Taxonomic Studies of Freshwater Algae in the Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary, Western Ghats, India

Abstract

The Western Ghats, the world's major global biodiversity hotspots recognized internationally as a region of immense global importance for the conservation of biological diversity, besides containing areas of high geological, cultural, and aesthetic values. The algal taxonomy and diversity of different forest ecosystems in the Western Ghats remains largely unexplored. This is the first systematic study on algae conducted across the Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary, one of the recently constituted protected areas of the Western Ghats. The study has successfully identified 73 distinct taxa belonging to 12 classes, 18 orders, and 25 families. Out of these 38 species belong to <i>Charophyta</i>, followed by <i>Chlorophyta</i> (15), <i>Bacillariophyta</i> (11), <i>Cyanobacteria</i> (3), <i>Euglenozoa</i> (3), <i>Rhodophyta </i>(1), <i>Ochrophyta</i> (1), <i>Miozoa</i> (1). The majority are novel findings within this study area and the taxa <i>Staurastrum paradoxum</i> Meyen ex Ralfs, <i>Euastrum dubium</i> N&#228;geli var. <i>ornatum</i> Wo&#322;oszy&#324;ska, D<i>iscostella stelligera</i> (Cleve & Grunow) Houk & Klee and <i>Semiorbis hemicyclus</i> (Ehrenberg) R.M. Patrick are new to Kerala. Over the study duration spanning from 2022 to 2023, an intriguing pattern emerged, spotlighting the phylum Chlorophyta's dominance during both the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. This investigation enhances our knowledge of algal distribution and ecosystem dynamics in this unique environment.