doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3550.7683-90
Editor: B. Ravi Prasad Rao, Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapuramu, India. Date of publication: 26 August 2015 (online & print)
Manuscript details: Ms # o3550 | Received 05 March 2013 | Final received 20 July 2015 | Finally accepted 30 July 2015
Citation: Naidu, M.T, O.A. Kumar & M. Venkaiah (2015). Vascular plant diversity in the sacred grove of Modapalli in Viskhapatnam District of Andhra Pradesh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 7(10): 7683–7690; http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3550.7683-90
Copyright: © Naidu et al. 2015. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Funding: Andhra University [No U5/RF/Botany/2009].
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to the Head, Department of Botany, Andhra University for encouragement. The JoTT review process significantly improved manuscript.
Abstract: Sacred groves are tracts of virgin forest with rich biodiversity, as they have been protected for centuries by the local people for their cultural and religious beliefs and taboos. Sacred groves are representatives of climax vegetation and exhibit diversity of species such as trees, climbers and other shade loving herbs. In the present investigation, an attempt was made to study the diversity of a sacred grove of Modapalli, Visakhapatnam District, which comes under the Eastern Ghats of India. A total of 207 species, 181 genera and 78 families comprising pteridophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms were reported in the sacred grove. In this study, only one endemic species, i.e., Ophiorrhiza chandrasekharanii and a few threatened species were recorded.
Keywords: Conservation, Modapalli, plant diversity, sacred grove, threatened taxa.
India has a long tradition of prudent use and wise conservation of all resources that are useful to people. Traditionally, the local people have been preserving small patches of relatively dense forests based on religious values and beliefs. These are called ‘sacred groves’ and act as treasure houses for large numbers of endemic and rare plants of the region (Chandrashekara & Sankar 1998; Jamir & Pandey 2003; Sujana & Sivaperuman 2008). Sacred groves thus are the relics of vegetation which have survived under a variety of ecological situations in India and are the present hot spots of biodiversity (Rao 1996). In the tropics, sacred groves play a vital role in traditional biodiversity conservation and improve the soil stability of the area and prevent soil erosion too (Rawat et al. 2011). This way of conserving natural biodiversity through preservation plots in forest areas or sacred groves are a unique feature in Indian culture (Khullar 1992). Sacred groves are true indicators of the types of vegetations that once existed before the dawn of modern civilization and their existence is due to certain taboos, strong beliefs and supplemented mystic folklore (Gadgil & Varthak 1975). In the recent past, due to change of socio-economic conditions and land use systems, many sacred groves are threatened and altered, both in terms of size, vegetation structure and species composition. There are a number of sacred groves all over India. The erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh, alone, has over 800 sacred groves (Rao 1996; Sunitha & Rao 1999) and Visakhapatnam District has 31 sacred groves (Lakshminarayana & Venkaiah 1998; Rao et al. 2010), locally known as Pavithravanalu (Rao et al. 2011).
Modapalli sacred grove is located at 18002’324”N & 82042’324”E in Visakhapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh (Fig. 1); it is a part of the Eastern Ghats at an altitude of 984m. The sacred grove extends over a 4ha area covered with mixed moist deciduous forest (Champion & Seth 1968) which contains black alluvial soil and a perennial stream. There is a small temple of Goddess ‘Modakondamma’ in the middle of the sacred grove worshiped by the Bagata tribal community based on their indigenous cultural and religious beliefs and taboos. Every year, in summer they celebrate the festival of Goddess Modakondamma for three days. This captivating site of the Modakondamma temple is an alluring attraction for piligrims, who visit this place from all over Visakhapatnam District. This paper deals with vascular plant diversity in the Modapalli sacred grove with observations on threatened and endemic plant species.
Materials and Methods
Intensive field surveys were carried out during 2010–2011, covering pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. quadruplicate specimens of each species of flowering and non-flowering vascular plants, were collected along with necessary field data. Collected specimens were made into herbarium as per the methods suggested by Jain & Rao (1977). The collected specimens ware identified only after a critical examination with the help of different floras like Flora of the Presidency of the Madras (Gamble & Fischer 1915–1936), Flora of Visakhapatnam District (Rao & Kumari 2002–2008), and Flora of Vizianagaram District (Venkaiah 2004). Lists of threatened and endemic plants found in the sacred grove were prepared with the help of published works (Rao et al. 2003; Jadhav & Reddy 2006; Reddy & Reddy 2008). The voucher specimens were deposited at the Botany Department Herbarium (BDH), Andhra University, Visakhapatnam. The plant species status was determined based on IUCN (2014) category.
Results and Discussion
Sacred groves are very important in upholding traditions and beliefs in order to protect and conserve unique forest patches which represent the relict vegetation of the concerned area. Sacred groves have presently attracted the attention of environmentalists, geneticists, botanists for their undisturbed natural conditions, which has made them repositories of valuable germplasm of medicinal plants, and endangered and endemic plant species (Anthwal et al. 2006).
