DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY

Zoology

The inception of the Department of Zoology took place in the year 2006 under the Faculty of Science of SSR College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Silvassa. The department is affiliated with the Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra. It is the only Department from the Dadra and Nagar Haveli who offers Undergraduate Course in Zoology subject (B.Sc. Zoology) and is very popular among the students from the entire Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu as well as Valsad district of Gujarat. With the help of its well-equipped laboratory, an organized museum of specimens and field visits, the department is imparting both theory and practical teaching in the most modern, digitalised and updated manner.

The Department has two out of three faculty members with a Ph.D. degree and they are actively involved in research in frontier areas of life sciences. The faculty members are eager to learn at every stage and enhance their research expertise and academic skills by participating regularly in orientation, refresher and training programmes. Students of the department are encouraged to participate in various competitions, internship programmes, training programmes and conferences organised by any government authorised organisation. Students are also encouraged to publish research publications and book chapters.

The major research thrust of the department includes (i) Animal physiology (ii) Aquatic biology (iii) Fisheries

B.Sc. degree in the Zoology subject.

One Day National Workshop on Computational Ecology organised on March 6, 20220:

The one-day national workshop on computational ecology were organised by The Department of Zoology, SSR College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Silvassa in collaboration with Eco Support Private Limited, Thane, Maharashtra 400606 on March 6, 2020 by understanding the need to learn computational techniques in order to draw specific and accurate ecological conclusions through analyzing large set of data. The main aim of the workshop was to train students for designing and assessing ecological studies with the help of specialized systems and software. The workshop was consisted of three technical sessions:

  1. Climate responsive designs and use of software by Ms. Prachi Nimkar (Director, Eco Support, Thane)
  2. Geospatial technologies for natural resources by Mr. Satish Pawar (Freelance Researcher, Mumbai)
  3. Statistical applications in ecology using specialized software like EXCEL & GraphPad Prism by Dr. Atul Babar (Assistant Professor, SSR College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Silvassa)

Total application received for the workshop was 133 and 63 participants participated in the workshop.

Publication list of faculties and students

1) Dr. Swati Desai

1. Swati N. Desai and Dipak K. Patel. Acute and Sub-chronic Toxicological Evaluation of Anethum graveolens L. Seed Extract. Journal of Global Biosciences. 2016, 5(6): 4213-4220.

2. Patel D.K., Bhatt R.K., Desai S.N., Thounaojam M.C., Jadeja R.N., Ansarullah, Salunke S.P., Padate G.S., Devkar R.V. and Ramchandran A.V. Clerodendron glandulosum Coleb. Methanolic Extract Ameliorates High Fat Diet Induced Hyperlipidemia in Male Rats. Pharmacologyonline, 2009, 2:323-331.

3. Patel DK, Desai SN, Devkar RV, Ramachandran AV. Coriandrum sativum L. Aqueous Extract Mitigates High Fat Diet Induced Insulin Resistance by Controlling Visceral Adiposity in C57BL/6J Mice. Bol Latinoam Caribe Plant Med Aromat, 2011; 10(2): 127 – 135.

4. Desai SN, Patel DK, Devkar RV, Patel PV, Ramachandran AV. Hepatoprotective Potential of Polyphenol Rich Extract of Murraya koenigii L.: An in vivo Study. Food and Chemical Toxicology. 2012; 50: 310–314.

5. Patel D, Desai S, Devkar R, Ramachandran A.V. Acute and Sub-chronic Toxicological Evaluation of Hydro-methanolic Extract of Coriandrum sativum L. Seeds. EXCLI Journal 2012; 11: 566-575.

6. Patel DK, Desai SN, Gandhi HP, Devkar RV, Ramachandran AV. Cardio-protective Effect of Coriandrum sativum L. on Isoproterenol Induced Myocardial Necrosis in Rats. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 2012; 50 (9): 3120-3125.

7. Patel DK, Desai SN, Gajaria TK, Devkar RV, Ramachandran AV. Coriandrum sativum L. Seed Extract Mitigates Lipotoxicity in raw 264.7 Cells and Prevents Atherogenic Changes in Rats. EXCLI Journal 2013; 12:313-334.

