Browsing by Author "Chandrasekara, W.U."
Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
- Results Per Page
- Sort Options
Item Diversity and temporal variation of avian fauna in a rice growing landscape in Kurunegala district, Sri Lanka(Department of Forestry and Environment Science, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka., 2016) Gunathilake, A.M.K.H.; Chandrasekara, W.U.Item Is the widely used weedicide Glyphosate that bad? Toxic effects of Glyphosate on the earthworm Perionyx excavatus (Perrier, 1872)(Department of Forestry and Environment Science, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka., 2016) de Silva, S.M.S.; Chandrasekara, W.U.Item Management of coastal resources: Lessons learnt from two coastal communities occupying the west coast of Sri Lanka(Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Kodituwakku, K.A.R.K.; Wazir, S.R.; Aththanayake, A.M.H.L.; Silva, T.M.S.D.G.; Malshani, E.M.S.; Partheepan, K.; Thevendran, K.; Udayanga, N.W.B.A.L.; Sumanapala, A.P.; Jayanga, B.H.N.; Chandrasekara, W.U.The livelihood of the coastal communities is mostly dependent upon the natural coastal resources. Questionnaire based field surveys were carried out focusing on the communities in two coastal towns on the west coast of Sri Lanka, Negombo and Chilaw, with an objective of evaluating and assessing the governance and the sustainable utilization and management of coastal resources there. The survey was carried out in December 2013, and consisted of face-to-face interviews and gathering information from households along the beach border that were selected through systematic sampling approach and from randomly selected stake holders on the beach, to satisfy the questionnaire. The chief executive officers of local government authorities viz. regional office of the Coast Conservation and Coastal Resources Management Department, Municipal Councils, Police Stations, and where necessary the incumbent of the Catholic Church in the area, were also interviewed to evaluate their role over the governance and management of the coastal resources. The analysis of survey data revealed that the major resource based income generation activities in Negombo beach was tourism (68%) while in Chilaw it was fisheries (75%). The major environmental issues in Negombo beach were pollution (35%), littering the beach by local tourists (27%) and illegal building constructions (20%), while those in Chilaw were pollution (43%), illegal house constructions (25%) and coastal erosion (26%). Therefore, the Negombo beach was cleaner (76%) than the Chilaw beach (27%). Since the major income generation activity in Negombo beach was tourism, the local government authorities paid special attention in maintaining law and order, carrying out beach cleaning programmes, daily removal of litter and waste, carrying out community awareness programmes on the importance of beach on tourism and usage of soft and hard engineering techniques to prevent coastal erosion. In addition, every tourist hotel was found to clean the beach façades under their purview, and beach vendors also supported these programmes. In fisheries dominated Chilaw, the inputs by the local government authorities were minimum except the Urban Council collecting household waste on weekly basis from the roadside bins. However, the village has a very strong community based management strategy led by the Catholic Church. The church plays a pivotal role in harmonizing the village, educating villagers on the proper disposal of garbage, preventing sand mining and use of harmful fishing practices, and coordinating the local government authorities to maintain proper sanitation as well as law, order and peace in the area. In contrast, the tourism dominated coastal zone in Negombo is managed by a strong co-management strategy that involves the contribution of the local government authorities and major stakeholders on the beach such as tourist hotels and the local community on the governess and sustainable management of the coastal zone.Item Role of the coastal community and the government in sustainable utilization and management of coastal resources in Unawatuna, Sri Lanka(Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Moragoda, M.K.N.P.; Ranasinghe, O.R.; Dikkumbura, H.K.U.S.; Kalaotuwawe, K.M.B.P.; Karunapala, H.M.B.N.; Dilini, R.M.A.; Gamanayake, B.G.N.N.; Kuruppuarachchi, H.D.; Chandrasekara, W.U.Unawatuna is a coastal town in southern Sri Lanka, and its safe sandy beach is popular among local and overseas tourists. Since this beach generates a considerable amount of income through tourism, it is of paramount importance to manage and sustainably utilize its coastal resources in order to improve tourism and quality of life of the local community. With this view, a field survey was carried out on this location in October 2014 to assess the role of the local coastal community and the local government authorities in sustainable utilization, management and governance of coastal resources in Unawatuna beach. In this survey, a questionnaire based survey on the local community (n = 20) as well as on randomly selected individuals (n = 15) on the beach was carried out by holding face-to-face interviews. In addition, a questionnaire survey on the chief executive officers of the local authorities in the area viz. Area Engineer’s office of Coast Conservation Department (CCD) in Unawatuna, Southern Provincial Office of Central Environmental Authority (CEA), Habaraduwa Police Station