Current status of diversity and distribution of Bryophytes of Odisha

In an attempt to reveal the biodiversity status of one of the least studied plant groups of Eastern Ghats, the authors have catalogued the diversity and distribution of bryoflora of Odisha situated in the Northern Eastern Ghats biogeographic regions of India. One hundred fourty nine species of bryophytes including 102 mosses under 23 families, 41 liverworts under 16 families and 6 hornworts under 2 families were reported from Odihsa as a result of 7 years of primary survey (2008-2015) conducted in some selected bryodiversity rich habitats covering 12 districts of Odisha and also from scrutiny of different research publications including research papers, books and research reports. In terms of species richness, the Deomali hills was found to be the most diverse in terms of bryophytes followed by Similipal biosphere reserve, Mahendragiri hills, Niyamgiri hills, Baphlimali hills and Khandadhar hills. Deomali hills also showed highest diversity in endemic mosses. Five mosses such as Fissidens orishae Gangulee, Erpodium mangiferae Müll. Hal., Hyophila comosa Dixon, Stereophyllum confusum Ther., Neckeropsis exserta (Hook. ex Schwagr.) Broth. are found to be endemic to India that occur in Odisha. Aneura pinguis (L.) Dumort., Anoectangium stracheyanum Mitt., Cyathophorella hookeriana (Griff.) M. Fleisch., Cyathophorum adiantum (Griff.) Mitt., Distichophyllum schmidtii Broth., Eurhynchium striatulum (Spruce) Schimp., Hypnum cupressiforme Hedw., Leucobryum juniperoideum (Brid.) Müll. Hal., Lophocolea bidentata (L.) Dumort., Macromitrium sulcatum (Hook.) Brid., Notothylas levieri Schiffner, Pallavicinia lyellii (Hook.) Gray Pellia epiphylla (L.) Corda., Philonotis fontana (Hedw.) Brid., Pogonatum neesii (Müll. Hal.) Dozy., Polytrichum commune Hedw., Polytrichum juniperinum Hedw., Racopilum cuspidigerum (Schwagr.) Angstrom, Racopilum orthocarpum Wilson ex Mitt., Riccia beyrichiana Hampe ex Lehm., Riccia billardieri Mont. & Nees., Spruceanthus semirepandus (Nees) Verd., Thuidium cymbifolium (Müll. Hal.) Paris, Thuidium koelzii H. Rob., Trematodon longicollis Michx., are some of the new distributional record of occurrence for the Eastern Ghats.The present study reveals that Fissidentaceae, Pottiaceae, Bryaceae, Dicranaceae, Aytoniaceae, Marchantiaceae, Funariaceae and Anthocerotaceae are dominant families in the study area. The authors have also identified few forest pockets and critical habitat in the state where bryophyte diversity shall be very rich that needs a detailed survey in near future. The authors discuss the list of bryophytes of the state in a regional context of rarity, as well as address some general subject matters regarding cryptogam conservation and further work needed in the state of Odisha. The study would provide a prelude data for future bryological studies and bryomonitoring in the Eastern Ghats in general and the state of Odisha in particular.


