Filtration of water samples for pigment estimation
Onboard sampling in Lakshadweep Sea
Underwater line transect survey in Lakshadweep Atoll
Fish larvae identification using Nikon SMZ25
TURBAQUA Mobile App - monitoring water quality in conjunction with a hand-held Secchi disc.
The Marine Biodiversity and Environment Management Division (MBEMD) is dedicated to conducting research to understand and conserve marine habitats and their biological diversity spanning from marine microbes to marine mammals. The division’s focus extends to biodiversity valuation of marine ecosystems along the Indian coast, assessing the impacts of fishing on biodiversity, research on threatened taxa and fragile ecosystems like coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangrove stands, and developing restoration protocols for these ecosystems. Another major thrust area is investigating the impact of environmental changes in the marine realm, particularly climate change and extreme weather events on marine fisheries and biodiversity. Assessment of the impact of marine pollution, including marine litter and other anthropogenic stressors, on the marine environment is another key priority research area for the division. The division is actively involved in developing mitigation strategies to address these challenges. The research inputs of the division have been instrumental in making significant contributions to the sustainable management and utilization of the marine ecosystems and biodiversity along the Indian coast, while ensuring their conservation and protection for future generations.
The division has achieved notable milestones including assessing the impacts of current and historical climate change phenomena on major fisheries and resource characteristics, studying extreme events and harmful algal blooms, investigating epidemiological links of changes within the marine environment, documenting and describing new species of marine organisms, discovering new distributional ranges for marine species, developing assessment and management plans for ecologically and biologically sensitive areas, coral reef resilience studies, jellyfish swarming and fishery interactions, pioneering research on seaweed diversity, distribution and laboratory-based propagation protocols, estimating blue carbon and implementing restoration efforts for mangroves and seagrasses, monitoring marine debris and microplastics, long-term monitoring of plankton dynamics and coastal water quality, exploring marine microbial diversity and biotechnological applications, and developing predictive models for species distribution and ecosystem health assessment. Pioneering investigations on the diversity of corals and sponges in India is one of the major contributions from the division. Regular monitoring and assessment of the diversity and abundance of coastal and pelagic avifauna along the peninsular coasts, islands and oceanic waters are another important focus area of the division.
The division's commitment to innovative research methodologies is evident from the use of cutting-edge technologies such as Convolutional Neural Networks for coral species classification and Maximum Entropy Models for predicting species distribution. The division also actively engages in public outreach and utilizes Citizen Science for data collection. The committed research and outreach activities of the division contribute significantly to the sustainable management and conservation of marine biodiversity in Indian waters.
- Thrust Areas of Research
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Major Achievements
- Developed conservation plans for biologically sensitive areas based on the EBSA criteria adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), aiding in the protection and management of coastal and marine ecosystems.
- Conducted coral resilience studies in multiple coral reef areas along the Indian Coast, providing insights into biodiversity and drivers of resilience.
- Assessed the ecosystem health of the Ramsar wetland- the Vembanad Lake using key water quality parameters at micro-level providing valuable insights into its ecological status.
- Assessed and observed a decline in the seagrass coverage in the Lakshadweep reefs using time series data developed using Google Earth Engine
- Identified potential areas of occurrence of the dominant hard corals in the Lakshdweep Archipelago, Andaman reef system and Mergui Archipelago, contributing to conservation and fisheries management planning.
- Marine mammal surveys were undertaken along the Indian coast in order to understand their diversity and abundance in our waters
- Discovered and described two new deep sea fishes – the Kollam snake eel, Xyrias anjaalai and deepsea hagfish Eptatretus wadgensi.
- Discovered and described six new species of Hyattella, contributing to the knowledge of marine species diversity in India.
- New coral species occurrence records were made from Indian waters, such as Endopsammia sp., Rhizangidae corals, expanding the understanding of coral diversity and their distribution in Indian waters.
- Documented and studied the targeted fishery of Jellyfish Crambionella orsini along the Neendakara and Cape Comarin coasts, contributing to the understanding of jellyfish populations.
- Underwater surveys in the islands have added 23 new fish records to Lakshadweep archipelago, enhancing fish faunal records to 435 genera and 868 species. Recorded new records of Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides, Scarus altipinnis, and Gunnellichthys monostigma in Indian fish fauna. Koumensetta, Gunnellichthys, and Chilomycterus genera were recorded for the first time.
- Identified the corallimorpharian coral species Rhodactis bryoides outcompeting hardr corals in Kavaratti, expanding knowledge of invasive species dynamics.
- Monitored algal blooms, including Green Noctiluca scintillans and Red algal blooms of Scrippsiella trochoidea, in the inshore waters of Southwest and east coast of India, aiding in the understanding of bloom dynamics.
- Reported the occurrence and investigated the morphology and features of various jellyfish species, including Marivagia stellata, Cyanea rosea, and Cladonema radiatum, expanding knowledge of jellyfish diversity.
