Amrik Singh Ahluwalia

Eternal University · Department of Botany

The widespread applications of ZnO NPs in the different areas of science, technology, medicine, agriculture, and commercial products have led to increased chances of their release into the environment. This created a growing public concern about the toxicological and environmental effects of the nanoparticles. The impact of these NPs on the genetic...

Phosphorus is needed by plants for their growth and development as well as different metabolic activities simultaneously being the major yield limiting plant nutrient. The application of the phosphatic fertilizers is the only alternative to prevent the phosphorus deficiency in the plants but the over use of the fertilizers depletes the soil fertili...

Endophytic fungi are known to be treasuretrove of bioactive metabolites. A total of 13 fungal endo-phytes were isolated from leaves and stem of nine medicinalplants on different growth media. All the 13 isolates werescreened for the production of secondary metabolites andantimicrobial activities against pathogenic organisms: Bacil-lus cereus (MTCC-...

Diatoms are the small, autotropic, eukaryotic organisms found abundantly everywhere in nature. They are popularly called jewels of the sea, due to the beautiful ornamentations present on their frustule wall. They are regarded as golden standards in solving drowning-related crimes in the area of forensic science. Diatoms act as a supportive tool in...

In forensic pathology, solving the crime mystery of death due to drowning still remains a challenging issue. The amalgamation of autopsy findings and comparative study of diatoms recovered from the victim's body organs and suspected drowning site help to decipher the cause of death due to drowning or post-mortem immersion. Since the correct interpr...

Mushrooms have been an indispensable element of the human culture since antiquity and are cherished all over the globe for their nutritive and therapeutic benefits. Being acknowledged as “the new superfood” of the future, they are a cardinal component of human diet for boosting health status and well being. Mushrooms are endowed with antioxidant, a...

The present study aimed to investigate the variety of elements, chemical compounds and their corresponding functional groups in the whole plant, leaves, and seeds of Senna tora. A preliminary phytochemical analysis has revealed the presence of secondary metabolites including alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, terpenoids, cardiac active glycosides, phe...

Through this study, an attempt has been made to understand the dominance of an obnoxious weed species Najas marina L., in Sukhna Lake, Chandigarh, India. The weed has been affecting the plant community in this water body. Phytochemical screening of the species in aqueous, ethanol and hexane solvents has revealed the presence of different phytoconst...

Agriculture faces challenges to fulfill the rising food demand due to shortage of arable land and various environmental stressors. Traditional farming technologies help in fulfilling food demand but they are harmful to humans and environmental sustainability. The food production along with agro‐environmental sustainability could be achieved by enco...

Food security is one of the major challenges for scientific community and one that is vulnerable to an exponentially increasing global population, unsustainable agricultural practices, and a changing global climate. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations foresees that a 60% increase in world food production over the next two...

Diatoms are photosynthetic algae; having a siliceous cell wall known as ‘frustule’. They are abundantly found in every aquatic and terrestrial environment including both fresh and marine water. They are cosmopolitan in nature as these microalgal species are also capable of growing on moist substrates like soil and bark of a plant. The growth of dia...

Diatoms are photosynthetic algae; having a siliceous cell wall known as 'frustule'. They are abundantly found in every aquatic and terrestrial environment including both fresh and marine water. They are cosmopolitan in nature as these microalgal species are also capable of growing on moist substrates like soil and bark of a plant. The growth of dia...

Soil is the basic requirement for agriculture crop production and simultaneously the microbial activity is important to improve soil health for healthy crop growth because microbial communities play an important role in building a complex link between plants and soil. Microbiomes from plants, soil and extreme environments are naturally gifted with...

One of the diverse groups of organisms after insects, fungi and its diversification are one of the debated topics among the mycologists because they are one important organism that plays various roles in the ecosystem. In the ecosystem, fungi exist in various environments like soil and water and in association with plants as well as animals in whic...

The tiny organism of soil, known as soil microbes have several functional annotations like nutrients cycling and their fixation, mineralization and solubilization, alleviation of biotic caused by pest-insects, microbial pathogens as well as abiotic stresses by harsh environmental conditions, degradation of polluting elements in the environment. The...

Soil microbial diversity is very important part of ecosystem as it plays a significant role in biogeochemical cycles. Currently, health of environment has been depleted due to growing population of the world and human activities like industrialization, overexploitation of chemical based products in agriculture and urbanization. These problems are n...

Soil, the skin of the Earth is one of the fundamental natural resource and important component that contributes to the ecosystem. Soil performs a wide range of ecosystem services like food production, climate and water regulation, provision of energy and inhabiting various life forms. This fundamental natural resource of ecosystem is a home of dive...

