West Bengal
Biodiversity Board

Ongoing Projects

1. PROJECT TITLE:Documentation of fresh water fishes in the Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar districts of West Bengal
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Dr. Debashis Das
IMPLEMENTING INSTITUTE: Dept. of Zoology, Tufangunj Mahavidyalaya, Coochbehar
OBJECTIVES:

• Document fish species diversity in the districts of Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar.
• Presence-Absence data through communication with local fishermen.
• Identification of important wetlands for conservation of important species and also to develop strategy to do the same.

2. PROJECT TITLE:Indigenous freshwater ornamental fish faunal diversity of Paschim Medinipur, their rearing, breeding and marketing of selective species for better livelihood of rural people
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Dr. Angsuman Chanda
IMPLEMENTING INSTITUTE: Raja N L Khan Women's College
OBJECTIVES:

• Documentation and quantification of ornamental fish species from the markets and other sources of Paschim Medinipur, Purba Medinipur and Jhargram district.
• Documentation of indigenous fishes with potential of use as ornamental fish and livelihood concerned. Awareness regarding importance of indigenous species of fishes as ornamental.

3. PROJECT TITLE: Macro-Invertebrate as Bioresource and Bioindicator of Ecosystem Stability in the Longitudinal Templates of Murti river in Dooras, North Bengal
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Prof. (Dr.) Sumit Homechaudhuri
IMPLEMENTING INSTITUTE: University of Calcutta
OBJECTIVES:

• Determination of species diversity of macro-invertebrates (aquatic insects) in Murti river, Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal.
• Analysis of the interrelationship of macroinvertebrate diversity and physic-chemical parameters.
• Correlation between functional diversity of macro-invertebrates and environmental gradients.
• Evaluation of seasonal dynamics of macroinvertebrate population to understand their response to seasonal cycle and their availability as bioresource.
• Determination of traits of different species of faunal abundance to assess their potentiality as bio-indicator species.
• Recognition of multi-scale functional traits of the macro-invertebrate assemblages to select different candidate metrics towards construction of index of biological integrity for evaluation of the freshwater riverine ecosystem health.  

4. PROJECT TITLE: Assessment of taxonomic diversity of mycorrhizal associations in the staple crops of Malda District of West Bengal
Principal INVESTIGATOR: Dr. Vivekananda Mandal, Professor of Botany, University of Gour Banga
IMPLEMENTING INSTITUTE: University of Gour Banga
OBJECTIVES:

• To identify Mycorrhizae by morpho-biochemical method
• To quantify mycorrhizal colonization of roots and rhizospheric soil and testing of soil parameters that influence the mycorrhizal community structure and distribution
• To establish the relations of soil parameters and agricultural practices on mycorrhizal diversity in the targeted staple crops.

5. PROJECT TITLE: Status and diversity of the natural predators of vegetable crop pests in an intensively cropped area in West Bengal
Principal INVESTIGATOR: Prof. Parthiba Basu, Department of Zoology
CO-INVESTIGATOR: Dr. G. Aditya, Department of Zoology
IMPLEMENTING INSTITUTE: University of Calcutta
OBJECTIVES:

• To make an inventory of natural predators of the major vegetable crop pests (insects).
• To study the impact of intensive agriculture on the natural predators of major vegetable crop pests (insects).
• To determine the factors controlling population status of the natural predators of major vegetable crop pest (insects) in intensive farming areas and also the preferable host plants for the natural predators.

6. PROJECT TITLE: Diversity and bionomics of Muscid Flies (Family: Muscidae, Order: Diptera) in West Bengal, India
Principal INVESTIGATOR: Dr. Suvra Kanti Sinha, Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology
IMPLEMENTING INSTITUTE: Sonamukhi College, Bankura
OBJECTIVES:

• To document muscid flies along with their habitat in West Bengal
• To produce a web-based taxonomic revision of Muscid flies in West Bengal
• To investigate bionomics of the flies
• To make photographic documentation of each and every species found in West Bengal

7.PROJECT TITLE: Diagnosis and description of swamp eel(s) (Synbranchidae: Synbranchiformes) in West Bengal, India: A study of fish taxonomy
Principal INVESTIGATOR: Mr. Ram Krishna Das, Assistant Professor
IMPLEMENTING INSTITUTE: Department of Industrial Fish & Fisheries, Asutosh College, Kolkata
OBJECTIVES:

• To sample eels with some traditional fishing gears
• To Identify those species

8. PROJECT TITLE: Socio-economic upgradation of coastal wetlands of Namkhana Block, Sundarban through awareness strategy, to establish optimum environmental condition for survival and growth of economically important species (Macrobrachium rosenbergii, Scylla serrata, Penaeus monodon)
Principal INVESTIGATOR: Dr. Joyita Mukherjee, Assistant Professor
IMPLEMENTING INSTITUTE: Department of Zoology, Krishna Chandra College
OBJECTIVES:

• To collect Socio-economic data of fishermen community to know the present economic status.
• To generate awareness to protect ecologically important species.
• To provide technological awareness to the fisherman community.
• To find a way for sustainable development of riverine dependent fisherman community.

9. PROJECT TITLE: Development of biological database of microbes diversity of East Kolkata Wetland areas
Principal INVESTIGATOR: Dr. Swati Chakraborty, Assistant Professor
CO-INVESTIGATOR:
IMPLEMENTING INSTITUTE: Guru Nanak Institute of Pharmaceutical Science & Technology
OBJECTIVES:

• To study the microorganisms, present in East Kolkata Wetland areas.
• To make a detailed genetic database of those microbes of the wetland.
• To isolate and culture of microbial strains.
• To share the list of documented microbes with Accession Number of the each of the deposited specimen in designated National Repository.

10. PROJECT TITLE: Monitoring of migratory birds at selected waterbodies in West Bengal
COORDINATORS: Dr. S. N. Ghosh, Senior Research Officer, WBBB; Mr. Kushal Mookherjee, Prakriti Samsad
ASSOCIATES: Dr. Debashis Das, Tufanganj Mahavidyalaya;
Dr. Santi Ranjan Dey, Rammohan College
Dr. Biplob Kumar Modak, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University
Mr. Uttam Chakraborty, Alipurduar Birder's Club
Mr. Tuhin Subhra Mandal, Dishari Sankolpo
IMPLEMENTING INSTITUTE: West Bengal Biodiversity Board
OBJECTIVES:

• To monitor the population migratory birds
• To monitor the status and conditions of wetlands
• To find out the area specific threats which the migratory birds are facing.
• To generate popular interests in water birds, and thereby promote their conservation.
• To incorporate data into Asian Waterbird Census through Prakriti Samsad, the coordinator agency of Eastern India.

11. PROJECT TITLE: Conservation of indigenous crop diversity through local livelihood promotion by sustainable cultivation and marketing involving local backward communities
Coordinators: Dr. Soumyendra Nath Ghosh, Dr. Anirban Roy ad Dr. Prakash Pradhan
IMPLEMENTING INSTITUTE: University of Calcutta
OBJECTIVES:

• To conserve traditional crops on-farm through sustainable agricultural practices and promote those among interested farmers.
• To generate livelihood of local backward communities through agro based conservation initiatives.
• To develop proper market linkage for such agricultural production
• To develop an indigenous agro-bioresource based conservation-livelihood promotion model.