Species Diversity and Composition of Bryophytic Vegetation in Garhwal Himalaya with Special Reference to Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary (KWLS), Uttarakhand, India

Yateesh Mohan Bahuguna, Sanavar -, Sumeet Gairola, D. P. Semwal, Prem L. Uniyal

Abstract


Species diversity, attributes and community composition of moss-dominated vegetation was assessed in Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary in Garhwal Himalaya, India. Eight sites (viz., Chopta, Devharital, Kanchula-khark, Pothivasha, Tungnath, Gaurikund, Sershi and Triyuginarayan) situated on an elevational gradient from 1760 m to 3662 m asl were selected for the study. The composition of moss communities was quantitatively analyzed by randomly sampled quadrat method. Considering the species diversity in all types of substrates (soil, boulders, tree bark) of the sites, maximum species richness (SR) was recorded in the site Kanchula-khark (30) with greater richness in the soil and the minimum in Tungnath (10). SR increased with increasing elevation up to middle elevations and then showed a sharp decline with further increase in elevation. SR was also negatively related with total annual rainfall. The Simpson’s concentration of dominance (Cd) was maximum in Tungnath (0.10) and minimum in Kanchula-khark (0.03). The SR and Cd were inversely related with each other in the study area. The moss vegetation of Devharital and Tungnath showed logarithmic distribution curve, which infers that important ecological factors are being shared more or less between species at these sites. Whereas all the other study sites showed random-niche boundary curves, which infers that species in these cases combine self-limitation of population density with self-limitation of niche space and each species is restricted to fraction of community space. Most of the study sites shared less than 30% of the total species between them, which meant significant differences in the diversity of mosses across the habitats. The analysis provides a basis for assigning a workable conservation value to such an important heritage site consisting of mixed conifer forests and alpine meadows. .

Keywords


Mosses; Diversity; Patch Density; Dominance; Garhwal Himalaya

References


Agrawala, N.K. 1973. Working plan for the Kedarnath Forest Division 1972-73 to 1981-82. Parts 1 and 2. Working Plans Circle, Nainital. 417 pages.

Ah-Peng, C.; Chuah-Petiot, M.; Descamps-Julien, B.; Bardat, J.; Staménoff, P. and Strasberg, D. 2007. Bryophyte diversity and distribution along an altitudinal gradient on a lava flow in La Réunion. Diversity and Distribution 13: 654–662.

Bahuguna, Y.M. 2009. Ecological Studies on the Bryophytic Flora of Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttaranchal. D.Phil. Thesis, H.N.B. Garhwal University, Srinagar. 170 pages.

Bahuguna, Y.M.; Gairola, S. Semwal, D.P.; Uniyal, P.L. and Bhatt, A.B. 2012. Soil physico-chemical characteristics of bryophytic vegetation residing Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary (KWLS), Garhwal Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India. Indian Journal of Science and Technology 5(4): 2547-2553.

Bahuguna, Y.M.; Singh, S.K. and Bhatt AB. 2011. Liverworts and hornworts of Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary, Garhwal Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India. Geophytology 40: 29-45.

Boswell, M.T. and Patil, G.P. 1971. Chance mechanisms generating the logarithmic series distribution used in the analysis of numbers of species and individuals. Pages 99–130, In: Patil, G.P.; Pielou, E.C. and Wates, W.E. (Editors), Statistical Ecology. Penn State University Press. Philadelphia.

Brown, D.H. and Bates, J.W. 1990. Bryophytes and nutrient cycling. Botanical Journal of Linnaean Society 104: 129-147.

Chopra, R.S. 1975. Taxonomy of Indian Mosses (An Introduction). Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. 631 pages.

Colwell, R.K.; Rahbek, C. and Gotell,i N.J. 2004. The mid-domain effect and species richness pattern: what have we learned so far? American Naturalist 163: 1-23.

Cottam, G. and Curti,s J.T. 1956. The use of distance measures in phytosociological sampling. Ecology 37: 451–460.

Curtis, J.T. and McIntosh, R.P. 1950. The interrelations of certain analytic and synthetic phytosociological characters. Ecology 31: 434–455.

Daniels, A.E.D. and Kariyappa, K.C. 2007. Bryophyte diversity along a gradient of human disturbance in the southern Western Ghats. Current Science 93: 976–982.

Dierssen, K. 2001. Distribution, ecological amplitude and phyto-sociological classification of European bryophytes. Bryo-phytorum Bibliotheca 56: 1–289.