- Studied the influence of marine heat waves on coastal areas along the west and east coasts of India, providing insights into the impacts of warming oceans.
- Explored the relationship between ENSO, ocean-atmospheric parameters, and the abundance of important fish species, contributing to the understanding of their population dynamics.
- Monitored marine plastic litter, including microplastics, along the Indian coast, aiding in the understanding of plastic pollution in marine environments.
- Conducted comprehensive analysis of heavy metals in marine sediment collected from the inshore areas of the west coast and coastal estuarine areas of Mangalore and Cochin (Vembanad Lake). The analysis revealed the levels of Ni, Cd, Hg, and Pb, indicating low risk of pollution except for Cd on the east coast.
- Investigated the impact of derelict fishing gears on vulnerable coastal ecosystems and observed the entanglement of lost gears on branching corals, sea urchins, crabs, and fishes.
- Isolated Photobacterium ganghwense from coral reef ecosystems that has potential for degrading the pesticide Cyfluthrin.
- Established cell culture-based screening methods using 16 marine fish cell lines to detect viruses in diseased and healthy fishes, contributing to fish disease surveillance.
- Recorded significant cytopathic effects of the grouper Epinephelus malabaricus on spleen cell lines, highlighting the presence of pathogens affecting fish health.
Coastal Conservation and Ecosystem Assessment
Fish diversity and faunal records
Climate change and anthropogenic influences
Microbial diversity and biotechnological values
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Technology or Concepts Developed
- Ecosystem Health Indices (EHIs) for assessment and monitoring of the health status of coastal ecosystems
- Micro-level Environment Management Plan for Aquaculture and Allied Sector for Mulavukad, a Coastal Village, in the Vembanad Lake Ecosystem, Kochi, Kerala, India
- Interactive web map on Spatial plan of proposed responsible livelihood options for Mulavukad Village.
- Developed Beach Litter Atlas for India.
- Online spatial database and Interactive map of the Marine Heatwave Characteristics of the Northern Indian Ocean
- Marine mammals stranding atlas along the Indian coast
- Sixteen immortal marine fish cell lines for marine fish virology and in vitro research
- Documentation of coral reef bacterial diversity with 130 GenBank accessions and reference collections.
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Ongoing Research Projects
SI.No. Project Code Project Title Principal Investigator Project Period 1 PEL/EL/40 Marine eggs and larval studies along the Indian Coast Dr. R. Ratheesh Kumar 2020-2025 2 SFD/IAF/13 Science for Sustainability: Developing an Integrated Assessment Framework (IAF) to support management decisions for marine fisheries of Tamil Nadu & Puducherry Dr. K. Vinod 2024-2029 3 MBEMD/MPC/28 Impact of coastal marine pollution on the ecosystem’s health, biodiversity and mitigation measures Dr. P.S. Asha 2023-2027 4 MBEMD/EFH/29 Understanding the Essential Fish Habitats (EFHs) for sustainable management of coastal and marine ecosystem Dr. L. Ranjith 2024-2029 5 MBEMD/BYC/30 Assessment and evaluation of the marine biodiversity with emphasis on bycatch from an ecosystem perspective Dr. Rekha J. Nair 2024-2029 6 MBD/JBD/32 Jelly Fish bloom dynamics in coastal and marine ecosystems of India Dr. Saravanan R. 2020-2025 7 FEM/GIS/38 Impacts of extreme weather events on marine fisheries in selected ecosystems of Northern Indian Ocean - A geoinformatics approach Dr. Shelton Padua 2020-2025 8 MBEMD/MMD/39 Marine microbial diversity in relation to ecosystem functioning and environmental changes Dr. K.S. Sobhana 2023-2027 -
Scientific Staff
No Name Designation 1 Dr. K. S. Sobhana Principal Scientist & Head-in-charge, MBEMD 2 Dr. D. Prema Principal Scientist 3 Dr. Vinod K. Principal Scientist & Head, Mandapam RC 4 Dr. Asha P. S. Principal Scientist 5 Dr. Rekha J. Nair Principal Scientist 6 Dr. Miriam Paul Sreeram Principal Scientist 7 Dr. Bindu Sulochanan Principal Scientist 8 Dr. R. Saravanan Senior Scientist 9 Dr. Loveson Edward L Senior Scientist & SIC 10 Dr. Sreenath K. R. (on deputation as DG, FSI) Senior Scientist 11 Dr. Shelton Padua Senior Scientist 12 Dr. Pralaya Ranjan Behera Senior Scientist 13 Dr. L. Ranjith Senior Scientist 14 Dr. R. Jeyabaskaran Senior Scientist 15 Dr. Ratheesh Kumar R. Senior Scientist 16 Dr. S. Ramkumar Scientist 17 Dr. Divya Viswambharan Scientist 18 Smt. Ramya Abhijith Scientist 19 Shri. S. Thirumalaiselvan Scientist 20 Dr. Vaisakh G. Scientist
