punarbasu

Current research team
Previous Research Team

Professor and Head of the Department at Department of Environmental Science in University of Calcutta.

Research Interest

Ours is a multidisciplinary laboratory mainly focuses on various aspects of ecology and environment. Our research boardly concentrates on mangrove ecology, air pollution, insect-plant interaction, environmental geochemistry, climate change and polar environment.

Current work snippets

Sundarbans Phenology (Research work graphical representation)
Tanushree Gaine (Research work graphical representation)
Sayantani Mitra (Research work graphical representation)
Shouvik Mahanty (Research work graphical representation)
Bindia Gupta (Research work graphical representation)
Nabanita Naskar(Research work graphical representation)
Somdeep Ghosh (Research work graphical representation)
Shidharth Ram(Research work graphical representation)
Madhurima Bakshi (Research work graphical representation)
Madhurima Bakshi (Research work graphical representation)
Madhurima Bakshi (Research work graphical representation)

Research grants and funding sources

University Grants Commission, New Delhi
Department Of Science & Technology, Govt. of India
UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research
Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India (NER BPMC)
The Energy and Research Institute
Department Of Science & Technology, Govt. of West Bengal
Inter-University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi
Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India

Award / Honours receive

Member of 39th Indian Expedition to Antarctica, (2019-20)

Recipient of Shastri Indo-Canadian Fellowship (2018) to participate BaySys Sub-Arctic expedition in the CCGS Amundsen to study the impact of climate change on polar environment.

Nominated as Australian Award Ambassador in India by Govt of Australia, 2014.

Recipient of Science Academies’ (IASc-INSA-NASI) Summer Research Fellowship 2014.

Recipient of Endeavour Award 2012 of Govt. of Australia for Post doctoral research

Certification of Appreciation for contribution to the judging process at “Initiative for Research and Innovation In Science” organized by Department of Science and Technology, Intel Education and Confederation of Indian Industry, 2008.

Qualified National Eligibility Test (NET) for Lectureship / Assistant Professorship in Environmental Science conducted by Agricultural Scientist Recruitment Board of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, 2002.

Qualified National Eligibility Test (NET) for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) & Lectureship in Environmental Sc. conducted by University Grants Commission (2001).

Junior Research Fellowship awarded by University Grants Commission for Doctoral level research work (Aug.2001-Oct. 2003).

Certificate of Merit for securing 1^st Class 1^stposition in Post Graduate Examination from University of Kalyani (2000).

National Scholarship Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India for good performance in undergraduate studies (1998).

Vidyasagar College Centenary Scholarship from Vidyasagar College for securing highest marks from the college in undergraduate examination (1998).

Abanindra Guha Life Science Endowment from Vidyasagar College for securing highest marks among all life science subjects from the college in undergraduate examination (1998).

ental Hazards and Disasters: Issues and Approaches, University of Calcutta, ISBN 978-93-5268-753-4.

Teaching experience

19 years teaching experience in post-graduate courses.

Lab facility instruments

Lyophilizer
Climatic incubator
Biosafety Cabinet
Ultrasonic Cell Crusher with Noise Isolating Chamber
Spectrophotometer (Funded by DBT NER-BPMC, 2019)
Probe for Water Analysis (Funded by DBT NER-BPMC, 2019)
Water & Soil Analysis Kit (Funded by DBT NER-BPMC, 2019)
Geo-tagged Digital Camera (Funded by DBT NER-BPMC, 2019)
Ultrasonic Cleaner (Funded by DBT)
Precision Weighing Balance (Funded by WB-DST, 2018)
-20°C & 4°C Freezer
Microscope with Camera
BOD Incubator
Personal Air Sampler (Funded by WB-DST, 2018)
Handy Air Sampler (Funded by WB-DST, 2018)
High Volume Air Sampler (Funded by WB-DST, 2018)
PM_2.5 Sampler (Funded by WB-DST, 2018)
Gaseous Sampler (Funded by WB-DST, 2018)

Expedition participation

1. Sub-arctic expedition_2018

BaySys Sub-Arctic expedition in the CCGS Amundsen to study the impact of climate change on polar environment.

