Anthropogenic activities experienced a pause due to the nationwide lockdown, imposed to contain the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the third week of March 2020. The impacts of suspension of industrial activities, vehicular transport and other businesses for three months (25 March-30 June) on the environmental settings of Chennai, a coastal megacity was assessed. A significant reduction in the key urban air pollutants [PM
2.5
(66.5%), PM
10
(39.5%), NO
2
(94.1%), CO (29%), O
3
(45.3%)] was recorded as an immediate consequence of the reduced anthropogenic activities. Comparison of water quality of an urban river Adyar, between pre-lockdown and lockdown, showed a substantial drop in the dissolved inorganic N (47%) and suspended particulate matter (41%) during the latter period. During the pandemic, biomedical wastes in India showed an overall surge of 17%, which were predominantly plastic. FTIR-ATR analysis confirmed the polymers such as polypropylene (25.4%) and polyester (15.4%) in the personal protective equipment.
To document the impact of naphthalene, a comparative toxicological research was performed in the estuarine crab Scylla tranquebarica habitant of Ennore creek (polluted site) and Kovalam creek (pristine site) for a period of 6 months. The biochemical constituents, such as protein, carbohydrate, lipid and enzyme activities like acid and alkaline phosphatase, aspartate and alanine transaminase were analysed in hepatopancreas, heamolymph and ovary of the female crabs collected from the two creeks. The results revealed that there was a significant measurable difference in these parameters in the tissues of crabs sampled from the polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) polluted site (Ennore creek) when compared with the reference site (Kovalam creek). In addition naphthalene was detected in gill, hepatopancrease, heamolymph and ovary of the crabs sampled from the polluted creek. The results indicate that the indicators selected for toxic impact in S. tranquebarica may be related to the uptake of naphthalene in the tissues examined and support the feasibility of employing these types of analyses as biochemical biomarkers for PAH contaminant-exposed organisms.
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