Fungi are an incredible group of organisms that are grouped under eukaryotes. The organism falls under the fungi was earlier viewed as damaging and pathogenic organisms that infect and kill plants and animals, but as the time flew and researches were being conducted, dark ages of fungi have fallen away and their benefits got the spotlight. Now days...

The use of fossil fuels for energy demands is insufficient for escalating demands as they are limited in nature and are not environment friendly. Various microbial sources are under scanner for clean energy production out of which algae comes as a promising one. Production of biohydrogen from algae has brought a lot of hopes in the energy productio...

This exciting book presents diverse applications of microalgal renewable resources to meet modern demands for energy and value-added products. It also comprehensively describes the role of algae in sustainable and cost-effective wastewater treatment strategies, and highlights the latest research on, advances in and biotechnological relevance of alg...

Fungi, the abundant and globally diverse organism that have approximately 1.5 million species are the one of the understudied microbe. It inhabits in various habitats and acquires diverse survival mechanism in which they produce numerous compounds, i.e., biomolecules. Biomolecules or biological molecules like organic acids, enzymes, secondary metab...

Enormous increase in anthropogenic activities results in nutrient loading into the environment causing eutrophication of aquatic bodies. The increased eutrophication of freshwater and marine water bodies has intensified the algal growth which is commonly known as algal blooms. Prokaryotic blue green algae/cyanobacteria are one of the most common bl...

Anthropogenic activities are accountable for the release of various inorganic and organic substances into the environment leading to severe environmental pollution. Effluents released from various industrial, domestic, and agricultural sources ultimately find their way into water bodies rendering the water unfit for use. There is a pressing need to...

Algae are eukaryotic photosynthetic organisms found in freshwater, marine, or brackish water. They are capable of surviving in harsh conditions such as in snow, deserts, hot water spring, and in mutual relationships with other organisms like lichens, making them as cosmopolitan species in environment. Algae play vital role in every aspect may it be...

Urbanization and industrialization have accelerated the heavy metal release into the environment, thereby creating a major threat to the life forms on the earth. This pollution has been a challenge for a long time, although various methods for removal of heavy metals have been implemented but the results are still not satisfactory. Recently, there...

The impacts of climate change are discernible and can only be reduced through proper adaptation and mitigation techniques. Wetlands represent an excellent example of natural ecosystems providing a wide range of ecosystem services valuing billions of dollars. The service of carbon sequestration by wetlands is directly linked to greenhouse gas regula...

Large-scale industrialization and anthropogenic activities have led inordinate disposal of waste water into fresh water bodies, causing imbalance in aquatic ecosystem and degradation of water quality. Waste water contains significantly high amount of organic, inorganic substances as well as toxic heavy metals. To neutralize the negative impact of w...

Dyes and pigments represent chronic ecological problems as they are toxic and carcinogenic. Purging of dyes from the coloured waste effluents is a crucial problem. Biosorption through algal biomass as a fruitful and cheap process for the purging of dyes from industrial effluents. In the present study, biosorption of red dye textile effluent has bee...

Diverse phycocyanin (PC) extraction and purification methods for cyanobacteria have been reported in literature. A particular method is not applicable to all cyanobacteria and the best method seems to be genus/species specific. Here, we report PC extraction and purification method for the filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena fertilissima, a hyperpro...

Decolourization potential of microalgal biomass of an unicellular green alga (Chlorella vulgaris) was studied using different concentrations of Orange-G dye. Several parameters were also optimized for better removal of the tested dye from its aqueous solution. Langmuir and Freundlich models were tested for equilibrium studies and experimental data...

The ever-increasing need of energy both in the domestic and industrial front has augmented the consumption of fossil fuel; consequently, complexity arises owing to exhausting fuel supplies and due to their contribution to climate change by the emission of large quantities of greenhouse gases. The renewable, economic, and carbon-neutral biofuel from...

Sutlej River is the longest river of Punjab, India, and a major source of water supply for irrigation, drinking, washing, and bathing in the region was studied through monthly surveys in two consecutive years (November, 2009–October, 2011). In Punjab region, river Sutlej receives a large amount of effluents from various industries and city sewage d...

DNAzymes have been widely explored owing to their excellent catalytic activity in a broad range of applications, notably in sensing and biomedical devices. These newly discovered applications have built high hopes for designing novel catalytic DNAzymes. However, the selection of efficient DNAzymes is a challenging process but one that is of crucial...

Wetlands are considered as the largest terrestrial carbon sinks, when comparing their carbon sequestration capacity on a longer time scale. Most of the work on wetlands has been done on their carbon sequestration potential but their internal carbon pools have not received much attention. Wetlands are an interlinked complex of different carbon pools...