2. Antarctic expedition_2019-2020

Member of 39^th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica, (2019-20) organized by National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR) of Ministry of Earth Science, Govt. of India for studying the impact of Microplastic on Antarctic ecosystem.

Outreach activities

Foldscope workshops

Vigyan Prasar- https://youtu.be/trX_8LyowZQ

Online lectures

Present Research team

Tanushree Gaine

I am pursuing my PhD under his supervision and currently working as a state aided college teacher in New Alipore College. Mangrove honey from Indian Sundarbans is my key research interest. I am studying the melissopalynology along with other physico-chemical parameters of mangrove honey.

Email-id: tanushreegaine@gmail.com, tanushreegaine@newaliporecollege.ac.in

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=WwBOQCsAAAAJ&hl=en

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tanushree-Gaine

College website: https://newaliporecollege.ac.in/department/environmental-studies

Praveen Tudu

Currently working under DST, Govt. of West Bengal funded project as Senior Research Fellow. The area of work involves air pollution, source apportionment, and the impact of air pollution on the population of Kolkata city.

Email-id: pc.tudu0411@gmail.com

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=za5MguoAAAAJ

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Praveen-Tudu-2

Tania Chatterjee

Currently working under Joint CSIR-UGC NET SRF Scheme. A detail study of insect flower visitors, plant-pollinator interacton, pollination ecology of mangrove species accross several years will be continued.

Email-id: cjtania18@gmail.com / tcenvs_rs@caluniv.ac.in

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WfEqxn8AAAAJ&hl=en

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tania-Chatterjee-2

Arpita Biswas

Previously working as Junior Research Fellow under DBT (NER_BPMC) Govt. of India scheme. Currently I am pursuing my PhD and my research area is on the impact of anthropogenic activity on the Bio-diversity of Rudrasagar Lake and water quality assessment.

Email-id: arpita.gghs@gmail.com

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Arpita-Biswas-20

Souparna Chakrabarty

Working as a Research Associate with Dr. Punarbasu Chaudhuri. My area of expertise is field ecology and biostatistical analysis. I specialize in plant phenology and plant-pollinator interactions. My primary research interest is to integrate findings on effects of climate change on phenology, along with changes in plant-insect interaction. This can help to have a holistic understanding of how changes in abiotic cues and environmental constraints leads to changes in phenology dynamics, fitness of species, and community composition.

Email-id: chakrabarty.souparna@gmail.com

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=B2XDPHkAAAAJ&hl=en

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Souparna-Chakrabarty

Former group members

Shidharth Ram

Thesis Title: Characterization of air pollutants and their effects on physico-chemical and morphological properties of some selected urban avenue trees of Kolkata, India

Short Description
My research interest stanches from my quest to understand the different environmental problems with special reference to pollution and climate change, and design monitoring and management strategies for the same. During PhD I tried to make my research interdisciplinary and started research related to use of nuclear analytical techniques such as proton induced x-ray emission (PIXE) spectroscopy, energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectroscopy. In my PhD research I have integrated my basic knowledge on plant science. After obtaining PhD degree from Calcutta University, I joined Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Central University, Taiwan as a post-dcotoral researcher where I did research on signature profiling of PM_2.5 in aerosols from Biomass Burning as part of 7SEAS (Seven South East Asian Studies) campaign of NASA.

Email-id: tracebio@gmail.com

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=XgiV4lgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Shidharth-Ram

Madhurima Bakshi

Dr. Madhurima Bakshi had been engaged as University Research Fellow (URF) and completed her PhD from the Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta. Her research work broadly involved studies on Sundarban mangrove chemodiversity in terms of their antimicrobial activity, antioxidative property, bioreduction potential, elemental bioaccumulation, geochemistry, sediment quality and consequent ecotoxicological risk. She is a recipient of International Travel Grants from CSIR and University of Calcutta. She has served as guest faculty in different institutions. Dr. Bakshi has published research articles in many reputed journals and has 479 citations and h-index 15. She is also a NABET accredited EIA Functional Area Expert. Currently she is serving as a faculty in Seth Soorajmull Jalan Girls’ College, Kolkata.

