Susantha Udagedara

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• B.Sc,M.EM, M.I.Biol (SL)
• Managing Director at Blue Resources Trust

Marine ecosystems are important in discovering novel fungi with interesting metabolites that have shown great potential in pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries. Seagrasses, the sole submerged marine angiosperm, host diverse fungal taxa with mostly unknown metabolic capabilities. They are considered to be one of the least studied marine fu...

Mangrove ecotourism is gaining immense popularity in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as a neoliberal conservation tool, and it has contributed significantly to the growth of the tourism sector in the region over the past two decades. However, there is no comprehensive review on the full extent of mangrove ecotourism activities and the...

Sri Lanka's extensive 1,740-kilometer shoreline boasts a wealth of carbon-sequestering marine habitats, encompassing coastal forests, underwater meadows, and tidal wetlands. This review paper discussed the current status, recent changes, and future potential of the trio of carbon-rich coastal habitats in Sri Lanka. As with other countries in South...

Sri Lanka is a top plastic beaching island in the Indian Ocean. This study investigated plastic waste management in the Sri Lankan coastal zone in three stages. A database of policy and institutional management structures was constructed in MS Excel and examined to connect laws and responsible institutions. A literature survey of marine pollution r...

At a time of global interest on mangrove restoration, determining the soil characters in restoration sites are vital for two reasons i.e. to record the baselines and for establishing the changes with restored mangroves. This research focused on assessing soil characteristics: pH, salinity, electrical conductivity (EC), wet soil color, and dry bulk...

The growth of mangroves is profoundly influenced by the physio-chemical properties of their pedosphere. For the successful management and restoration of mangrove ecosystems, information on these properties is crucial. In this study, vertical profiles of soil characteristics, including pH, salinity, electrical conductivity (EC), wet soil colour, and...

Mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses are conspicuous and important features of the Sri Lankan coastline, playing an important role in delivering multiple ecosystem services including carbon sequestration (the so-called blue carbon ecosystems). Together, they support coastal biodiversity, provide habitat and nutrition for numerous plant and animal...

It is widely recognized that humanity is currently facing multiple planetary crises, including the widespread loss of biodiversity and a rapidly changing climate. The impacts of these crises are often far reaching and threaten food security (SDG goal two: zero hunger). Small-scale fisheries are estimated to provide livelihoods for over one hundred...

Seagrass meadows, like other tropical coastal ecosystems, are highly productive and sustain millions of people worldwide. However, the factors that govern the use of seagrass as a fishing habitat over other habitats are largely unknown, especially at the household scale. Using socioeconomic factors from 147 villages across four countries within the...

Compared to terrestrial carbon sinks, coastal wetlands indicate a greater potential for carbon capture and storage. Hence, the main coastal wetland ecosystems: mangroves, seagrasses, and salt marshes are incorporated into national and regional level climate change mitigation action plans. However, salt marshes remain poorly evaluated in South Asia...

Vegetated coastal ecosystems (VCE) display a promising potential to act as natural carbon sinks in climate change mitigation. Although growing interest in wetland carbon has intensified the global level carbon stock estimation studies, large knowledge gaps and uncertainties remain, particularly in tropical salt marshes in the South and Southeast As...

Salt marshes combined with mangroves and seagrasses are important coastal wetlands that can act as natural carbon sinks with a promising potential in climate change mitigation. The unique capacity of the wetland soil to capture and retain greater stocks of Blue Carbon, has widened the global research interest in incorporating coastal wetlands into...

Coastal vegetated ecosystems, such as mangroves, seagrasses, and salt marshes are known to have a greater potential in atmospheric carbon capture and storage via vegetative biomass and sediment deposits. The growing interest in coastal organic carbon, known as blue carbon, has broadened the scope of blue carbon quantification worldwide. The destruc...

This work provides the revised and updated checklist of the seagrass, Sri Lanka based on primary and secondary information. It is indeed to be an update the list of Seagrass species in Sri Lanka prepared by Abeywickrama and Arulgnanam (1991), which now been nearly three decades back. More than forty (40) published pieces of literature, herbarium sh...

Changes in the urban landscape resulting from rapid urbanisation and climate change have the potential to increase land surface temperature (LST) and the incidence of the urban heat island (UHI). An increase in urban heat directly affects urban livelihoods and systems. This study investigated the spatiotemporal variation of the UHI in the Kurunegal...

