Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 May 2020 | 12(8): 15932–15935
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4825.12.8.15932-15935
#4825 | Received 15 January 2019 | Final
received 02 February 2020 | Finally accepted 07 May 2020
A preliminary survey of soil nemafauna of Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife
Sanctuary, Goa, India
Kiran Gaude
1 & I.K. Pai 2
1,2 Department of Zoology, Goa
University, Taleigão, Goa 403206, India.
1 kiran.gaude@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 ikpai@unigoa.ac.in
Editor: Razia Sultana, Swami Vivekanand Subharti University, Meerut, India. Date
of publication: 26 May 2020 (online & print)
Citation: Gaude,
K. & I.K. Pai (2020). A preliminary survey of soil nemafauna of Bhagwan Mahaveer
Wildlife Sanctuary, Goa, India. Journal of
Threatened Taxa 12(8): 15932–15935. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4825.12.8.15932-15935
Copyright: © Gaude
& Pai 2020. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows
unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium
by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: UGC National Fellowship for Higher Education
of ST students.
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: Authors are thankful to UGC
National Fellowship for Higher Education of ST student
(F1-17.1/2016-17/NFST-2015-17-ST-GOA-2850) for financial assistance and
Department of Zoology, Goa University for providing necessary facilities.
Abstract: Nematological research in India is primarily
focussed on major crops and animal parasitic groups, while ignoring free living
groups in forest ecosystems. In the
present study, soil nemafauna of Bhagwan
Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary, Goa, India was assessed. A total of 18 genera, 14 families, and five
orders were recorded. Among four orders,
Dorylaimida was the most dominant one, which consists
of 12 genera and nine families. Among
the 18 genera Sicaguttur, Qudsinema,
Microdorylaimus, Longidorella,
Paralongidorus, Xiphidorinae,
Fuscheila and Chrysonema
are reported for the first time from the state. More such intensive survey will add more
numbers of nematode species.
Keywords: Invertebrate, Nematoda,
protected area, underground biota.
Nematodes are one of the important groups of
invertebrate in both terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems (Hanel
1999). They are small, worm-like animals
(Yeast 1979; Yeast & Bonger 1999), diverse (Ettema 1998), and ubiquitous inhabitants (Bernard 1992; Bloemers et al. 1997; Bonger
& Ferris 1999) in nature. A total of
1,000,000 species of nematodes is estimated globally (Hugot
et al. 2001); nearly 30,028 species are known.
Around 2,900 species of nematodes are identified from India (MoEF 2014) which is 9.66% of the total described
species. Nematological
research in India predominantly focuses on plant and animal parasitic
groups. The parasitic association of
nematodes with all the major crops of India has been reported in earlier
literature. Little work has been done on
the free living groups in forest ecosystems as they do not have a direct
connection with agriculture or livestock (Pradhan & Dash 1987; Baniyamuddin et al. 2007; Vaid
et al. 2014).
Goa, a small state with an area of 3,702km2,
in the Western Ghats and on the coast of the Arabian Sea, contributes a rich
biodiversity (Alvares 2002). Extensive faunal studies, in general, have
been done in Goa but the underground biota (Nematoda) has been neglected in
most cases. In South Goa District, 52
species of nematodes are reported which is about 0.01% of total species in
India (Lizanne & Pai
2014). These sanctuaries are part of the
Western Ghats and may incorporate a wide diversity of soil nematodes.
Study Area
Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary (Image 1) is a 240km2
protected area located at 15.319° & 74.288°. It contains several temples and the Dudhsagar Fall. This
sanctuary is famous for its snakes particularly the King Cobra. Vegetation is classified as west coast
tropical evergreen forests, west coast semi-evergreen forests, and moist
deciduous forests (Alvares 2002). The
predominant species are Terminalia, Lagerstroemia, Xylia, Strobilanthus,
and Dalbergia.
The forest canopy is almost closed, pH of soil samples from Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary is slightly acidic (pH6.12) and
has high deposits of Phosphorous (88.5 Kg/Ha) and macronutrient viz., Iron
(29.908 ppm), Zinc (4.1002ppm), Copper (5.584ppm) and Manganese (29.984ppm)
(Soil Testing Laboratory, Ela, Old Goa)
Materials and Methods
Soil collection and processing for
nematode extraction and
identification was as per Lizanne & Pai (2014) and Vaid et al.
(2014). Ten soil samples were collected
randomly in a self-sealing plastic bag.
Each soil sample comprises 20 sub-samples. These sub-samples were combined to make one
composite sample.