Email-id: bakshi.madhurima@gmail.com

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RNkuks8AAAAJ&hl=en

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Madhurima-Bakshi-2

Somdeep Ghosh

Somdeep Ghosh have worked under supervision of Dr. Punarbasu Chaudhuri as DST-SERB Project Fellow from 02.08.2013- 01.11.2016 in Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta. He was awarded doctoral Degree from the University of Calcutta in 2020. His Thesis was entitled “Effect of Environmental Changes on Riparian Vegetation with special reference to Mangroves in Tidal regimes of River Hooghly”. He have published 22 research articles in indexed and peer-reviewed journals. His focal area of research is trace metal geochemistry, sediment and water contamination, mangrove migration, remote sensing, and GIS. He have also received International Travel Grant from University of Calcutta and Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Govt. of India for presenting his research work in an International Conference held in Budapest, Hungary. Presently, he is working as State Aided College Teacher-I in Environmental Studies in Maharaja Srischandra College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India and visiting faculty in Department of Environmental Science in University of Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal, India.

Email-id: gsomdeep@gmail.com

Nabanita Naskar

Thesis Title: Quantitative assessment of natural radioactivity with special reference to mangrove ecosystem of Indian Sundarban

Short Description

238U, 235U, 232Th, their daughter products and 40K are known as Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM). Literature survey shows lack of standard protocol forgamma-spectrometric measurement of ultra-low-level NORM in natural samples. For the first-time attempt has been made to sort out different anomalies in NORM measurement. It has been found that apart from the counting error, relative standard deviation (RSD) of the
activity values of different photopeaks of same parent radionuclide is a major source of error. Minimization of RSD addresses the anomalies of few of the parameters related to NORM measurement viz. selection of photopeak combination from >200 photopeaks for 238U, 232Th measurement; optimization of the counting time; choice between efficiency calibration and comparator method for quantitative assessment of NORM, etc.

Email-id: g.nabanitanaskar94@gmail.com

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=S2Q9e-oAAAAJ&hl=en

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nabanita-Naskar-2

Shouvik Mahanty

Thesis Title: Mycosynthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles using manglicolous fungi isolated from Indian Sundarbans and their application in sequestration of heavy metals

Key words: Indian Sundarbans, Manglicolous fungi, Iron oxide nanoparticles (IO-NPs), and Heavy metals

Short Description
The study revolves around mycosynthesis of the iron oxide nanoparticles and its application for the sequestration of heavy metals from contaminated water.

Email-id: shouvikmahanty@yahoo.com

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=S2Q9e-oAAAAJ&hl=en

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Shouvik-Mahanty

Bindia Gupta

Bindia Gupta is a Ph.D. student (UGC-NET LS qualified) at Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta (Thesis submitted) and working as State Aided College Teacher Category I at a C.U. affiliated college at Kolkata. She has over 10 years of teaching experience and 7 years of research experience in dry forest ecology, biodiversity conservation, preservation of traditional knowledge, mitigation of human-wildlife conflicts, wildlife behaviour, wildlife trade and geographical indication of forest products. She has four research publications with reputed publishers till date. She is also a reviewer of PLOS ONE, Tropical Ecology & Current World Environment. She is a Commission Member of IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management & Commission on Education and Communication since 2017.

Email-id: bindidebi@gmail.com

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8682-198X

Sayantani Mitra

Senior Research Fellow, UGC-DAE CSR Collaborative Research Scheme, Govt. of India.
My research interest broadly lies in the area of bioactive compounds, natural product isolation and characterization, application of bioactive compounds in radiochemical separation of PET/SPECT radioisotopes from charge particle irradiated target matrix, radiation chemistry and allied fields.

Email-id: sayantanimitra020@gmail.com

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=E3zyGuMAAAAJ&hl=en

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sayantani-Mitra-3