A total of 207 species belonging to 181 genera under 78 families (Table 1) were reported. This is 17.2% of the species described in the flora of Visakhapatnam District (Rao & Kumari 2002–2008) and 8% of the flora of the state (Pullaiah & Kuruppusamy 2008). About 95% of the total vascular plants in the grove were angiosperms, followed by pteridophytes and gymnosperms. The genus and species ratio for the present study is 1:1.14, while this ratio is 1:1.72 for the flora of Visakhapatnam District (Rao & Kumari 2002–2008), 1:2.86 for the flora of Andhra Pradesh (Pullaiah & Kuruppusamy 2008) and 1:7 for the Indian sub continent (Hooker 1872–1897). Out of 207 species, nine species (4.3%), eight genera (3.8%) and seven families (3.3%) are pteridophytes; one species gymnosperm i.e., Gnetum ula (0.48%) and 197 species, 172 genera and 70 families belong to angiosperms. Among the angiosperms, there were 56 families (71.8%) of dicotyledons and 14 families (17.9%) of monocotyledons. The families of pteridophytes and gymnosperms were represented by seven families (9%) and one family, i.e., Gnetaceae (1.2%) respectively. Within the 197 angiosperms, 49 monocotyledon species (21.7%) under 41 genera (22.6%) were reported as compared to 152 (73.4%) dicotyledon species under 131 genera (72.3%). This observation is in conformity with the earlier reports (Rao & Kumari 2002–2008; Pullaiah & Kuruppusamy 2008) that there is predominance of dicotyledons 58%, 74% in the flora of Visakhapatnam District and the flora of Andhra Pradesh. The ratio of monocots to dicots among species, genera and families is 1:3.37, 1:3 and 1:4 respectively. Habitat wise analysis of flora shows comparatively higher percentage of herbs (47.8%) followed by trees (28.5%), climbers (12.5%) and Shrubs (11.1%).
The dominant family is Euphorbiaceae represented by 15 species, followed by Poaceae (11), Orchidaceae and Rubiacae (with 10 species each), Asteraceae (8 species), Fabaceae (7 species), and Araceae, Moraceae, Rutaceae and Verbenaceae (with 6 species each), Acanthaceae, Commelinaceae, Lamiaceae and Urticaceae (with 5 species each), Meliaceae and Piperaceae (with 4 species each), Adiantaceae, Dioscoreaceae, Malveceae, Mimosaceae, Ranunculaceae, Solanaceae and Zingeberaceae (with 3 species each), 19 families have two species each while 37 families were represented by just a single species. Euphorbiaceae was the dominant family in Palapatty (Ganesan et al. 2009) and Sethur sacred groves also (Sambandan & Dhatchanamoorthy 2012). Ficus is the dominant genus with five species followed by Dioscorea and Solanum comprising three species each; Adiantum, Antidesma, Ardisia, Boehmeria, Bridelia, Clematis, Commelina, Lindernia, Oxalis, Peperomia, Phyllanthus, Piper and Vanda have two species each and 165 genera have single species each. The present investigation on sacred groves reveals that Ficus is dominant genera in Modapalli, these results agreed with the findings of Jamir & Pandey (2003) and Rao et al. (2010) on Jaintia Hills and Uppa sacred grove of Visakhapatnam district respectively.
A total of 12 species are listed as threatened in this sacred grove along with Ophiorrhiza chandrasekharanii, which is endemic to Visakhapatnam (Rao & Kumari 2002–2008). Two species viz., Gnetum ula and Lasia spinosa are Least Concern (IUCN 2014); the Endangered species of Cyathea gigantea (Rao et al. 2010) and Lassiococca comberi (Rao et al. 2003) contributed by one and four individuals; some are state level threatened species such as Anodendron paniculatum, Nervilia aragoana, Raphidophora decursiva (one individual each) and Zingeber roseum (two individuals) assessed as Endangered and Oroxylum indicum, Rubia cordifolia, Stemona tuberosa (Reddy & Reddy 2008) are assessed as Vulnerable (Image 1 a–n). Some of the tall trees like Mangifera indica, Michelia champaka and Elaeocarpus tectorius of height 25 m are present in the middle of the grove. The most serious threat to the floristic diversity is observed from invasive species, i.e., Lantana camara, Chromolaena odorata and Bidens pilosa causing depletion to the indigenous plant diversity.
Conclusion
This study revealed the presence of a number of plant species along with threatened plants in the sacred grove. This sacred grove has been deteriorating under constant anthropogenic pressure. Natural populations are under serious threat from fire and cultivation of coffee, in and around the sacred grove. Constant grazing, extraction of fuel wood, collection of medicinal plants and non timber forest products causes the degradation of various rare and threatened plants in the sacred grove. This kind of degraded sacred grove should be immediately restored or regenerated using appropriate technologies and by creating awareness about the significance of sacred groves in the maintenance of biodiversity. Therefore, it is important to take appropriate measures and protect such ecologically important groves. The legal status and management of sacred groves in the country needs to be examined and there is an urgent need to preserve and acknowledge the efforts of the people of this area in preserving other sacred patches of forest as important areas of local biodiversity.
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