The soil samples were processed using modified Cobb’s sieving and decantation
and modified Baermann’s funnel techniques for the
extraction of nematodes (Ravichandra 2015). A small amount of water suspension from a
funnel was drawn into a cavity block through a rubber tubing. The nematodes thus isolated were collected
for counting, fixing, and processed for making permanent slides. For counting nematodes, water was added to
the extracted nematode suspension to make its volume 25ml. The suspension was stirred thoroughly and
then 5ml volume was sucked by a pipette to pour in a Syracuse dish. Counting was done thrice for each sample and
finally the mean was calculated.
Individuals belonging to a genus were counted separately. Counted nematodes were then killed and fixed
in 4% formalin and dehydrated in glycerine-alcohol (Seinhorst
1959). Dehydrated nematodes were mounted
in anhydrous glycerine. Permanent slides
of the specimens were prepared using paraffin wax ring method and were
studied under Olympus
BX51 microscope. The identification of
nematodes was done consulting
relevant literature (Jairajpuri & Ahmad 1992;
Lamberti et al. 2002; NEMAPLEX, Nema Species Masterlist).
Results and Discussion
A total of 18 genera, 14 families and five orders of
nematodes were reported from Bhagwan Mahaveer
Wildlife Sanctuary (Table 1) (provide photographs/ images if available for
publication). Among four orders Dorylaimida is the most dominant order (Figure 1)
consisting of 13 genera and 10 families followed by Mononchida
consisting of two genera and one family.
Dominance of order Dorylaimida is due to fewer
disturbances in this region. Dorylaims are found in every conceived type of habitat and
usually dominate both in numbers and in species over all other soil-inhabiting
nematodes (Jairajpuri & Ahmad 1992). Dorylaimids and mononchids are more sensitive to disturbance (Forge &
Simard 2001), therefore, they are used as indicators of environmental
disturbances (Thomas 1978; Sohlenius & Wasilewska 1984).
All these 18 genera are reported for the first time from this protected
area. Genus Dorylaimus
Dujardin was the most dominant among all (Figure 2) followed by Xiphinema Cobb, Tylenchus
Bastian, Longidorus Micoletzky,
and Longidorella Thorne. Genera like Sicaguttur
Siddiqi, Qudsinema Jairajpuri,
Microdorylaimus Andrassy, Longidorella Thorne, Paralongidorus
Siddiqi, Fuscheila Siddiqi, and Chrysonema Thorne are reported for the first
time from the state. Lizanne
& Pai (2014) reported 69 species belonging to 48
genera. The addition of these eight
genera will take the tally to 56 genera for the state of Goa. On assigning 18 genera to the trophic
grouping using secondary data collected (Neher &
Weight 2013; Vaid et al. 2014), trophic groups
reported were plant parasites, predators, and omnivores (Table 1). Plant parasites were the most dominant (five
genera) followed by predators (four genera), omnivore (three genera), and
bacterivores (two genera). In terms of
number, omnivores dominated the area (Figure 3) followed by predators. According to Vaid
et al. (2014), the abundance of
predators is uncommon in forest ecosystems and is clearly due to the absence of
anthropogenic activities.
Conclusion
This is a preliminary study on this forest, more such
intensive survey in the sanctuary will yield more species of nematodes.
Table 1. Soil nematode genera from Bhagwan
Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary.
Orders |
Families |
Genera |
Feeding type |
Dorylaimida |
Swangeriinae |
Oxydirus Thorne, 1939 |
Plant parasite |
Dorylaimidae |
Dorylaimus Dujardin, 1845 |
Omnivore |
|
|
Sicaguttar Siddiqi, 1971 |
- |
|
Quadsianematidae |
Qudsinema Jairajpuri,
1965 |
- |
|
|
Microdorylaimus Andrassy, 1986 |
Omnivore |
|
Nordiidae |
Longidorella Thorne, 1939 |
Omnivore |
|
Aporcelaimidae |
Aporcelaimium Loof & Coomans, 1970 |
Predator |
|
Actinolaimidae |
Hexactinolaimus Yeates, 1973 |
Predator |
|
Longidoridae |
Longidorus Micoletzky,
1922 |
Plant parasite |
|
|
Paralongidorus Siddiqi, Hooper & Khan, 1963 |
Plant parasite |
|
Xiphinematidae |
Xiphinema, Cobb, 1913 |
Plant parasite |
|
Thornematidae |
Fuscheila Siddiqi, 1982 |
- |
|
Crateronematidae |
Chrysonema Thorne, 1929 |
Not known |
|
Tylenchida |
Tylenchidae |
Tylenchus Bastian, 1865 |
Plant parasite |
Alaimida |
Alaimidae |
Alaimus de Man, 1880 |
Bacterivore |
Rhabditida |
Rhabditidae |
Mesorhabdtis |
Bacterivore |
Mononchida |
Monochidae |
Clarkus Jairajpuri,
1970 |
Predator |
|
|
Monochus Bastian, 1865 |
Predator |
For
figures & image - - click here
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