2006-07 - Kerala Forest Research Institute

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Annual report 2006-07Kerala Forest Research Instituteat different days of germination of teak seeds(Tectona grandis). With regard to time seriesprediction problem, the prices of teakwoodin different girth classes were considered. Thearchitecture of ANN used was MLP with onehidden layer for all the problems. The activationfunction used in the hidden neuron wassigmoid. The error minimization algorithmused was Levenberg-Marquardit algorithm.While the performance of ANN withregression was assessed by the root mean squareerror, the performance of ANN with ARIMAwas assessed by mean absolute percentageerror. The perfo-rmance statistics suggest thatANN is comparable with that of regressionand ARIMA models.A view of Myristica swamp....................................................................................................................................................................................Mapping biodiversity of the Myristicaswamps in southern KeralaInvestigator(s): Vijayakumaran Nair, P.,Ramachandran, K.K., Swarupanandan, K.,Thomas P. ThomasObjectives• To survey and map the swamp forests inSouthern Kerala and to organize theinformation into a dynamic GIS.• To document and compare the animaland plant wealth including the rare andthrea-tened species across differentMyristica swamps of Southern Kerala andto analyze the dependencies among them.• To characterize the soil, to understand thehydrological importance and theirprobable linkages in these forests• To associate the variables of climate,topography and biodiversity.• To use the Geographical InformationSystem in registering and analyzing thedata obtained and to develop conservationstrategy for the swamp forests ofthe region.Date of Commencement : 2004 AprilDate of Completion : 2007 MarchBudget: Rs. 14.62 lakhsSponsoring Agency : Ministry of Environmentand Forests,Govt. of India.This was the first attempt to map 60 patchesof highly endangered Myristica swamp forestswhich constitute 1.5 km 2 , which hardly makeup 0.004% of the total land area of and0.014% of the total forest area of Kerala.Eighty-two trees and ninety-four species ofherbs/shrubs constituted the vegetation. Fortyninelianas have been recorded. Twelve ofA viper in the Myristica swamp habitat46
Kerala Forest Research InstituteAnnual report 2006-07these plants have been red-listed and up to 28plants are endemic to Western Ghats. Faunalbiodiversity was also documented for the firsttime, consisting of 10 species of molluscans,281 species of insects belonging to 83 identifiedfamilies, 54 species of arachnids, 14 species offishes, 56 species of amphibia (more than 50%reported from Kerala), 55 species of reptiles(more than 22% found in Kerala), 129 speciesof birds and 27 species of mammals....................................................................................................................................................................................Micropropagation of Bambusa balcooaand Dendrocalamus giganteusInvestigator(s): Muralidharan, E.M.,Seethalakshmi, K.K.Objectives• To develop in vitro culture techniques formicropropagation of Bambusa balcooaand Dendrocalamus giganteus using tissuescollected from culms of mature clumps.Date of Commencement : 2004 AprilDate of Completion : 2009 MarchBudget: Rs. 12.16 lakhsSponsoring Agency : Department OfBiotechnology,Govt. of IndiaProtocol for micropropagation of Bambusabalcooa from field grown clumps wasstandardized. Shoot cultures were establishedfrom nodal explants 10-20 shoots per explant/sub-culture were obtained on a media supplementedwith BAP (1.75 – 3 mg/l) + NAA(0.1 mg/l). Liquid media and stationary cultureswere suitable for shoot multiplication andrapid subcultures were found to be beneficialfor maintaining healthy shoots. Culture inpolypropylene bags was carried out successfully.Seasonal variation in sprouting response inDendrocalamus giganteus was noticed. Vigoroussprouting was observed in January – FebruaryMultiple shoot formation in B. balcooain 30 % of nodal explants and survival up to 3subcultures. Systemic antifungal and antibioticpretreatment was used to control endogenouscontamination. Multiplication rates were low.Browning and senescence of shoots wasobserved beyond 3 passages.Ecology and biodiversity of mangroveforest: A case study from northern KeralaInvestigator(s): Sharma, J.K.,Swarupanandan, K., Kallarackal, J.,George Mathew, Mohanan, C.,Ramachandran, K.K., Thomas P. Thomas,Jayson, E.A., Mohanadas, K., Somen, C.K.,Mohammed Kunhi, K.V.Objectives• To inventorise the biodiversity of themangrove ecosystem including angiosperms,ferns and fungi from the plantworld and mammals, birds, fishes,mollusks and arthropods from the animalworld and to examine whether the poordiversity of the plant world is actuallycompensated by the animal world there.• To study the abiotic environment, includingseasonal changes in the micro-47
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2006-07 - Kerala Forest Research Institute

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