CUBE Presentation:
As part of the Independence Day celebrations, we coordinated with SN College Alathur and Cubists from SN College Alathur made a presentation on butterflies. Anusree, Amritha, and Sniga presented their observations on the lifecycle of butterflies and presented the photographs of various butterflies.
CUBE Special Chatshaala Session:
We had a special session with Harshad, a PDF scholar from Ahmad University, who is pursuing a PDF on pupal color in Drosophila melanogaster. During his PhD research, he observed pupal color variation in a grass butterfly and published a paper. We had an active and interactive session with him.
Screenshots of the participants:19/08/2024
Outcome of Chatshaala:
1) CUBE SN College Alathur Engagement:
SN College Alathur is becoming more active. Amritha, Anusree, and Sniga are engaged in the context to curriculum group focusing on butterflies as a model system. Their objectives include studying the lifecycle and identifying various butterflies. Cubist, Prithviraj is also actively observing the lifecycle of butterflies. Other active butterfly collaborators are Suma, Sneha, and Nidhi.
2) Collecting Monsoon Fast Plants:
With the arrival of the monsoon, Cubists are collecting pictures of monsoon fast plants and identifying them. We were also introduced to Wisconsin’s monsoon fast plants.
Probable Monsoon Fast Plants after pre monsoon rains at Madel,Thivim, Goa 24 May 2024 Photo mcarunan
Monsoon invites cubists to look around for more and more Fast Plants, like the famous Wisconsin Fast Plants. @Susanta Tanti CUBE @Theertha @Kiran CUBE @Aditya Joshi and others
Mumbai Fast Plants one year ago, Mumbai Monsoon Fast Plants series, inspired by Wisconsin Fast Plants.
https://fastplants.org/ 5 August 2023, at Grand Road Bridge, Mumbai Photo mcarunan
Mumbai Monsoon Fast Plants series, inspired by Wisconsin Fast Plants.
Monsoon Fast Plants, including Cardamine, in Mumbai streetside, 23 August 2017 Photo mcarunan
Mosses growing on the walls
Monsoon fast plants
Date:15/092024
Time:10:43am
Place: Parakulam,Palakkad
Amritha,SN College Alathur.
Date:17/08/2024
Date:- 16/08/2024 Location:- Bhandup west (bhattipada road)
Monsoon fast plants growing on the side on a brick.
Monsoon Fast Plants Challenge 5 years ago, Pedder Road, Mumbai at 4:16 pm 5 August 2019 Photo mcarunan from CUBE Archives.
Flowering plants in the month of August .
Cleome rutidosperma
Host plant for Psyche Butterfly.
https://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/229206
Place: Cherukkad Kozhikode
Date:14/08/2024
Photo:Theertha
CUBE Homelab cherukkad Kozhikode.
Flowering plants in the month of August .
Biophytum sensituvum
Place: Cherukkad Kozhikode
Date:14/08/2024
Photo:Theertha
CUBE Homelab cherukkad Kozhikode.
Flowering plants in the month of August .
Pilea microphylla
Place: Cherukkad Kozhikode
Date:14/08/2024
Photo:Theertha
CUBE Homelab cherukkad Kozhikode.
3) Developing CUBE Centers:
Sakshi and Dhanaraj sent Moina and Hydra to Kiran, who is setting up a home lab ata Bageshwar, Uttarakhand. We discussed goofups that arised during the transfer from Mumbai to Bageshwar and we also discussed about reproduction of Hydra and Moina.
4) Cardamine: Weed Migration and Establishment:
I (Theertha) collected Cardamine in December 2023 from Delhi, and it is now growing well in Kozhikode, Kerala.
Enas collected some Cardamine seeds from Germany to Delhi.
Cardamine.
Photo: 20th July 2024.
Location: Würzburg, Germany.
Enas Shirin Fatma. (CUBE ANDC)
Suma explained how she transferred gene through plant tissue culture, and we introduced a potential alternative floral dip method in Chatshaala sessions.
Kiran also found Cardamine in Bageshwar, Uttarakhand.
We discussed leaf architecture in Cardamine, have either simple or compound leaves. We discussed the gene regulation of Knox in the transition from simple to compound leaves and compared it with the Ultrabithorax mutation, which causes two pairs of wings in Fruit flies
5) Seasonomics:
Prithviraj, Babitha, and Cubists from SN College Alathur collected data on mango trees, showing that they have started flowering in Kerala.
6) The CUBE SN Varkala and Chempazhanthy group became active. On 31/08/2024, Sailakshmi, a first-year graduate student from SN College Chempazhanthy, joined Chatshaala. We had an active discussion on curd-making .