8. Datta Madamwar, Avani Kaushal, Dipak K. Patel, Swati N. Desai, Kapil Upadhyay and Ranjitsinh V. Devkar. Cyanobacterial phycoerythrin purified from marine Lyngbya sp. induces apoptosis in lung carcinoma cells. Bangladesh J Pharmacol 2015; 10: 770-778.

9. Datta Madamwar, Dipak K Patel, Swati N Desai, Kapil K Upadhyay, Ranjitsinh V Devkar, Apoptotic potential of c-phycoerythrin from Phormidium sp. a27dm and Halomicronema sp. a32dm on human lung carcinoma cells. EXCLI Journal 2015; 14:527-539 – ISSN 1611-2156.

2) Dr. Atul Babar

  1. A.G. Babar, A. Pande and B.G.Kulkarni (2012). Bioactive potential of some intertidal molluscs collected from the Mumbai coast, West coast of India. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine. S1060-S1063.
  2. A.G. Babar, A. Pande and B.G.Kulkarni (2016). Antifungal activity and investigation of bioactive compounds of marine intertidal bivalve Gafrarium divaricatum from West coast of India, International Journal of Pure & Applied Bioscience (IJPAB). 4 (2): 211-217.
  3. Balasaheb, Kulkarni, Babar Atul, Jaiswar Ashok, and Kolekar Rahul (2017). “Present Status of Intertidal Biodiversity in and around Mumbai (West Coast of India).” Transylvanian Review of Systematical and Ecological Research 19, (1): 61.
  4. Atul Babar, Madhura Jayawant, Satish Pawar (2017). Nutritional Profile of the Freshwater Edible Bivalve Lamellidens corrianus (Lee 1834) and Water Quality of Its Bhatsa River Habitat in Maharashtra, India. Asian Fisheries Science, 30 (2017):52-69
  5. Babar, Atul, Pande, Anant & Kulkarni, Balasaheb (2017). Oil spill impact on the abundance and biomass of edible intertidal clam Gafrarium divaricatum at Mumbai coast (west coast of India). Journal of Indian Ocean Rim Studies. 1. 89-106.
  6. Anant Pande, Atul Babar and B.G.Kulkarni (2019). A preliminary study on the effects of temperature variability on the metabolic rates of Antarctic Krill under laboratory conditions. Technical publication of 28th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica, National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Technical Publication No. 26, pp 327-337

3) Student Publications

1) Singh Nidhi and Desai Swati (2020) Application and challenges of CRISPR/CAS9 Genome editing technology. In book Compendium of Research Insights of Life Science Students, Volume 2, JPS Scientific Publications, India, 125-126.

2) Pardeshi Tejaswini (2020). Bioprospecting of the Red Sea Coastal Ecosystem for Culturable Bacteria. In book Compendium of Research Insights of Life Science Students, Volume 2, JPS Scientific Publications, India, 114-116.

3) Shaikh Afridi (2020). Zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a Model Organism for Research, In book Compendium of Research Insights of Life Science Students, Volume 1, JPS Scientific Publications, India, 558-560.

4) Shaikh Afridi (2020). Dance Language of Honey Bee, In book Compendium of Research Insights of Life Science Students, Volume 1, JPS Scientific Publications, India, 861-863.

5) Patel Palak and Shaikh Afridi (2020). Chemical Properties and Therapeutic Properties of Snake Venom, In book Compendium of Research Insights of Life Science Students, Volume 1, JPS Scientific Publications, India, 867-869.

6) Nishad Neha (2020). The Giant Panda, In book Compendium of Research Insights of Life Science Students, Volume 1, JPS Scientific Publications, India, 851-852.

7) Roham Pooja (2020). Healthy Metabolism leads to Safe and Long life, In book Compendium of Research Insights of Life Science Students, Volume 1, JPS Scientific Publications, India, 875 -876.

1. Field visits:

a) Visit to the CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Mumbai organised on September 26, 2019.

Student of Department of Zoology, Microbiology and Botany, SSR College of Arts, Commerce & Science, Silvassa organised a visit to the CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Mumbai on September 26, 2019. The visit was a part of the Practical curriculum of T.Y.B.Sc., Savitribai Phule Pune University.

