No abstract

The effects of short-term exposure (28 days) of free-feeding Limnonectus limnocharis (Indian cricket frog) tadpoles to field concentrations of malathion were investigated. This frog species is a major biotic component of the agroecosystems of the Western Ghats (13 degrees 18', 75 degrees 25' and 13 degrees 22', 75 degrees 28'), where malathion (diethyl [(dimethoxy phosphino thioyl] butanediote), an organophosphate pesticide, is being used extensively. Although malathion is known to cause nonreversible acetylcholine inhibition and diminishes activity, growth and development in amphibian tadpoles, such data on Indian amphibian species are lacking. In the present study, increments in the following were used to assess such an impact: tadpole growth; increase in total length, body length, tail length, and body weight; and food consumption. The different concentrations of malathion employed were 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, and 3000 mug L(-1). Malathion exposure produced significant effects on all measured parameters. Tadpole survival decreased from 20 to 6 tadpoles, with an increase in concentration followed by a decrease in growth. Food consumption of surviving tadpoles also decreased (0.067 mg.g(-1).d(-1) to 0.0075 mg.g(-1).d(-1)) with increased malathion. Decreased food consumption, growth, and development of L. limnocharis tadpoles with an increase of malathion concentration (within field concentration range) over temporal scale reveal the possible threat to this species in the agroecosystems of the Western Ghats.

No abstract

By combining free assignment with demand assignment, the combined free/demand assignment multiple‐access (CFDAMA) protocol offers a much shorter delay at low and medium traffic loads while maintaining the high channel utility of the demand‐assignment multiple‐access (DAMA) technique. In these schemes, reservation can be made using pre‐assigned (PA) or random‐access (RA) request slots, or piggy‐backing (PB) the request on a data packet. This paper presents a performance analysis of CFDAMA schemes in packet satellite communications. Illustrative examples are given. They show a good agreement between analytical and simulation results. For low and medium sizes of terminal population, the CFDAMA‐PA scheme has an excellent delay‐throughput performance. As the terminal population increases, its performance is gradually degraded due to the long waiting time for a request. For a very large number of terminals, the CFDAMA‐RA becomes more effective than CFDAMA‐PA. This indicates that a CFDAMA scheme using a hybrid PB/RA requesting protocol can provide the best performance for a wide range of terminal population sizes.

This study was undertaken to determine the effect of environmentally realistic concentrations of two commonly used pesticides viz., malathion and cypermethrin, using a fully 3 × 3 factorial experiments on the survivability and time of metamorphosis in a common rice paddy field frog (cricket frog) Fejervarya limnocharis under laboratory conditions. The results suggest that cypermethrin is more toxic than malathion and combinations of higher concentrations of cypermethrin (50 μg/L) with malathion (250 and 500 μg/L) are more deleterious to the survivability of tadpoles. With increasing cypermethrin concentration, the survivability of tadpole decreased (r = -0.986, P = 0.108). But cypermethrin alone induced early metamorphosis among the surviving tadpoles. However, there was a delay in the time required for metamorphosis induced by malathion and its combination with cypermethrin. The delay in metamorphosis may indicate the altered physiological fitness of the individual. The emergent froglets will be subjected to environmental stressors like high temperature and less humidity of post-monsoon tropical climate that could enhance negative influence triggered by pesticides.