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Algae are popular sources of food, fodder, feed, fuel, fertilizers, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products, and other co-products. The reason for preferring algae as source of a wide array of commercial products is that provisions for algal biomass production for application in different fields are long-term, pro-environmental and sustainable. This is related to the numerous varieties of ways and places in which algae can grow naturally or can be cultivated for commercialization. The fact that different species of algae have traditionally been used as preferred food or delicacy throughout the world speaks volumes about the taste attributes of edible algae. However, the use of algae or its derivatives as taste or flavour enhancers has not been explored enough, though sporadic works and reports can be found worldwide. This review attempts to scout the role of algae in imparting flavours in various cuisines made from algae or algae derived products. Also a number of fish and marine organisms have been reported to have flavours which are considered to contain flavour-enhancing compounds derived from algae, with uniqueness in such tastes been attributed to algae. Contrary to this,

Relatively little is known about the feeding habit of the Royal Bengal Tiger of Sundarbans and the relative biomass of individual prey base species that the predator consumes during each kill. This is the first attempt to collect such data from the study area. Data sets of two phases have been used. Identification of undigested remains of 214 tiger scat samples was carried out. A comparison with Sundarbans tigers in zoo has been made. In its natural habitat, the tiger consumes more of spotted deer, followed by wild boar, rhesus monkey, and water monitor. Though the tiger consumes a relatively low proportion of small prey species to meet its dietary requirements, it gains importance in the present perspective. Significant increase is noted in the relative number of prey species consumed in the second phase, which correlates well with increased prey availability. Hypotheses formulated to find the difference in prey biomass and relative number of prey consumed have been tested statistically. A significant difference in terms of relative number of prey consumed only was derived which has been qualitatively correlated with the positive effect of increased vigilance, as revealed by secondary data, on conserving tiger habitatvis-a-visthe increased prey availability in Sundarbans.

The study highlights the dynamics and morphological characteristics of the Genus Planktoniella Schutt. The two available species P. sol (Wallich) Schutt. and P. blanda (Schmidt) Syvertsen and Hasle are important components of the phytoplankton assemblage in the estuarine system of Indian Sundarbans and also marine systems elsewhere. The sampling sites for the purpose of this study include four different spots along a riverine stretch in the estuarine region adjacent to the Tiger Reserve in the Indian Sundarbans flowing into the Bay of Bengal. Integrated phytoplankton samples were preserved for the purpose from composite water samples from each site. The water samples were analysed in field for determining pH, temperature, salinity, conductivity, TDS, turbidity and DO and subsequent to treatment and processing, the samples were microscopically analysed in the laboratory. Significant negative correlation of cell count of both species found with respect to temperature and turbidity. P. sol versus temperature (significant at α = 0.01, p = 0.001) and P. blanda versus temperature (significant at α = 0.05, p = 0.037); P. sol versus turbidity (at α = 0.05, p = 0.019) and P. blanda versus turbidity (at α = 0.05, p = 0.019). Significant positive correlation found with respect to DO and as correlation between the two species themselves. A model has been generated for each of the two species with temperature, turbidity and DO as predictor variables and the two species of Planktoniella as response variables. The influence of other dominant phytoplankton in the samples has also been considered with Pearson correlation computed for each set of species.

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