and Habaraduwa Pradeshiya Sabhawa was also carried out by holding face-to-face interviews. Data obtained from both components of the survey were subjected to analyses and a SWOT analysis was carried out. The major strengths identified by the analysis included the presence of a variety of natural resources and cultural attractions on the beach. The educational level of people in the beach surroundings was high where 58.8% had above O/L educational qualifications. Further, the beach is cleaned daily by organized groups in the community (58.82%) so that the cleanliness of the beach was high (76.47%). The local community also received a fairly high income from tourism (73.33%). The CCD and CEA are strongly involved in coastal erosion prevention programmes, conducting awareness programs for the stakeholders on the beach area, implement policies, plans, projects and strategies to conserve the coastal resources in the area. The tourist police unit of Habaraduwa police station maintains law and order in the area and take strict legal actions against illicit drug and liquor trade and use. Further, the Habaraduwa Pradeshiya Sabhawa carried out public utility services including daily removal of garbage from the surrounding area. The major weaknesses identified were lack of awareness (15.21%) and lack of commitment (19.56%) of stakeholders on coastal resources management practices and difficulties in implementing laws and regulations (6.52%). There are opportunities for improvement of recreational, beach protection and development activities, and involving unemployed persons of the local community (23.53%) in tourism. The major threats were beach pollution by sewage and solid waste (25%), interferences by external parties such as large scale hotel owners and politicians (20.83%), high government taxes (37.5%), illegal constructions on the beach façade (20.83%) and coastal erosion due to unplanned construction of a break water. The present study highlights the involvement of a co-management strategy in Unawatuna beach area on the governess and management of coastal resources with positive inputs from both the local government authorities and the stakeholder community. Reinforcing and strengthening the existing co-management strategy is recommended for the proper governess, management and sustainable utilization of coastal resources in the Unawatuna coastline.Item Seasonal water level fluctuation, habitat alteration and colonization of marginal benthic fauna in irrigation reservoirs in the Kala Oya River basin in Sri Lanka(Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Weerakoon, S.N.; Chandrasekara, W.U.; Amarasinghe, U.S.The innumerable benthic microhabitats in freshwater ecosystems support a wide variety of fauna. These benthic fauna are sensitive to natural as well as anthropogenic disturbance events such as water level fluctuations, temperature variations, agrochemical inputs etc. The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of seasonal water level fluctuation on the distribution and colonization of benthic fauna at some irrigation reservoirs in Sri Lanka. The study was carried at 10 reservoirs namely Angamuwa wewa, Balalu wewa, Dewahuwa wewa, Ibbankatuwa wewa, Kandalama wewa, Katiyawa wewa, Kala wewa, Siyambalangamuwa wewa, and Usgala-Siyambalangamuwa wewa in the Kala Oya river basin in Sri Lanka. The study period (September, 2014 to March 2015) included a dry season followed by a rainy season. Soil core samples (n = 15, volume = 0.5 dm3 each) from within 3 random locations in the marginal zone of each reservoir at each season were collected using a soil corer. After the samples were wet sieved in situ through a 1 mm sieve, the macrobenthic fauna in each sample were separated, identified to the nearest possible taxonomic level and enumerated separately. Environmental parameters such as aquatic vegetation, shadiness, soil texture, soil pH and the degree of water inundation were also measured using standard methods. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index for each reservoir for the two climatic seasons were determined and were statistically compared by a t-test. The abundance of benthic species at different study sites were analyzed using cluster analysis. The importance of environmental variables on the abundance of macrobenthos for both seasons were tested by the Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Altogether 17 taxa were recorded. Bellamya (Mystery snail) (62.2 ± 17.2) and Melanoides (Trumpet snail) (38.5 ± 11.6) were the dominant taxa during the dry season while Bithynia (Mud snail) (15.77 ± 6.75) and Bellamya (4.83 ± 1.38) dominated during the rainy season. The species richness was higher in rainy season (17 taxa) than in the dry season (11 taxa). This was due to the presence of six additional taxa i.e. Chironomidae, Oligocheata, Ephemeroptera, Trematoda, Zygoptera and Bithynia) during the rainy season. The species diversity of the reservoirs was significantly high during the rainy season (t – test, P = 6.2148, α = 0.05, df = 22). PCA revealed that the degree of water inundation and aquatic vegetation to be the key factors that determine the species distribution of these reservoirs. The elevated species diversity perhaps may be due to the enhanced growth of aquatic vegetation at the shallow marginal habitats when the reservoirs were inundated by water during the rainy season. The change of this habitat alteration may have positively supported the colonization of new insect taxa