; Silicates; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water Pollution Control; Wind; India; ISW, India, Maharashtra, Ratnagiri; ISW, India, Goa; Mining; West Coast of India; Bacteria; Phytoplankton; Coastal waters
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-015-4497-4

The coastal waters of Goa and Ratnagiri lying on the West coast of India are influenced by terrestrial influx. However, Goa is influenced anthropogenically by iron-ore mining, while Ratnagiri is influenced by deposition of heavy minerals containing iron brought from the hinterlands. We hypothesize that there could be a shift in biological response along with changes in network of interactions between environmental and biological variables in these mining and non-mining impacted regions, lying 160 nmi apart. Biological and environmental parameters were analyzed during pre-monsoon season. Except silicates, the measured parameters were higher at Goa and related significantly, suggesting bacteria centric, detritus-driven region. At Ratnagiri, phytoplankton biomass related positively with silicate suggesting a region dominated by primary producers. This dominance perhaps got reflected as a higher tertiary yield. Thus, even though the regions are geographically proximate, the different biological response could be attributed to the differences in the web of interactions between the measured variables.