The NIO with its headquarters at Dona Paula, Goa, and regional centres at Kochi, Mumbai and Visakhapatnam, is one of the 38 constituent laboratories of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. The major research areas of NIO Mumbai regional centre include the four traditional branches of oceanography- biological, chemical, geological and physical and have well-equipped laboratories to conduct research. The institute also operates three research vessels CRV Sagar Sukti, (23 m long), RV Sindhu Sankalp (56.5 m long) and RV Sindhu Sadhana (80 m long) for multidisciplinary oceanographic observations. The objectives of the visits were

  1. To understand the role of NIO in oceanographic research activities around India
  2. To understand functioning of NIO
  3. To learn field techniques of marine biological, chemical, geological and physical data sampling
  4. To observe and understand working of sophisticated instrument facility available in NIO

Total 44 Students accompanied with 05 Teacher supervisors participated in the visit.

b) Visit to Manmohan Apiary, Fanaswada and District Science Centre, Dharampur organised on February 13, 2020.

A one-day visit to the Manmohan Apiary, Fanaswada and District Science Centre, Dharampur were organised on 13th February 2020. The visit was a part of the S.Y.B.Sc. Practical curriculum, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune.

The Manmohan Apiary, Fanaswada (District: Valsad, State: Gujarat) are involved in production of apiary products and are helping farmers and beekeepers in developing innovative methods and skills for agriculture practices and beekeeping. This apiary has installed 100 honeybee boxes in his 1 acre farm and harvesting more than 2000 kg honey per year.

The District Science centre, Dharampur (District: Valsad, State: Gujarat) is established by National Council of Science Museums, Ministry of Culture, Government of India and open for public by inauguration on 27th April 1984. Centre organizes various outreach programmes including Teachers Training Programme, Rural Science Camp, Workshops, Vacation Hobby Courses, Science Fair, Popular Science Lectures in different facets of science & technology, Science Demonstration Lectures, Sky Observation Programmes, Temporary Exhibitions, Science Quizzes, Science Seminars etc. The visit were organised with the following objectives

  1. To understand the role of bee in the ecosystem, technical aspects of beekeeping and importance of honey, beeswax, propolis, pollen, royal jelly and bee venom by visiting Apiary.
  2. To develop basic skills for science and gain knowledge about the various scientific milestones by visiting the Science Centre.

Total 43 Students accompanied with 03 Teacher supervisors participated in the visit. The visit received media coverage from KM News India Tv Channel

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gng6ngAVtZA&feature=youtu.be).

c) Visit to Animal House of SSR College of Pharmacy, Silvassa organised on February 8, 2021.

A one-day visit to Animal House of SSR College of Pharmacy, Silvassa was organised on February 8, 2021. The visit was a part of the T.Y.B.Sc. Practical curriculum, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune.

UGC imposed a partial ban on animal dissection and directed all universities and colleges to stop experimentation on animals for training purposes for Zoology and life sciences at the undergraduate level in the year 2014. The SSR College of Pharmacy conducts animal experimentation for their research purpose. Hence, a visit was organised to SSR College of Pharmacy, Silvassa with the following objectives

  1. To understand the procedure of euthanasia.
  2. To observe the technique of dissection.
  3. To understand the procedure of vital organ collection and fixation.
  4. To understand the anatomy of dissecting animals.
  5. Total 30 Students accompanied with 01 Teacher supervisors participated in the visit.

1) Dr. Swati Desai (Head, Department of Zoology)

  • Qualification: M.Sc. (Zoology), Ph.D. (Physiology)
  • Designation: Assistant Professor
  • E.mail ID: swatee_269@yahoo.com
  • Experience: Teaching: 8 Years
  • Publications: Research Papers: 9

2) Dr. Atul Babar

  • Qualification: M.Sc. (Endocrinology), Ph.D. (Marine Biology)
  • Designation: Assistant Professor
  • E.mail ID: babaratul@gmail.com
  • Experience:

1) Teaching: 5 Years

2) Research: 3 Years and 6 Months

  • Publications:

1) Research Papers: 5

2) Book Chapter: 1

3) Mr. Akash R. Chaudhari

  • Qualification: M.Sc. (Genetics), M.Phil. (Parasitology), MH-SET(Qualified), Ph.D. (Pursuing)
  • Designation: Assistant Professor
  • E.mail ID: akashchaudhari1312@gmail.com
  • Experience:

1) Teaching: 5 Years

  • Publications:

1) Research Papers: 1