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 present investigation was intended to assess the seawater quality of Digha (India) in the northwestern coast of the Bay of Bengal. Digha is a meso-tidal coastal plain located between two major estuarine systems, i.e. Subarnarekha and Hooghly located respectively on the western and eastern sides of the West Bengal along the northeast coast of India. The sampling was made at nine stations at various distances. Significant seasonal variations in environmental parameters and nutrients were observed during the study period. Analyses of physicochemical characteristics of the study area indicated that the level of dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD), total dissolved solid (TDS) and nutrients is within the permissible limit. The results clearly revealed that, though sewage discharge takes place in the coastal waters, the quality of the water was not affected. It may be due to the large quantity of estuarine water input from the Hooghly estuarine system that have enhanced dilution of discharged sewage in Digha coastal waters. Strong tidal activities, wave dynamics and coastal current further dilute the effluent water in the study area, resulting to the minimised sewage effect on coastal ecosystem. Further studies on the heavy metal concentration and benthic diversity can be assessed to understand the health of the ecosystem.