Sri Lanka’s location, historic and geologic isolation from the continental landmass, topography and climate act to shape its biogeography and biodiversity, including conferring a remarkably high level of endemism, given its close proximity to the mainland. The island hosts several ‘point endemic1 species and even monotypic endemic genera. However t...

Valaichchenai Lagoon is encompassing of an area about 13.21 Km2 and categorized as having the highest index of annual fresh water influx per unit area (0.665 Mm3ha-1yr-1). The species composition and the distribution of different seagrass of Valaichchenai Lagoon have been investigated in detail for the first time. A study was conducted in five sele...

By-catch is considered a significant problem in large-scale fisheries yet in small-scale fisheries (SSF), employing >99% of the world's fishers, there is limited quantitative understanding of by-catch, and catches in general. We provide an assessment of by-catch from fishing gears (fyke, trawl, set trammel, and drift trammel nets) commonly used in...

Ecological studies of seahorses are sparse in the Indian Ocean. The vulnerability of seahorses to overfishing and increased anthropogenic impacts on coastal habitats necessitates better management of wild seahorse populations that in turn requires understanding habitat preferences and population structure. The distribution patterns and population s...

This study presents the first record of Halodule pinifolia on the eastern coast of Sri Lanka, approximately 310 km along the coastline from the previously recorded location (Kapparathota, Weligama). Further, this study describes the new locality of the nationally endangered seagrass species Halophila beccarii to Valaichchenai Lagoon, 26.5 km north...

Sri Lanka's exploration on seagrass by Ceylon Flora Project dates back to 1860s, but initial publications of the country did bit reflect detailed descriptions. After more than a century, in 1991, an island-wide survey was carried out under UNESCO Man and Biosphere Program and recorded 15 species of sea grass introducing comprehensive identification...

Globally South Asia, where agriculture plays a key role in the economy, has been identified as the second lowest in terms of regional level food security. National- and Regional scale research and development activities are important in improving the agriculture and food security of the region. Sea level rise due to climate change has affected the...

The Woolly-necked Stork Ciconia episcopus is a resident bird species commonly found breeding in the dry lowlands of Sri Lanka, preferably nesting in remote areas with minimal disturbance, although the breeding and nesting behavior has not yet been adequately documented. Here we report its nesting behavior, for the first time in lowland wet zone Sri...

There are 52 species of freshwater crabs in Sri Lanka and 51 of them are endemic. There are several species that are known only from a single locality. Ceylonthelphusa armata is such a species, and we have initiated a study to record the distribution of this species as its typical locality is heavily polluted at Kadugannawa. At present C. armat...

The rare Indolestes divisus endemic to Sri Lanka is reported from Kegalle District for the first time. On 27-iv-2014 and 01-v-2014, respectively, one male and one female were observed and photographed approximately 25 km southwest of Kandy, near Aranayake, at Weli-manna village (7°09'30 " N, 80°27'18 " E). Increasing usage of agricultural pesticide...

Perbrinckia scansor is the only known tree-climbing freshwater crab among the 52 freshwater crab species of Sri Lanka. According to published literature, this endemic species was recorded in eleven localities (elevation range 150–960m a.s.l) in the Kalu, Walawe and Gin River basins and assessed as Least Concern, but again this species was categoris...

Perbrinckia scansor (Ng, 1995) is the only known tree-climbing freshwater crab among the 52 freshwater crab species of Sri Lanka. According to published literature, this endemic species was recorded in eleven localities (elevation range 150–960m a.s.l) in the Kalu, Walawe and Gin River basins and assessed as “Least Concern”, but again this species...

The rhino-horned lizard Ceratophora stoddartii Gray, 1835 is endemic to Sri Lanka and is locally considered as Endangered. It is found in several montane and submontane habitats: Horton Plains, Hakgala, Namunukula Peak, Peak Wilderness, Haputale, Nuwara Eliya, Maratenna, Balangoda, Pattipola, Pidurutalagala, Ohiya, Kandapola, and Galaha. This slow...

Sri Lanka’s rich agamid fauna comprises of 18 species with 15 being endemic, including three endemic genera. The endemic genus of Horn nosed lizards Ceratophora comprises a unique group of 5 allopatric species which occupy diverse rainforest habitats of the South Western wet zone of the island, some being point endemics. The smooth horned lizard, C...

Paddy cultivation is constrained due to shortage of rainfall or irrigation water supply. With the population growth, farmers have to increase the paddy production to meet the existing as well as future demand with the same or less land cultivated at the present. Wastewater from domestic and municipal sources which are harmless and that can be harve...