Environmental Pollution and Geo-hazards Monitoring

The research articles presented in the special section of January issue-2026 of Journal of Environmental Biology is a culmination of three days International Conference on Environmental Hazards in Mountainous Regions: Problems and Prospects (ICEHMRPP-2024) held on 21st to 23rd of February 2024 organized by School of Earth Science and Natural Resource Management, Pachhunga University College Campus, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram. The conference provided an important platform for the scientific community to share different issues relating to environmental research particularly environmental health, hazards, monitoring and management strategies, and explore innovative solutions to address the pressing issues faced by these vulnerable mountainous regions. As the editor of this section, I am delighted to present the section entitled: “Environmental Pollution and Geo-hazards Monitoring”. This section highlights the research pertaining to field of Invasive ecology, Environmental hazard, especially geohazards, seismic hazard assessment, environmental pollution monitoring and landscape ecology. In total 20 research papers received from the researchers were submitted to Journal of Environmental Biology, out of which 5 papers after critical peer review and editing were selected for publication. Invasive ecology research article explored the influence of detrital loading of Eichhornia crassipes on water properties under different nutrient gradients in mesocosm experiments. This mesocosm study assessed the ecological impacts of the detrital loading of Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth) on aquatic ecosystems by analysing changes in water physico-chemical properties across six nutrient gradients, mesotrophic, eutrophic, and hyper-eutrophic, each at low and high levels. The study focused on detritus-induced hypoxia in nutrient-rich systems and aimed to inform effective management strategies for E. crassipes invasions. This study exemplifies an integrated approach to environmental monitoring and management by systematically assessing how detrital loading of Eichhornia crassipes influence water quality across nutrient gradients. Geohazard research article relates to land subsidence in the western part of Aizawl: a case study of Hunthar, Aizawl, Mizoram, India. The aim of this paper was to generate landslide susceptibility map of Hunthar locality using AHP method, demarcating the study area Hunthar landslide and interpreted with its physico-chemical properties of soils within the study area. Seismic hazard assessment article deals with temporal variation of b-value and seismicity in the Indo-Burma Region: A precursor to large earthquake. It determines seismicity parameters such as a-value, b-value, and Mc (magnitude of completeness) for different time periods from 1965 to 2022 in the Indo-Burmese region. This study also aimed to analyze temporal variations and their implications for seismic hazard assessment. Environmental Pollution monitoring article assessed the relationship between ground level ozone and key meteorological parameters in Aizawl, Mizoram. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between ground-level ozone and key meteorological parameters in Aizawl, Mizoram, over a period from March 2022 to February 2023. Landscape ecology article deals with assessing vegetation health and fragmentation in Aizawl district using normalized difference vegetation index. The aim of this paper was to study vegetation dynamics in Aizawl District, Mizoram, India, from 2013 to 2023, analyzing the impact of urban expansion and reforestation efforts on forest cover and landscape fragmentation. I believe the varied topics presented in this section would be a good reference material not only for the research scholars, scientists, academicians but also for the readers who are keen and interested to gain knowledge with the ongoing research. I am immensely thankful to Prof. Dibakar Chandra Deka, Vice Chancellor, Mizoram University for his patronage and highly indebted to Prof. H. Lalthanzara, Principal, Pachhunga University College (A Constituent College of Mizoram University), Aizawl for his treasured and dependable encouragement. I also offer my heartfelt gratitude to Mizoram University for providing financial assistance to organize the Conference. I would like to thank my senior colleagues Dr. R. Ramthara, Associate Professor &Former Head, Department of Geography and Prof. Saitluanga Sailo, Prof. & Head, Department of Geology, PUC for their full-hearted support and cooperation from the beginning of conference to the end of publication of these articles. The constant cooperation received from the faculty members, research scholars, students and staffs of our Environmental Science, Geology and Geography departments are highly acknowledged. I would also like to thank all authors for contributing research article and panel of reviewers for their insightful and constructive critical comments for quality improvement of articles. Finally, I extend my sincere gratitude to the Editor and Team of R&D Division of Journal of Environmental Biology for critically evaluating the research papers and support for accepting the invitation for publication of these research papers in JEB. The entire publication process of this section was a valuable learning experience for me.