| Popis: |
This study deals with the assessment of mangrove floral diversity at three major districts of Odisha: Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, and Bhadrak, which constitute major parts of state mangrove vegetation. In these three districts, the study sites included Mahanadi mangrove wetland (MMW) of Kendrapara, the river mouth regions of the river Devi (DRM) and Baitarani (BRM) in Jagatsinghpur and Bhadrak district, respectively, and the Baitarani river bank (BRB) region of Bhadrak district. The total area of study included 1 ha in MMW, 0.5 ha in DRM, and 0.1 ha each in BRM and BRB. A total of 63 species of plant were found to be distributed within the study sites that included 27 trees, 13 herbs, 17 shrubs, 5 climbers, and 1 creeper. Among trees, Avicennia marina came out as the dominant species for BRM (important value index-IVI=70.33) and MMW (IVI=117.308), while Avicennia alba was dominant in DRM (IVI=108.33), and Sonneratia caseolaris was dominant in BRB (IVI=137.40). The highest diversity was found at MMW (Shannon diversity index=0.79±0.38 and Simpson’s index=0.42±0.22), and the least diversity was found at BRB (Shannon diversity index=0.76±0.08 and Simpson’s index=1.19±0.15), but the evenness was highest in BRB (0.63±0.06) followed by MMW (0.48±0.15) and lowest in DRM (0.38±0.13). The soil parameters of the study sites showed variations with a mean pH ranging from 5.1 in BRM to 7.12 BRB, electrical conductivity from 0.01 to 0.05 S/m and organic carbon from 0.51% in BRB to 1.97% in DRM. This study will act as supplement information for mangrove vegetation of Odisha, which may be implemented further for the conservation and management of mangroves on the east coast of India. |