Introduction
The bryophytes which comprise liverworts, hornworts, and mosses are widely distributed, generally dominate in between the altitude 1000-8000 meters and they are important components of the vegetation in many regions of the world.and Hotsgetts, 2000).They are the second largest group of plants, with about 25,000 species worldwide (Buck and Goffinetnet, 2000).Our knowledge on the taxonomy and distribution of bryophytes are far from adequate and still relies on the work done during the last 20 th and early 21 st centuries.So far, 2489 taxa of bryophytes recorded from India, comprising 1786 species in 355 genera of mosses, 675 species in 121 genera of liverworts and 25 species in six genera of hornworts of which approximately 72% are mosses, 27% are liverworts and 1% hornworts.About 340 species as endemic of which 269 species are of mosses, 67 are of liverworts and 4 are of hornworts (Dandotiya et al., 2011).Out of 133 rare species 78 are of mosses and 53 are liverworts and nearly 14 species are recorded as endangered.
The percentage occurrence of mosses in India is quite high when compared to any other plant group.About 27.5% of the world's mosses and 11.26% of liverworts are present in India.In India they are distributed in Eastern and Western Himalayas, South India and Central India (Nath and Asthana, 2005).
Being one of the East Indian state Odisha's unique locations in Peninsular India has blessed it with an interesting assemblage of floral and faunal diversity.With an unindented coastline of nearly 480 km, drained by several large and perennial rivers, altitudinal variation from sea level up to 5000 feet above MSL, varied geography and the confluence of two major biogeographic provinces of India-the Eastern Ghats and Chhotanagpur Plateau-make Odisha a rich biodiversity repository.Of the state's total geographical area, 32.33 % is covered with forests.This works out to be about 7.21 % of the India's total forest area (FSI, 2013).The vegetation of Odisha comes under four types: (i) Odisha Semi-evergreen forests (ii) Tropical moist deciduous forests (iii) Tropical drydeciduous forests and (iv) Littoral and Tidal swamp forests.The state is an abode for around 3000 species of plants which includes 138 species of Orchids, 170 species of pteridophytes, 10 species of gymnosperms, 71 species of mangroves and their associates and 7 species of sea grasses.Apart from angiosperms, gymnosperms and pteridophytes lower group of plants like algae, bryophytes and lichens also contribute substantially to the floral richness of the state.But the studies on cryptogams in general and Bryophytes in particular are insufficient as compared to other groups of plants.Except Gangulee's work (Gangulee, 1969(Gangulee, -1980) ) where bryoflora of some parts of the Eastern Ghats in general and a few localities of Odisha state in particular were mentioned, no other researchers have made any attempt to document the bryoflora of the state.The first systematic studies on Bryophytes of Odisha were conducted by Dash et al. (2007) and reported 23 species of bryophytes from Similipal biosphere reserve.Latter Dash and Saxena, 2009 reported 29 species from Khandadhar hills, Dash et al. (2009) reported 31 species from Baphlimali hills of Eastern Ghats.Dash and Saxena (2011) documented the bryoflora
The study sites include open, dense and scrub forests, grasslands and degraded forests, mining areas, waterfalls, dead logs, old trees and old monuments.
For sample collection, plants were scraped out along with little substrate with the help of sharp edged knife and a small portion of stem bark having good number of plants were peeled off with a sharp knife for the corticolous bryophytes (growing on tree bark).The aquatic, terrestrial and epiphytic bryophytes were collected in the polythene bags and brought to the laboratory, washed and dried.Collected samples are placed properly in standard Herbarium packets (4"x6" in size) in dried form.A printed label of 3"x5" size is glued on the front flap of packet with field data.The dried specimens are deposited in the newly created herbarium of Odisha Biodiversity Board, Bhubaneswar (OBB).
Identification of the specimens was based on the gametophytic and sporophytic characters and special features like elaters, rhizoids, sporophyte diameter, etc. using the standard manuals and by referring the literatures of Chopra and Kumar (1988); Kashyap (1929), Kashyap and Chopra (1932); Gangulee (1969Gangulee ( -1980)), Nair et al. (2005), Satisha (2007).The doubtful specimens were identified by matching with the herbarium specimens at National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow and Botanical survey of India, Kolkata during the initial stages of the study period and the other and recently collected doubtful specimens are identified by the authors on the basis of available literature.

