Vascular plant diversity in the sacred grove of Modapalli in Viskhapatnam District of Andhra Pradesh , India

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.

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 18 0 02'324"N & 82 0 42'324"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 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)

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.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Map showing relative location of the Modapalli sacred grove.
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.