CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI) organized Dr. Ashok S. Juwarkar Memorial Lecture on 16th July, 2018 in the NEERI Auditorium. The lecture was delivered by the Chief Guest Dr. T. Srinivasu, Professor & Head, Department of Botany, RTM Nagpur University. Dr. (Mrs.) Sadhana Rayalu, Senior Most Scientist, CSIR-NEERI; Dr. A.N. Vaidya, Chief Scientist, CSIR-NEERI; and Prakash Kumbhare, Sr. Principal Scientist, CSIR-NEERI were also present on the dais.
While delivering a lecture on ‘Electronic Herbarium and Digital Biodiversity Database of Nagpur’, Dr. Srinivasu said that digital herbarium is more advantageous than conventional herbarium as it greatly increases the user interaction. Conventional herbarium also leads to loss of biodiversity, he added. He briefed about the user-friendly software DELTA (Description Language for Taxonony), which is being used worldwide to develop digital databases of plants. He informed that Mumbai has the richest biodiversity in Maharashtra having 165 families for plants, whereas Nagpur has 120 families of plants. He stated that digital databases of plants for Mumbai, Nagpur and Chandrapur have been developed. Dr. Srinivasu said that DELTA also helps in finding out endemic, non-endemic, rare or threatened species of plants. Dr. Srinivasu informed that Spigelia anthelmia has recently been reported from Mumbai and Nagpur, which has medicinal properties. The digital databases of plants are helping to prepare study material for various universities curricula of Botany, he added.
In her welcome address, Dr. (Mrs.) Sadhana Rayalu, Senior Most Scientist, CSIR-NEERI outlined the significant contributions of late Dr. Ashok S. Juwarkar. She said that the research work done by Dr. Juwarkar laid a new foundation in the area of agriculture and environment, and NEERI is continuously progressing in this area. She also briefed about other significant contributions of CSIR-NEERI. Dr. A.N. Vaidya, Chief Scientist, CSIR-NEERI introduced the Chief Guest. Prakash Kumbhare, Head, R&D Planning Division proposed a vote of thanks and Ms. Akanksha conducted the proceedings.