Frego, K.A. and Carleton, T.J. 1995. Microsite tolerance of four bryophytes in a mature black spruce stand: reciprocal trans-plants. The Bryologist 98: 452–458.

Gairola, S.; Sharma, C.M.; Rana, C.S.; Ghildiyal, S.K. and Suyal, S. 2010. Phytodiversity (Angiosperms and Gymnosperms) in Mandal-Chopta forest of Garhwal Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India. Nature and Science 8: 1–17.

Gangulee, H.C. 1969-1980. Mosses of Eastern India and Adjacent Regions (Fasc1-8): A Monograph. Books and Allied Limited. Kolkata. 2145 pages

Ghildiyal, J.C. and Uniyal, P.L. 2008. Pattern of bryophyte richness in relation to landscape features. Asian and Australasian Journal of Plant Sciences and Biotechnology 2: 76–79.

Gónzalez, M. J.; LosadaLima, A. and PatiñoLlorente, J. 2004. Forest floor bryophytes of laurel forest in Gomera (Canary Islands): life strategies and influence of the tree species. Lindbergia 29: 5–16.

Govindapyari, H.; Kumari, P.; Bahuguna, Y.M. and Uniyal, P.L. 2012. Evaluation of species richness of acrocarpous mosses in Imphal District, Manipur, India. Taiwania 57: 14-26.

Groombridge B (ed.).1992. Global Biodiversity: Status of the Earth’s Living Resources. Chapman and Hall. New York. 585 pages.

Grytnes, J.A.; Heegaard, E. and Ihlen, P.G. 2006 Species richness of vascular plants, bryophytes, and lichens along an altitudinal gradient in western Norway. Acta Oecologica 29: 241–246.

Holz, I. and Gradstein, S.R. 2005. Cryptogamic epiphytes in primary and recovering upper montane oak forests of Costa Rica – species richness, community composition and ecology. Plant Ecology 178: 89–109.

Kautz, T. and Gradstein. S.R. 2001. On the ecology and conservation of Spruceanthus theobromae (Lejeuneaceae, Hepaticae) from Western Ecuador. The Bryologist 104: 607–612.

Korner, C. 2007. The use of ‘altitude’ in ecological research. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 22: 569–574.

Lomolino, M.V. 2001. Elevational gradients of species-density: historical and prospective views. Global Ecology and Biogeogrphy 10: 3–13.

Misra, S. 2009. Impact of Natural and Man-made Disturbances on Vegetation Structure and Diversity in Guptkashi Range of Kedarnath Forest Division, Uttarakhand. D.Phil. Thesis, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun. 167 pages.

Negi, H.R. and Gadgil, M. 1997. Species diversity and community ecology of mosses: A case study from Garhwal Himalaya. International Journal of Ecology and Environmental Sciences 23; 445–462.

Negi, H.R. and Gadgil, M. 2001. Ecological niche of certain terricolous liverworts from selected localities of Garhwal Himalayas: A preliminary study. Pages 23–33, In: Nath, V. and Asthana, A.K. (Editors), Perspectives in Indian Bryology. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehradun.

Negi, H.R. and Gadgil, M. 2002. Cross-taxon surrogacy of biodiversity in the Indian Garhwal Himalaya. Biological Conservation 105: 143–155.

Semwal, J.K. and Gaur, R.D. 1981. Alpine flora of Tungnath in Garhwal Himalaya. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society 78: 498–512.

Sharma, S.; Uniyal, P.L. and Semwal, D.P. 2010. The role of bryophytes in nutrient cycling. Pages 232–254, In: Trivedi, P.C. and Sopory, S.K. (Editors), Current Trends in Plant Biology. Aviskar Publishers and Distributers, Jaipur.

Simpson, E.H. 1949. The measurement of diversity. Nature 163: 688.

Sorenson, T. 1948. A method of establishing groups of equal ampli-tude in plant sociology based on similarity of species content. Kongelige Danske Videnskaberned Selskab Biology Skrifter (Copenhagen). 5: 1–5.

Vanderpoorten, A. and Engels, P. 2003. Patterns of bryophyte diversity and rarity at a regional scale. Biodiversity and Conservation 12: 545–553.

Whittaker, R.H. 1965. Dominance and diversity in land plant communities. Science 147: 250–260.

Whittaker, R.H. 1975. Communities and Ecosystems. Macmillan, New York. 352 pages.


Full Text: PDF

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

COPYRIGHT of this Journal vests fully with the National Instional Institute of Ecology. Any commercial use of the content on this site in any form is legally prohibited.