Summary of the First Two Days’ Activities of Sundarban Field Work (BES 23)

Day 1: KHULNA UNIVERSITY SOIL ARCHIVE

Day 1 formally began with our arrival at Khulna University Following a speech by Professor Dr. Sanaul Islam, BES-23 batch visited the underground Soil Archive. The curator and Professor Islam discussed the archive’s purpose and key features. It functions mainly as a soil sample archive. Over 1875 samples from 5 distinct zones of Bangladesh has been collected and stored in the archive. It contains information on various physical and chemical parameters of the soil. The interactive lecture reinforced our basics while broadening our understanding. Formation of soil, structure, and methods of sampling were discussed alongside the fertility and maturity of soil in relation to its geography. Red, oxidized soil is more mature. However, they are rare in Bangladesh, which is dominantly deltaic. The GBM river system shapes most Bangladeshi soils, making them young and grey. The visit ended with a discussion on the country’s rapid loss of cultivable land.

Day 2: ANDARMANIK ECO TOURISM SPOT & KATKA OFFICE PARA

Day 2 began at Andarmanik with field expert Professor Dr. Harun Sir. He guided and briefed us throughout the trail. Andarmanik is a zone of low to medium salinity. As such more vegetation and more top storied plants were observed. The dominance of Sundari (Heritiera fomes) trees was noticeable which thrives here despite low salinity resistance. Other plant species commonly seen were Gewa (Excoecaria agallocha), Keora (Sonneratia apetala), Tiger fern (Acrostichum aureum L.), Orchids and Hetal (Phoenix paludosa). Common fauna seen were red crabs and Mudskippers. The students learned about the common mangrove plants and their adaptive traits to survive in the muddy, saline and waterlogged Sundarbans. Pneumatophores enable breathing, and buttress roots provide stability in soft, muddy soil. Mangrove leaves often have cuticles to reduce water loss, while some species excrete excess salt. To overcome salinity-limited germination, many mangroves exhibit viviparous gemination, where seeds germinate on the parent plant.

Similar patterns were seen at Katka Officepara, our second site for the day. It serves as one of the entry-points to the Sundarbans East Wildlife Sanctuary.  Katka is ideal for research and education because its diverse mangrove ecosystems and protected wildlife habitats offer direct, field-based learning on ecology, conservation, and environmental change. There, we learned about the ecological zonation of the Sundarbans and the underlying reasons behind variable levels of salinity. Salinity varied east to west of the Sundarbans depending on freshwater inflow from rivers such as the Baleshwar and Passur. Due to significant salinity, only tolerant plants were found in Katka. Students observed dead seeds of Sundari trees, which failed to germinate due to salinity. Katka also serves as a kella, a raised land providing wildlife refuge. Proof of this was the presence of herds of deer and monkeys throughout the trail. Our second day ended with newfound appreciation for the adaptative traits and ecosystem resilience of the flora and fauna of Sundarbans.