Tree Species Diversity in Chilika Lake Ecosystem of Odi India
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International Research Journal of Environment Sciences _____________________________ ___ E-ISSN 2319–1414 Vol. 5(11), 1-7, November (2016) Int. Res. J. Environment Sci. Assessment of Tree Species Diversity in Chilika Lake Ecosystem of Odisha , India Jangyeswar Sahoo 1 and Manoj Kumar Behera 2* 1OUAT, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India 2NR Management Consultants India Pvt. Ltd., Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India [email protected] Available online at: www.isca.in, www.isca.me Received 1th June 2016, revised 11 th October 2016, accepted 12 th November 2016 Abstract A study was conducted to estimate the distribution and diversity of tree species in Chilika lake ecosystem, the largest lagoon in Asia. The present study was conducted in 2014 by laying out quadrats of desired size to estimate the diversity of tree species in three of the four ecological sectors namely northern, central and southern sector. A total of 69 tree species representing 57 genera and 33 families were recorded from the three ecological secto rs of Chilika. Among the three ecological sectors, northern sector was found superior in terms of species richness and diversity with 46 tree species per hectare of area. The total dominance of northern sector was also highest i.e. 36.35m 2/ha. Among the sp ecies documented, maximum value of Importance Value Index (IVI) was reported in Teak (21.69) followed by Casuarina (19.02) and Sal (14.95) respectively. The Shannon-Weiner Index value was found in the range of 1.5 to 3.5. It was observed that species diver sity in the ecological sectors is substantially influenced by intensity of human interference in and around them. The occurrence of major portion of northern se ctor within natural forest boundary might have contributed to enhanced species diversity Keywords: Biodiversity, Ecosystem , Chilika, E cology, Odisha. Introduction Chilika lake ecosystem supports a wide range of flora and Chilika Lake, the largest brackish water lake in India and the fauna. Studies have reported the occurrence of 728 species of largest lagoon in Asia, is situated in the East Coast of India at angiospermic plants belonging to 496 genera and 120 families ○ ◦ 0 ○ 19 28 ꞌ-19 54 ꞌ N latitude and 85 05 ꞌ-85 38 ꞌ E longitude, in this lagoon which is one-fourth of the total plant species in connecting Bay of Bengal. The Lagoon is one of the largest the flora of Odisha 3. brackish water wet land and is also known by one of the Ramsar site in India. It is characterized by a unique combination of With regards to the phytoplankton community, a mixture of marine brackish w ater and fresh water biodiversity. It covers an marine and brackish water texas mainly represented by 4 groups area of 1165 sq. km with an average length of about 64 km and of Algae - Diatoms ( Bacillariophyceae ), Dinoflagellate an average width of 13.5 km. The lagoon is surrounded by three (Pyrrophyceae), Blue Green Algae (Cyanobacteria) and Green coastal districts of Odisha namely Puri, Khurda and Ganjam Algae (Chlorophyceae) are found in the lake ecosystem. (Figure-1). Diatoms are the dominant groups with the occurrence of 78 species. The Blue Green Algae and Green Algae contribute 18 The main a xis of the lagoon is from southwest to northeast. It is species each. Macrophyte s with a cyclic growth are abundantly parallel to the coastline, having a maximum width in the Puri found in the Northern and central part of Chilika. Their growths and Khurda Districts. The boundaries of Chilika in north to east are luxuriant in late monsoon and past monsoon period and with is mainly cultivated plains of Daya and Bhargavi valleys, at the the advent of summer, they start decomposing with the increase western side, the lagoon is embraced by a group of hillocks (a in salinity. Chilika is hig hly diverse by its rich avifauna (both portion of the Eastern Ghats, locally known as Dipa Mundia, resident and migratory). The lake ecosystem provides Kalijugeswara, Manmu Bhanaja, Solari, Bhaleri, Jatia and livelihoods to the local people from fishing and tourism. Ghantasila). As per salinity and depth, the lagoon has been divided into four natura l sectors namely the Northern Sector, The sustenance of the resources and biodiversity is now under 1 Central Sector, Southern Sector and Outer Channel . suspicion due to the constant pressure from natural processes and human activities, resulting in the degradation of the lake. In The northern sector is the widest portion of the lagoon, with an view of the changing biodiversity scenario, the present study average width of near 15 km. The average depth of the lagoon was undertaken to assess the tree diversity of three important in this region varies from 0.5 to 1 me ter, increasing to 1.5 to 2 sectors of Chilika Lake ecosystem namely nort hern, southern 2 meters during the rainy season . and central