Wetlands are the most effective terrestrial carbon sinks as their vegetation has high gross primary productivity. Species specific efficiency of wetland macrophytes for sequestering carbon, however, has not been studied well. This study highlights the carbon sequestration efficiency of twelve abundant macrophytes in Hokersar Wetland, Kashmir, India...

The present study focuses on the efficiency of different macrophytes in the sequestration of carbon in Hokersar wetland, Kashmir. During the present study, a total of 20 species belonging to four different life forms were studied on the basis of their cover percentage in the wetland. They comprised of emergent (11), rooted-floating leaf type (4), f...

The present study focuses on the efficiency of different macrophytes in the sequestration of carbon in Hokersar wetland, Kashmir. During the present study, a total of 20 species belonging to four different life forms were studied on the basis of their cover percentage in the wetland. They comprised of emergent (11), rooted-floating leaf type (4), f...

Wetlands are the largest nutrient sinks of carbon and nitrogen as they store them in their sediments and also take up into their plant biomass. The overall goal of our study was to quantify C and N storage of Hokersar wetland ecosystem, and to highlight its carbon sequestration potential. Samples of plants and soils were collected in 2016 and 2017,...

Seasonal variation of phytoplankton assemblages was examined in a natural freshwater lake (India) with regard to some major physical and chemical variables. Samples were collected at three stations from October 2014 to September 2015. A total of 26 species of phytoplankton were recorded, represented by diverse groups comprising Cynophyceae (7), Chl...

Stuckenia pectinata has been reported for the first time from Sukhna Wetland, Chandigarh, India. It belongs to family Potamogetonaceae and has few morphological variants. It is a filiform, submerged, perennial and aquatic plant. Different plant parts are important as a source of food for many water fowls. It is believed that this species possibly h...

Heavy metal pollution is one of the major threat to all life forms in the environment due to its toxic effects. These metals are very reactive at low concentrations and can accumulate in the food web, causing severe public health concerns. Bioremediation using conventional physiochemical methods are not cost effective and generates large volumes of...

The angiosperms diversity was studied in Doaba region of Punjab, India. A total of 464 species belonging to 337 genera and 99 families were recorded during this study. Of these, 88% are dicots and the remaining (12%) are monocots. The data contain wild, cultivated and ornamental species. Fabaceae is the most dominant family with 60 species followed...

An investigation was undertaken to evaluate the potential of two sewage grown microalgal formulations (consortia of native microalgae mixed with vermiculite: compost as carrier) in enhancing the soil micronutrient availability and uptake in wheat crop. Significantly higher available zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu) and manganese (Mn) content were...

p>The knowledge related to medicinal plants have been described in Indian Ayurveda System and survived till today through the prevalent socio-cultural practices. Present study is an attempt to document anti-diabetic plants from Una district of Himachal Pradesh. A thorough survey was conducted from 500 respondents using a semi-structured questionnai...

The angiosperms diversity was studied in Doaba region of Punjab, India. A total of 464 species belonging to 337 genera and 99 families were recorded during this study. Of these, 88% are dicots and the remaining (12%) are monocots. The data contain wild, cultivated and ornamental species. Fabaceae is the most dominant family with 60 species followed...

: Freshwater microalga Chlorella sp. was used as an adsorbent to remove methyl orange and orange-g azo dyes from their aqueous solution. The batch mode of adsorption experimental studies was evaluated in relation to the initial dye concentration, adsorbent dosage, contact time, temperature and pH. The maximum adsorption capacities of methyl orange...

Rice fields are ecosystems with many types of plants, microbes, invertebrates, birds and animals. The rice farming protects the biodiversity of the region and maintains the ecosystem for the benefit of environment. Some rice varieties release biocidal allelochemicals which might affect major weeds, microbial and pathogenic diversity around rice pla...

Microalgae possess the ability to grow and glean nutrients from wastewater; such wastewater-grown biomass can be used as a biofertilizer for crops. The present investigation was undertaken to evaluate two formulations (formulation with unicellular microalgae (MC1) and formulation with filamentous microalgae (MC2); T4 and T5, respectively), prepared...

Diatoms have evolved as the most successful inhabitants of aquatic ecosystems. These eukaryotic microalgae, belonging to division Bacillariophyta, are ubiquitous and regulate more than one fourth of primary production as key organisms at the base of food chain. The present review documents an update of their diversity and ecology from various habit...

Spirulina is in the vanguard of emerging nutritional supplements which have myriad of therapeutic benefits due to its rich macroand micronutrient diversity. This makes Spirulina an ideal candidate in myriad organ disorder including metabolic disorder and metabolic disturbance. One of the niche areas for its applied role has been in liver disorders...