such as Chironomids, Ephemeropterans and Zygopterans into these shallow marginal habitats of irrigation reservoirs in the Kala Oya River Basin in Sri Lanka.Item Seasonal water-level fluctuations and changes in macro-benthic community structure in tropical reservoirs: A Sri Lankan case study(Lakes & Reserv, 2021) Weerakoon, S.N.; Chandrasekara, W.U.; Amarasinghe, U.S.Seasonal water-level fluctuations (WLFs) in reservoirs influence ecological processes, in turn affecting their benthic macroinvertebrate communities. The present study was carried out in 10 irrigation reservoirs of Sri Lanka to investigate the effects of seasonal WLFs on the benthic macroinvertebrate fauna. The study period was divided into two distinct phases: the drained period and the inundated period. Benthic macroinvertebrates were sampled during both periods and enumerated. Air temperature and soil quality parameters were also measured simultaneously, and hydrological data related to the Kala Oya River basin were obtained from irrigation authorities. Data analysis using non-metric multi-dimensional scaling revealed two distinct reservoir groups, namely, Hydrological Stress Group 1 (HSG1) and Hydrological Stress Group 2 (HSG2). A low hydrological residence time and low relative reservoir level fluctuations (RRLF) characterized HSG1, with the opposite describing HSG2. Temporal variations of macrobenthos indicated a high taxa richness and diversity in HSG1 reservoirs during the drained period, with scrapers and collector-gatherers being the dominant functional feeding groups. Reservoirs in the lower river basin (HSG1) exhibited a high taxa richness and diversity. During the inundated periods, insect taxa colonized, particularly, chironomids and ephemeropterans. Molluscan taxa were prominent during the drained periods. These observations highlight the influence of seasonal fluctuations of reservoir water levels on benthic macroinvertebrates. Benthic macroinvertebrate communities in reservoirs were significantly influenced by the RRLF, manifesting the importance of hydrological regimes in reservoirs to develop macroinvertebrate metrics for water-quality monitoring.Item Sustainable tourism development in Negombo coastline: An option for co-management(Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Panagoda, P.A.B.G.; Dissanayake, D.M.S.N.; Nawalage, N.M.S.K.; Silva, H.K.A.D.; Tharaka, L.K.D.N.; Weerasinghe, H.W.G.A.S.; Bellanthudawa, B.K.A.; Kawshalyani, P.; Subanky, S.; de Silva, P.K.S.; Chandrasekara, W.U.The Negombo coastline is a highly populous area on the west coast of Sri Lanka, and its northern sandy extremity is very popular among the local and foreign tourists. A field survey based on face-to-face interviews with the stakeholder segments was conducted in August 2015 to assess their role and contribution to the management, utilization and governance of this coastline and, to propose suitable management options. In this survey, information from the local stakeholder coastal community (n = 15) including a leading tourist hotel in the area was collected. In addition, information from the chief executive officers of Regional office of the Coast Conservation and Coastal Resources Management Department (CC & CRMD), Negombo Municipal Council (MC) and the Police Station (PS) were collected. The information from the survey were analysed and a SWOT analysis was carried out. The major strengths of the coastline were the presence of an extensive sandy beach and fish resources (78%) and utilization of these resource for income generation (98%), involvement of a large proportion of the local population in tourism (75%), high income gained by tourism (73%), frequent beach cleaning programmes performed the stakeholders (69%), high cleanliness of the beach (75%), high level of education of the local community (63%) and community participation in beach cleaning programmes (62%). The local government authorities are responsible for managing the beach; the CC & CRMD is responsible for preventing coastal erosion and illegal constructions within the beach façade; the MC regularly monitors the sewage discharges and cleanliness of the coastline; the local PS strictly ensures law and peace in the area. The major weaknesses were inadequate government involvement in beach maintenance (69%), lack of awareness and commitment (58%) and willingness (24%) of the local community in community based management (24%). Lack of coordination among CC & CRMD, MC and police over the governance of the coastline was another major weakness. The major opportunities were the possibility expand tourism related activities (25%) and improve cleanliness of the beach (25%). The major threats were the improper solid waste disposal in the coastline (48%), and high taxes against tourism related income generation activities (70%). In addition, child abuse by tourists, drug and liquor trafficking, high coliform count in sea water and coastal erosion were other the major threats. This survey highlights the importance of reinforcing an understanding between the local community and local government authorities over the management and governance of coastal resources in Negombo coastline. Therefore, formulating and strengthening a genuine co-management strategy is highly recommended for the sustainable tourism in this coastline.Item Variation of avifaunal diversity in relation to land-use modifications around a tropical estuary, the Negombo estuary in Sri Lanka(2015) Jayathilake, M.B.; Chandrasekara, W.U.