sector. International Science Community Association 1 International Research Journal of Environment Sciences __________________________________ _________ _E-ISSN 2319–1414 Vol. 5(11), 1-7, November (2016) Int. Res. J. Environment Sci. Figure-1 Geographical location of Chilika Lake, Odisha, India Materials and Methods mathematical measure of species diversity in a community) was used to assess diversity of floral elements and numerical The study was based on rigorous field works. Quadrats were structure of the plant community in the study sites. laid out randomly and during the survey, each individual within It was calculated as per the following formula: the quadrat was identified up to the species level wherever possible, and individuals of different species in each quadrat IVI = Relative Density + Relative Frequency + Relative were recorded, diameter at breast Height (DBH at 1.37m from Dominance the ground) of all the trees with >30 cm girth in each of the quadrats were measured with the help of measuring tape / slide Uncertainty of a set of species is well judged with the use of caliper. The data generated from the quadrat sampling were Shannon-Weiner Index. This index is often influenced by the used to compute the analytical features such as density, number of species and their evenness among each other. It frequency, basal c over and importance value index (IVI) as per reaches its ma ximum for a given number of species given the the standard phytosociological methods proposed by fact that all species are represented with the same number of 4 researchers . individuals. As illustrated previously, our study was confined to three The Shannon-Weiner Index (H ) is calculated as per Shannon ecological sectors namely northern central sector and southern 5 sector. From each sect or 10 study sites were randomly selected and Weaver : ∑ and within these, 15 quadrats of size 10m × 10m size were laid Hˈ ƔƎ ͤ͝ ln ͤ͝ out. In total, 150 (15 × 10) quadrats in each area with a total area of 15,000 sq.m. (1.5 ha) in each of the sites and with a total Where: H = Shannon index of diversity, ρi = the proportion of area 45,000 sq.m (4. 5 hac.) area was enumerated. The tree important value of the i th species species include all the saplings, poles and adult trees present in the study area. ρi = ηi / N, The collected data were quantitatively analyzed for density, ηi is the important value index of i th species and N is the frequency and dominance of tree species. important value index of all the species Importance Value Index helps to assess the contribution of a Results and Discussion species to the vegetation in which it is found. The values of the relative frequency, relative density and relative dominance were A significant variation with respect to the number of species per summed up together to calculate the Importance Value Index or area was observed among the three sectors studied (Table -1). IVI of the species. Similarly, a suitable diversity index (a The study recorded a total of 69 tree species representing 57 International Science Community Association 2 International Research Journal of Environment Sciences ___________________________________________ _E-ISSN 2319–1414 Vol. 5(11), 1-7, November (2016) Int. Res. J. Environment Sci. genera and 33 families. The number of tree species in the Syzygium cumini (7.80%), Tectona grandis (6.74%), Mangifera northern, southern central sector were 69, 45 and 40 indica, (6.20%), Azadirachata indica (5.07) and Cocus nucifera respectively. Similar trend was observed in case of species per (4.28%). genus i.e. northern sector (1.21) exhibited more number of genus than the central sector (1.11) and southern sector (1.13) The Central sector was characterized with least diversity and respectively. With respect to average number of species per distribution of species. The most dominant species in this sector family, northern sector scored 2.09 closely followed by central was Tectona grandis, followed by Gliricidia sepium, Eucalyptus (1.82) and southern sector (1.61), respectively. tereticornis, Simarouba glauca, Azadirachata indica, Aegle marmelos, Cocus nucifera, Phoenix sylvestris and Acacia It was also observed that the species distribution and diversity is mangium . Total dominance value of trees for this sector was relatively high in case of northern sector. The most dominant 26.18 m 2 ha -1 of which maximum basal area observed in species found were Simarouba glauca followed by Gliricidia Mangifera indica which contributes about 12.25% to the total sepium, Anacardium occidentale, Azadirachata indica and area followed by Tectona grandis (11.85%), Cocus nucifera Acacia mangium. The species which showed minimum (6.97%), Syzygium cumini (6.65%), Shorea robusta (6.19%), occurrence or less distribution were Pithecellobium dulce, Aegle marmelos (5.76%) and Azadirachata indica (4.38%). Grewia tiliifolia, Caesalpinia pulcherrima, Diospyros Montana, Ficus retusa, Ziziphus mauritiana, and Carea arborea.