Studies were carried out from April 2016 to March 2017 for effective understanding of diversity combined with environment-influenced spatiotemporal dynamics of microfloral structure inKailash Khalwetland of Indian Sundarbans. A total of 36 phytoplankton genera were recorded from the study area. Eight major algal groups were in order of: Bacillariophyceae > Cyanophyceae > Chlorophyceae > Coscinodiscophyceae > Xanthophyceae > Euglenophyceae > Conjugatophyceae > Mediophyceae with respect to their quantitative abundance. Mean seasonal abundance was found highest in pre-monsoon (4.32 × 10³ cells l⁻¹) followed by post-monsoon (3.88 × 10³ cells l⁻¹) and monsoon (1.96 × 10³ cells l⁻¹). One-way ANOVA showed that seasonal difference in physicochemical parameters was statistically significant for temperature, DO, specific conductivity, TA, TS, Ca⁺⁺, nitrate, transparency, salinity, TH, turbidity, Mg⁺⁺and phosphate (p < 0.05). pH, temperature, total hardness, TDS nitrate, phosphate and silicate showed a close affinity with the distribution of phytoplankton community as evident from canonical correspondence analysis. Margalef richness index (3.121–3.774) and Shannon–Wiener diversity index (2.730–2.939) indicated moderately rich phytoplankton diversity in the wetland ecosystem.

India is blessed with vast floodplain wetland resources of 0.5 million ha that are distributed in the Eastern and North Eastern States. They possess varying morphometry, ecological profile, trophic status and biota, and harbor around 96 fish species, however the fish diversity is declining in recent years due to anthropogenic and other stressors including climate change. The wetlands are serving the need for fish from sustenance level to high intensity with varying management regimes. The average fish yield realized from these wetlands was very low as 50 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ against the annual potential of 2000 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹. The fish yield from these resources has enhanced through adoption of culture based fisheries and the average yield has increased to 400 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹. The increase in fish yield is about 20% of the production potential and there exists wide scope for developing integrated management strategies for optimizing the fish yield. Insufficient access to scientific knowledge and technologies, loss of biodiversity, habitat degradation, poor fisheries infrastructure, weak financial capacity, lack of co-operative approach, poor linkages and unorganized institutional arrangements pose challenges in achieving the potential. The present review synthesizes the updated information available on floodplain wetlands and the changes and developments during the last few decades with reference to ecology, fisheries, biodiversity, production potential, threats, institutional arrangements, governance and recommends strategies for conservation and sustainable fisheries development.

Length‐weight relationships (LWRs) for five indigenous fish species under five genera and two families, namely Cyprinion semiplotum (McClelland, 1839), Barilius barna (Hamilton, 1822), Barilius barila (Hamilton, 1822), Gagata sexualis Tilak, 1970 and Pseudolaguvia shawi (Hora, 1921) were studied from Torsa River in West Bengal, India. Sampling was done at quarterly intervals from November, 2015 to December, 2016 and a total of 701 fish specimens were collected using cast nets (mesh size of 15–20 mm), gill nets (mesh size 20–35 mm) and bamboo traps. In the present study, b value ranges from 2.686 to 3.268. LWRs for these fish species (except P. shawi) have not been reported in FishBase. A new maximum length has been recorded for P. Shawi and G. sexualis. The relative condition factor (Kn) values was found to range from 1.004 to 1.028.

An in-vitro toxicity study was undertaken for the validation, laydown the standards, supplement some of the information on assessment and define the nature of toxicity of different solvent extracts of Terminalia arjuna considering Artemia salina model, as a case study. In the present study, experimental conditions such as yellow color light of 100 W at 5% salinity for 48 hours with pH 8.0-8.5 at 30 0C, picking up of nauplii with 3mL dropper cut at its tip, 24 hours incubation in same experimental conditions and visualization with 50X magnifying glass were modified unlike previous studies. Functional screening of solvent extracts with their mother solvents revealed that hex, Etac, Chlo, Acet, Etoh, and Meoh exhibited, the LC50 values as 118.50, 101.75, 93.36, 278.32, 528.78 and 477.67 ppm, respectively, designating them as; medium, medium, high, medium, low, medium toxic, while in their solvent extract forms the toxicity nature gets changed indicating the effectiveness of the extracts. Study, also defines the toxicity level for universal solvents such as DMSO and Dw as to be non-toxic as per the Meyers toxicity index and Clarkson’s toxicity criterion. Among solvent extracts of T. arjuna, all were found to be toxic as per Meyers toxicity index. However, with reference to Clarkson’s toxicity criterion, solvent extracts comprehended extended toxicity classes as low, medium and high toxic. The PCA 1 and 2 showed, 69.46% and 19.74% variations indicating strong correlation between the parameters. The results confirmed that LC50 of any solvent extract could be treated as relative LC50, which is the fraction of mother solvent and could be treated as absolute LC50, which is the actual potential of the solvent extracts that might be positive for less effective and negative for highly effective solvent extracts. For smoothening of experimental results, negative sign was ignored. Relative LC50, relative LC50%, absolute LC50, and absolute LC50% could find liner relation with their % fractions and inverse relation with their counterparts. Thus present study advocates the inclusion of relative LC50, relative LC50%, , absolute LC50, absolute LC50%, considerating 95% upper and lower fiducial class intervals and TI values while fixing the nature of toxicity and designating the safety aspect to the host. Also, the study recommends for the collective effort to make BSLA as an internationally accepted and robust standard by revisiting and supplementing the existing toxicity criterion for the BSLA.