International Research Journal of Plant Science

Biodiversity of Tree Plant Species in Daund Tahsil from Pune District (M.S.), India

Jalindarnath G. Bagal^* Department of Botany, E. S. Divekar College, Varvand, Tal. Daund, Dist. Pune -412215. (M.S.), India
^*Corresponding Author:
Jalindarnath G. Bagal, Department of Botany, E. S. Divekar College, India, Email: bagaljg@gmail.com

, DOI: 10.14303/irjps.2021.11

Introduction

Trees are major components of all terrestrial ecosystems and are an important segment of global biodiversity. Plant diversity refers to the variety and variability of plants in a given region. It refers to the number of types or taxa in a given region or group. Floristic diversity can be measured at any level from overall global diversity to ecosystem, community, species, populations, individuals and even to genes within a single individual. India is having richest biodiversity in the world. The Flora of India is consists of 47513 plant species of all groups and 18043 flowering plant species (Arisdason & Lakshminarasimhan, 2019). India is also known as a mega-diversity center among 12 in the world. Environmental condition supports the diversity of different plant species. By sequestering carbon, releasing oxygen and losing a large amount of water vapor, trees profoundly influence the environment. Trees bind the soil, recycle minerals and regulate the course of rainwater. Thus, trees are essential for maintaining the health of several ecosystems. The current study focuses on documentation of diversity of tree plant species in Daund Tahsil from Pune Disrtict (Maharashtra), India.

Biodiversity is the capital asset of a nation and form the foundation upon which the human civilization are built. Biodiversity offers several direct and indirect economic benefits to human kind. Among different groups of plants, flowering plants play an important role and will continue to play major role in shaping the word’s civilization (Yadav & Sardesai, 2002). Cultural, economic and overall development of a particular region is largely depends on the careful exploration, utilization as well as conservation of its natural resources. Therefore assessment and documentation of biodiversity have become an urgent need of the day.

Daund Tahsil lies in Pune district situated on the margins of Bhima River. It consists of 102 villages and one urban centre. Geographically this region extends from 180 18' to 180 41' North Latitude and 740 07' to 740 51' East Longitude (Map-1). The geographical area of the study region is 1289.86 Sq.Km. (128986 hector) according to 2011 census. The average height of study area is 554 meters from mean sea level. The river Bhima and its tributary rivers Mula- Mutha are dominating drainage pattern in study region. Agriculture is predominant in Daund tahsil and it provides livelihood to 66.93% population in Figure 1.

The earlier studies, on the tree flora of the different regions of the country have been made by different workers – (Sandhyarani et al., 2007; Kanade et al., 2008; Ghate Vinaya & Datar Mandar, 2009; Philomena George et al., 2011; Gaikwad & Mali, 2012; Gaikwad et al., 2014; Kulkarni et al., 2015; Bagul, 2017, 2018; Tadwalkar et al., 2020) etc.

Tree component is valuable in evaluating diversity values which are significant part of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports. In the light of changing scenario, the available floristic accounts and the ecological contributions are very inadequate. In the present paper, attempts have been made to evaluate tree flora of Daund Tahsil from Pune District, Maharashtra state, India.

Materials and Methods

The exploration of the area under study includes the planned study tours to various places for biodiversity of tree plant species collection. It was carried out during 2017 - 2020. Several daily and seasonal field tours were made to cover the entire Daund Tahsil. Flowering and fruiting specimens were collected and field observations on habit, habitat, color of flower, local name, flowering and fruiting period etc. were noted. Close up of flowering / fruiting material and habit along with associated plants were photographed. Special attention was paid to collect the plants from different areas and as far as possible all localities have been covered during all seasons.

The laboratory work was mainly in the form of comprised the correct identification of collected specimens. The specimens were identified with the help of published flora like Flora of India, (Hooker, 1872-1897), Flora of presidency of Bombay, Vol – I to III, (Cooke, 1901-1908; Repr, 1958.), The Flora of the Maharashtra state; Monocotyledons, (Sharma et al., 1996), Flora of Maharashtra Vol – I to IV (Almeida & Almeida, 2001, 2001, 2003). Flora of Maharashtra state; Dicotyledons Vol – I (Singh & Karthikeyan, 2000), Flora of Maharashtra state Dicotyledons Vol- II (Singh et al., 2001). Flora of Kolhapur District (Yadav & Sardesai, 2002), ‘Flora of Baramati’ (Bhagat et al., 2008); etc.

Names of the plant specimens were searched concerning with the different herbaria especially. Herbarium of Botanical survey of India (B.S.I.), Western circle, Pune, Herbarium, Department of Botany, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Agharkar Herbarium of Maharashtra Association (AHMA), Agharkar Research Institute (A.R.I.) Pune. The plant specimen collected from the region was properly processed for herbarium (Jain & Rao, 1978). Herbarium specimens have been deposited at Herbarium, Department of Botany, E. S. Divekar College, Varvand, Tal- Daund, Dist- Pune, (M.S.) India.

Results

The work embodied in this communication is the result of three years collection of tree plant species from different localities in Daund Tahsil from Pune District, Maharashtra, India. The present investigation revealed that total tree flora includes 142 species, (2 subspecies) 108 genera belonging to 42 families of Angiosperms. Out of 142 species, 134 species (94.37 %), 100 genera and 39 families are belonging to Dicotyledons while 8 species (5.63 %), 8 genera and 3 families are of Monocotyledons. Table 1 and Table 2. The family Caesalpinniaceae (16 Species), Mimosaceae (13 Species, 2 Subspecies) and Bignoniaceae (11 Species) are dominant families of tree flora in Daund tahsil. The largest genera as far as species are Ficus (8 species) and Acacia (6 species).

Discussion

Plant wealth of a region is regarded as an important & valuable natural resource. However, this diversity is under great pressure due to anthropogenic activity such as deforestation, forest fire, habitat destruction, various developmental activities, over exploitation of trees for timber, fuel, wood and fodder etc. have decreased the trees and other biodiversity. Therefore we should know the status of biodiversity in a particular area in general and incorporate the actual status. Documentation of diversity of plants especially biodiversity of tree species of Angiosperms in Daund Tahsil from Pune Disrtict (Maharashtra) India, will be great significance to recognize present status of floristic diversity in the area.

The present investigation enumerates plants tree species of Angiosperms in Daund Tahsil provides detailed information about 143 tree taxa belonging to 108 genera and 42 families. From the data it is concluded that, out of total 730 species of flowering plants in the study area (Bagal et al., 2012), the number of Angiospermic tree species is 143 species and it is of 19.58 %. This data generate baseline information for further research work. The survey of Angiospermic trees of Daund Tahsil from Pune district of Maharashtra state, India at regional level would be a good source of importance on technical and taxonomic data. The findings of the survey will be helpful to identify threats to biodiversity.

Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges their sincere and grateful thanks to Dr. L.K. Shitole, Principal, E.S. Divekar College, Varvand, Tal. Daund, Dist. Pune for their constant encouragements. He is also thankful to authorities of Department of Botany, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, and Botanical Survey of India (BSI), Western circle, Pune for their valuable guidance, constructive suggestions and laboratory facilities.

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