Ecology of bryoflora:
The maximum diversity of Bryophytes was reported in Deomali followed by Similipal as both these areas offer suitable climatic conditions like good rainfall, moderate temperature, encouraging light intensity, high humidity, etc.Other factors such as age and composition of forest, moisture regime and substrate characteristics like pH and nutrient that are considered decisive for the growth of bryophytes (Rhoades, 1995;Richards, 1996;Gabriel and Bates, 2005) are also amiable in this part of country.Altitude, an important factor related to diversity and distribution pattern of bryophytes is an influential factor in Odisha.The bryophyte diversity is generally negatively correlated with altitude (Gabriel and Bates, 2005), and this is evident here also by the pervasiveness of thalloid species at lower altitude and of leafy forms at higher altitude in the studied areas of Odisha.The bryophyte composition is related to the physiognomy of the forest and hence the distribution of bryophyte in the forest types of Odisha is governed by many factors related to water availability and nature of the forest types.Annual rainfall above 1500 mm might also be one of the key environmental factors for a high diversity of epiphytic moss in places like Similipal and Mahendragiri hills.

Result and Discussion
Diversity: The bryoflora of Odisha consists of 149 species under 76 genera comprising 102 mosses under 23 families and 52 genera, 41 liverworts under 16 families and 22 genera and 6 hornworts under 2 families and 2 genera (Table 1).Among mosses, Fissidentaceae is found to be the dominant family with 16 species followed by Pottiaceae with 14 species and Bryaceae with 12 species and Bartramiaceae and Entodontaceae with 5 and 4 species each are the other dominant families in mosses.Similarly, Ricciaceae outnumbered the liverwort family with 9 species as compared to Aytoniaceae with 8 species and Marchantiaceae with 4 species.Out of 36 species of Riccia reported from India (Singh, 2014), Odisha harbours 8 species showing the availability of favourable conditions for thalloid liverworts.

Conclusion
Bryophytes are one of the neglected groups of plants in Odisha.Lack of taxonomic expertise and proper information about their diversity, distribution and ecology might be the reason of negligence for these amphibians of plant kingdom.In the past only sporadic work was done by only a few researchers, as a result of that our knowledge regarding bryophytes of this particular region of India is much lesser than the other bryological regions.To fill this lacuna regarding the diversity and distribution of these plants, a detailed taxonomic survey and documentation of bryoflora of the state has been performed in present study.The results of this study clearly indicate that earlier explorations related to bryophytes in the state were inadequate and several potential localities remain untouched.The current report of 149 species in the form of a checklist from Odisha is still a meager estimate.This number is only a basic estimate and it would certainly increase after frequent and extensive bryofloristic survey of all regions of this state that will certainly provide many new reports from this potential but neglected state in terms of bryoflora.Neglected areas like Rebena Reserve Forest, Core areas of Similipal (Meghasini, Barhkamara, and Devasthali etc.), Kuldiha wildlife sanctuary, Barbara-Dhuanali RF, South Odisha in general and Ganjam, Rayagada and Malkangiri district in particular should be given priority for future bryfloristic explorations.Due to inaccessibility, time constrain and lack of funding these areas could not be accessed thoroughly during the present bryofloristic survey.Also, seasonal visits to forests immediately after the rains have to be done because they are also helpful in locating the epiphytic forms, as many of which disappear from the forest on the onset of the dry season.
Generally, the conservation measures have been taken in India mainly for the higher plants.
In the case of lower plant groups, very less importance is given by the taxonomist as well as the policy makers.However, these small plants are also facing the potential risks in the form of habitat loss and ever increasing pollution due to unplanned developmental activities.These issues are mainly societal, and the fate of these special plants is dependent upon the overall conservation strategy that must include these small creations of nature.This preliminary study indicates that many localities of Odisha state are rich in bryophytes.As most of the species are found in the hills and mountains where mining is inevitable, a detailed survey and documentation of the bryoflora is needed before they perish due to anthropocentric land use changes in these ecosystems.Since herbarium for lower plants like bryophytes and lichens are not yet been established in Odisha hence steps must be taken to develop herbaria for the preservation of this rich bryoflora.As habitat replacement is rapidly going on and land use changes are almost inevitable, therefore ex-situ conservation of bryophytes especially focusing on region specific threatened species is essential for their conservation.

Table 1 :
Checklist of Bryophytes of Odisha