Cyanobacteria are prokaryotic autotrophic organisms that have the ability to establish in a wide variety of environments, ranging from pristine hot springs to eutrophic aquatic water bodies. Their dominance and survival in these adverse habitats is attributed to the their plasticity in morphology and metabolism, secretion of allelochemicals/bioacti...

India’s position on climate change negotiations is likely to have far reaching implications for the success of global climate cooperation. Since the beginning of negotiations, the principle of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) remained the centerpiece of India’s stand. The stand started to evolve at the 15th Conference of...

Nano-extract from Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) has been evaluated and optical studies of crude revealed that the smallest nanoparticle of Spirulina was at 26nm representing 0.02% in volume. Spirulina contains a host of antioxidants and is rich in organic minerals and minerals that catalytically enhance the catalase-SOD enzyme system that allow...

Thermophysical properties including density (ρ), speed of sound (u), specific conductivity (κ), and refractive index (nD) for binary mixtures of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide with Triton X-45 and Triton X-100 have been studied over the entire composition range at different temperatures (293.15 to 323.15) K. Further t...

Discharge of untreated domestic and industrial wastewater into aquatic bodies is posing a serious eutrophication threat, leading to a slow degradation of the water resources. A number of physical, chemical and biological methods have been developed for the treatment of wastewaters; among these, the use of microalgae is considered as a more eco-frie...

Rewalsar Lake, a mid-altitude, shallow and recreational water body located in the north-western Himalayas, Himachal Pradesh (India) was studied through monthly surveys in two consecutive years (March 2008 to February 2010). Forty-seven species belonging to seven groups of phytoplankton were identified from the lake. Microcystis aeruginosa and Syned...

Prashar Lake, an unexplored, high-altitude, shallow, and cold water body located in Himachal Pradesh (India) was studied through monthly surveys in two consecutive years (March 2008 to February 2010). The seasonal variations in chlorophyll a, abundance, and species composition of plankton in relation to hydrography were studied. A total of 67 speci...

In order to understand the molecular interactions between the green solvent system, (water + lactate based ionic liquid); 2-hydroxyethyl-trimethylammonium L-lactate ([(C2H4OH)(CH3)(3)N][ Lactate]), the thermophysical properties viz. density rho, speed of sound u, specific conductivity K, refractive index n(D) and spectroscopic properties viz. IR, H...

Rewalsar Lake, a mid-altitude, shallowand recreationalwater body located in the north-western Himalayas, Himachal Pradesh (India) was studied through monthly surveys in two consecutive years (March 2008 to February 2010). Forty-seven species belonging to seven groups of phytoplankton were identified from the lake. Microcystis aeruginosa and Synedra...

Intermolecular interactions in the aqueous mixtures of the room temperature ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIM][BF4]), have been studied. The thermophysical properties: density ρ, speed of sound u, specific conductivity κ and refractive index n D have been measured over the whole composition range at different temper...

An investigation was undertaken to assess the variation in microalgal diversity vis a vis physicochemical characteristics of sewage wastewater at monthly time intervals. Diversity analyses revealed the presence of algal members belonging to all major divisions, with a predominance of Cyanophyta. Shannon-Wiener and Simpson's diversity indices illust...

Algae changed the Earth's atmosphere by producing oxygen through photosynthesis process, thus paving the way for the evolution of eukaryotic organisms and finally the human beings. Oxygen has risen from negligible concentrations to -2t% of the present atmosphere. Subsequently the rise of oxygen perhaps generated an ozone layer providing effective U...

Spirulina (Arthrospira) has been the focus of extreme investigation as it contains array of bioactive chemicals and has emerged as a perfect nutraceutical. Spirulina has a unique blend of around 70 biologically active compounds making it a perfect nutraceutical. Its supplementation enhances the nutritional and therapeutic significance. Its role as...

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic Gramnegative prokaryotes and have the ability to grow in a variety of aquatic and terrestrial environments. They occur freely or in symbiotic associations with a wide range of lower and higher plants or in microbial mats. Cyanobacteria are well known for having nitrogen fixing ability and other agriculturally import...

An increasing trend in water pollution of freshwater bodies through anthropogenic means is evident, and its impact is turning freshwater unsuitable for human consumption. In addition to physicochemical nature of such water, presence of the type of vegetation has been significant in labeling such bodies for different levels of pollution. Physicochem...

The present work was aimed at analysing the role of inoculated microalgae in nutrient dynamics, bioremediation and biomass production of sewage water. Preliminary microscopic analyses of sewage water revealed the presence of different algal groups, with predominance of Cyanophyta. Among the inoculated strains, Calothrix showed highest dry cell weig...