It is important to have reliable information on various natural and anthropogenic factors responsible for influencing and shaping stream water quality parameters as long as water resource conservation and management planning are concerned from the local to global scale. Daunting environmental pressures at multiple scales makes this necessity more pronounced owing to the special role of stream ecosystems in providing regional services. Understanding how coupled effect of natural and anthropogenic factors controls stream water quality parameters and how the relationships change over space and time will help policy makers and resource managers to target appropriate scales at watershed level for the quality management of stream waters. This paper sums up the information on various natural and anthropocentric factors as major determinants responsible for conditioning and shaping stream water quality parameters and their simultaneous influence on biota and its use.

The outbreak of the deadly virus (novel coronavirus or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2) that emerged in December 2019, remained a controversial subject of intense speculations regarding its origin, became a worldwide health problem resulting in serious coronavirus disease of 2019 (acronym COVID-19). The concern regarding this new viral strain “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2” (acronym SARS-CoV-2) and diseases it causes (COVID-19) is well deserved at all levels. The incidence of COVID-19 infection and infectious patients are increasing at a high rate. Coronaviruses (CoVs), enclosed positive-sense RNA viruses, are distinguished by club-like spikes extending from their surface, an exceptionally large genome of RNA, and a special mechanism for replication. Coronaviruses are associated with a broad variety of human and other animal diseases spanning from enteritis in cattle and pigs and upper chicken respiratory disease to extremely lethal human respiratory infections. With world health organization (WHO) declaring COVID-19 as pandemic, we deemed it necessary to provide a detailed review of coronaviruses discussing their 2019 Novel Coronavirus, history, current situation, coronavirus classification, pathogenesis, structure, mode of action, diagnosis and treatment, the effect of environmental factors, risk reduction and guidelines to understand the virus and develop ways to control it.

The morphometric analysis of the drainage basin and channel network play an important role in understanding the geo-hydrological behavior of drainage basin and expresses the prevailing climate, geology, geomorphology, structural antecedents of the catchment. Morphometric analysis of a drainage basin expresses fully the state of dynamic balance that has been attained due to dealings between matter and energy. In the present study, morphometric analysis has been carried out using Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques to assess the geo-hydrological characteristics of Vishav drainage basin and an attempt has been made to identify the ground water potential zones through geo-morphometric specs. The morphometric parameters are discussed about linear, areal and relief aspects. The basin is characterized by dendritic to sub-dendritic drainage pattern. The development of stream segments in the basin area is affected by rainfall, groundwater discharge and snow melt over. The analysis has revealed that the total number and length of stream segments is maximum in first order streams and decreases as the stream order increases. The bifurcation ratio (R b ) between different successive orders varies revealing the geostructural control. The shape parameters (R c =0.52, R e =0.15 and R f =0.22) indicate the elongated shape of the basin and in association with some areal (D d , D t etc.) and relief (H, S b , etc.) parameters show that it has low discharge of runoff, generally permeable subsoil condition, moderate to high infiltration capacity and good groundwater resource and a flatter peak of flow of longer duration that is easier to manage that of the circular basins. The study reveals that morphometric analysis based on GIS technique is a competent tool for geo-hydrological studies. These studies are very useful for identifying and planning the ground water potential zones and watershed management (including the whole gamut of natural resources connected with the basin).

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High altitude lakes (HALs) of Kashmir Himalaya are the important ecosystems in the mountain ecology of the broader Hindukush Himalayan region. This article provides a comprehensive information about the plankton (phytoplankton and periphyton) assemblages, water quality (WQ), bathymetry, morphometry, and land use land cover (LULC) of some select high altitude mountain lakes of Kashmir Himalaya. LULC analysis revealed that the catchment of the lakes spread over an area of about 16179 ha, is covered by different land cover types dominated by pastures (50.8%), followed by barren rocky (32.6%), snow and glaciers (11.9%), lakes (2.5%), forest (2%), and streams (0.2%). Bathymetric and morphometric analysis revealed that the Gangbal Lake is the deepest (84 m) and largest (162.4 ha) among the investigated lakes. The water quality index revealed that all the HALs have the excellent water quality category. Statistical analysis (Wilk’s λ) depicted that nitrate-nitrogen (NO3−-N), nitrite nitrogen (NO2−-N), ammoniacal nitrogen (NH3-N), total phosphorus (TP), and magnesium hardness (Mg-H) are responsible for major variability between all HALs sites. The cations followed the order of Ca2+ > Mg2+ > Na+ > K+ while as anions followed the order as HCO3− > Cl− > SO42−. Algal composition (phytoplankton and periphyton) assessment revealed the presence of 61 taxa belonging to Bacillariophyceae (45), Chlorophyceae (14), Cyanophyceae (1), and Xanthophyceae (1). The higher dominance of Bacillariophyceae indicates oligotrophic nature of the lakes. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) highlighted the role of various water quality parameters like pH, EC, and TDS on the composition of phytoplankton and periphyton species among the lakes. The present study therefore generated a baseline database for some of the HALs of Kashmir Himalaya that can act as a precursor for more research on future changes in the lake ecosystems of the region.