Bryoflora of Baphalimali hill ranges in Eastern Ghats ... - Vasundhara

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EPTRI - ENVIS Newsletter Vol. 15, No.1, 2009ISSN No: 0974-2336Volume : 15, Issue : 1 Year: 2009Editorial TeamDr. Razia Sultana,Mr. I. Siva Rama Krishna,Mr. Prabhata Kumar Swain,Mr. B.L.N. Murty,Mrs. J.V.S. Prabhavati,ENVIS CoordinatorPublished bySupported bySr. Program OfficerProgram OfficerProgram AssistantEPTRI, Hyderabad.Data Entry OperatorMinistry of Environment and Forests (MoEF),Government of India, New DelhiInstructions to ContributorsENVIS Newsletter on Ecology of Eastern Ghats is aquarterly publication publishes the articles related tothe thematic area of the ENVIS Centre. Authors arerequested to send their articles, write-ups, on thethemes pertaining to Biological, Physical, Socio-Econonic Environments, Programmes & Policiesand Information Systems of Eastern Ghats.Readers are requested to kindly visit the website:http://envis-eptri.ap.nic.in.Expert Database Form and Querry Rsponse Form areavailable in the website.Experts in the above fields are requested to downloadthe Expert Database Form, fill up and send to us.Whoever intends to seek information on the ecologyof Eastern Ghats may kindly download the QuerryResponse Form, fillup and send us.The filled in forms can be sent by post to EnvisCoordinator, ENVIS Centre on Eastern Ghats,EPTRI, Gachibowli, Hyd. or Fax at 040-23000361 oremail : eptri@envis.nic.in / envirorazia@gmail.comLEGISLATIONSFOREST RIGHTS ACT, 2006After acrimonious public debate for more than a yearsince tabling in the parliament in December 2005, theScheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill,2005 which was re-christened as “The ScheduledTribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006” was passedin the parliament. The Act came into force sinceDecember 2006.The Forest Rights Act (to use its convenientshort form) provides for a series of rights forscheduled tribes (which are listed in India’sconstitution) and other traditional forest-dwellingcommunities over land that they have occupied forcultivation or residence, and also over forest produceand traditional knowledge. It gives legalempowerment to communities to manage and protectforests.The Forest Rights Act has generated debateover its social and ecological implications. Inparticular, a number of conservationists have beenvociferously opposed to it, claiming that it will be thedeath-knell of India’s forests and wildlife. Manysocial activists on the other hand feel that it will notonly provide the basic rights that forest-dwellingcommunities should have been granted decades back,but will also lead to enhanced conservation of forests.A number of groups and individuals have taken moreof a ‘middle path’, pointing out that severalprovisions of the Act could favor conservation whileothers could lead to deforestation, and that thebenefits accruing to forest-dwellers from the Actcould be substantial in some places, peripheral inothers. How precisely the Act will play will dependon a number of policy and ground-level factors,including the level of mobilization and cohesion offorest-dwelling communities in a particular area, thesensitivity of government officials administering theAct and the ecological fragility of the area.2
EPTRI - ENVIS NewsletterVol. 15, No.1, 2009BRYOFLORA OF BAPHLAMALI HILL IN EASTERN GHATS OF ORISSA, INDIA* **P.K. DASH , D.K. SAHU and D.K. SAXENA*Biodiversity Conservation Division, Vasundhara, Orissa, India**Department of Botany, Bareilly College, Bareilly, U P, India.AbstractThirty one species of bryophytes comprising 20liverworts, 9 mosses and 2 hornworts are beingreported for the first time from Baphlamali hillranges from the Eastern Ghats of India during thesurvey conducted from January 2007 to November2008. Some of the noteworthy species areConocephalum conicum, Dumortiera hirsuta,Targionia hypophylla, Pallavicinia lyelli,Lophocolea bidentata, Pellia epiphylla, Frullaniamuscicola, Frullania squarrosa and Plagiochasmaappendiculatu.IntroductionThe Eastern Ghats are isolated hill ranges inPeninsular India (Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, TamilNadu and Karnataka), harbors primarily tropicalmoist deciduous vegetation, which representsspecies of high economic, timber, medicinal0 0 0potential, lies in 11 30' to 21 0' N Latitudes and 77022' to 85 20' E Longitudes. Eastern Ghats are highlysignificant in terms of its biodiversity. Of theestimated 3,200 flowering plant taxa, there are about528 tree taxa under 271 genera belonging to 80families (Reddy et al., 2007) distributed in differentregions of Eastern Ghats. In total 454 species under243 genera and 78 families are endemic to EasternGhats. Based on geological and tectonicconsiderations, the Eastern Ghats in Orissa startsfrom North of Similipal in Mayurbhanj district andruns through Malkangiri. Seventeen districts ofOrissa come under the Eastern Ghats including 14protected areas (13 wild life sanctuaries, oneBiosphere reserve, one National Park, two tigerreserve and one Ramser Wetland). Baphlaimali issituated in the southwestern part of Orissa, falls in theNorth Eastern Ghat belt in the peninsular shield withthe highest peak of 1056 m above msl. between 19°18’ to 19° 22’ N longitude and 82° 56’ to 82° 59’ Elatitude and comes under Kashipur block ofRayagada district and rest in Koraput districts ofOrissa. Baphlimali is one of the rich bauxite depositareas in the Eastern Ghats of India. According toChampion and Seth (1968), the vegetation of the hill3is basically of tropical moist deciduous type withmany riparian evergreen elements. The averageannual rainfall is 1485 mm; the maximumtemperature goes up to 42ÚC and the minimum dropsto 5ÚC. The relative humidity is normally high duringthe monsoon and post-monsoon months sometimesbeing more than 85% which favours growth ofbryophytes in the hills. There are no surface waterbodies on the top of the platue, but many of the hillstreams are originated from the top storey of the hillsprovide amicable environment and multiple habitatfor the growth of Bryophytes. Bryophytes constitute agroup of non-flowering plants which includes mosses,liverworts and hornworts. Despite their small size,they comprise major components of the biomass andphotosynthetic production (Frego, 2007) in forestecosystems. Bryophytes are widely used asbioindicators of environment for their unique and veryspecific responses as some species are extremelysensitive to pollutants and exhibit visible injurysymptoms even in the presence of very minutequantities of pollutants (Sahu et al., 2007). Theyhave several biological features making themparticularly suited to serve as study organism inmacroevolutionary, population genetics andecological research. Bryophytes are used inmedicines, household purposes, horticulture,agriculture, fuel in industries and as ecologicalindicators throughout the world (Nath & Asthana.,2005). Bryophytes are the second largest group ofplants, with about 25,000 species worldwide (Buckand Goffinetnet, 2000). About 2000 species ofmosses, 816 species of liverworts and 34 species ofhornworts are occurring in India in the present state ofour knowledge. The plants are distributed in Easternand Western Himalayas, South India and Central India(Nath & Asthana, 2005). Despite of their diversity,phylogenetic importance, medicinal uses and key rolein the ecosystems of the world, no study has beencarried out on bryophytes of Orissa. An attempt hasbeen made for the first time to explore and documentthe Bryophytes of Eastern Ghats of Orissa.Materials and methodsThe study was undertaken from January 2005 toDecember 2007. Keeping in view of the hygrophilous
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