Faunal
diversity of Cladocera (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) of Nokrek Biosphere Reserve,
Meghalaya, northeastern India
B.K.
Sharma 1 & Sumita Sharma 2
1,2 Freshwater
Biology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, North-Eastern Hill University,
Permanent Campus, Shillong, Meghalaya 793022, India
Email: 1 profbksharma@gmail.com(corresponding author), 2 sumitasharma.nehu@gmail.com
Date of publication (online): 26 October 2011
Date of publication (print): 26 October 2011
ISSN 0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print)
Editor: Stephen C. Weeks
Manuscript details:
Ms # o2637
Received 03 December
2010
Final received 04
August 2011
Finally accepted 01
October 2011
Citation: Sharma, B.K. & S. Sharma (2011). Faunal diversity of Cladocera (Crustacea:
Branchiopoda) of Nokrek Biosphere Reserve, Meghalaya, northeastern India. Journal of
Threatened Taxa 3(10): 2120–2127.
Copyright: © B.K. Sharma & Sumita Sharma 2011. Creative Commons Attribution
3.0Unported License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium
for non-profit purposes, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate
credit to the authors and the source of publication.
Author Details: Drs. B.K Sharma and Sumita Sharma specialize in aquatic biodiversity and
limnology and have made significant contributions to faunal diversity,
biogeography and ecology of freshwater zooplankton of India. The corresponding
author is a Professor in Department of Zoology and Dean, School of Life
Sciences, NEHU, Shillong.
Author Contribution: This study is the result of work undertaken by the
authors at the Freshwater Biology Laboratory, Department of Zoology,
North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong.
Acknowledgements: This study is a part
of the “University with Potential for Excellence Program (Focused Area:
Biosciences) of North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong. Thanks are due to the
Head, Department of Zoology and the Coordinator (UPE Biosciences),
North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong for necessary facilities. The
permission granted by the Conservator of Forests, Meghalaya is sincerely
acknowledged. The authors are thankful to an anonymous reviewer for useful
suggestions.
Abstract: Thirty-four
species of Cladocera, belonging to 24 genera and seven families, documented
from the Nokrek Biosphere Reserve of Meghalaya indicate fairly speciose and
diverse taxocoenosis and comprise 57.7% of species known from this state.Coronatella anodonta is the first confirmed report from
India and two species are new records from Meghalaya. Disperalona
caudata is an interesting Australasian element and a number of species
show regional distributional importance. The Cladocera of the Nokrek Biosphere
Reserve show tropical characteristics with Cosmopolitan > Cosmotropical
species, and are characterized by a distinct richness of the
littoral-periphytonic members of the Chydoridae as well as a paucity of
limnetic elements. The species richness of Cladocera in various localities
ranges between 11–24 (15±3) species.
Keywords: Alpha diversity, conservation area, India, micro-crustaceans.
For figures, images, tables -- click
here
INTRODUCTION
The systematic studies on Indian
freshwater Cladocera were initiated by Baird (1860) but there is yet limited
information on faunal and ecosystem diversity of these entomostracous
crustaceans from different states of India in general (Sharma & Michael
1987; Michael & Sharma 1988; Sharma 1991) and in aquatic ecosystems of its
conservation areas in particular. The studies on occurrence and distribution of these fish-food organisms
in aquatic biotopes of conservation areas of northeastern India are limited to
the reports from two Ramsar sites (Sharma & Sharma 2008, 2009) and two
preliminary lists from Meghalaya by Hattar et al. (2004) and Sharma
(2010a). This pioneering study on
Cladoceran alpha diversity of the Nokrek Biosphere Reserve, Meghalaya is
interesting in view of the paucity of biodiversity studies of this area. An inventory of the documented species
is presented. Comments are made on
the biogeographically interesting species as well as on the richness, nature
and composition of Cladoceran fauna.
MATERIALS
AND METHODS
The
present study is a part of our investigations on faunal diversity of
zooplankton of the Nokrek Biosphere Reserve (NBR) which is spread over parts of
East, West and South Garo Hills districts of the state of Meghalaya, northeastern
India (Fig. 1). It was declared a
national park in 1997 and was designated a biosphere reserve in May, 2009. NBR abounds in various wildlife
including elephants, hoolock gibbons, rare varieties of birds and pheasants,
rare orchids and is a ‘National Citrus Gene Sanctuary’ to a very rare endemic
species of Citrus indica (locally
called ‘memang narang’ or ‘orange of the spirits’).
One
hundred and ten qualitative plankton samples were collected from 33 localities
(four localities only partially sampled) of the Nokrek Biosphere Reserve (25021’–25034’N
& 90014’–90029’E), during July and September
2009 and January 2010, by towing a nylobolt plankton net (# 55µm) and were
preserved in 5% formalin. The
sampled biotopes, in this otherwise hilly terrain, include shallow rain-fed
water bodies and some perennial ponds, often with filamentous algae,
semi-terrestrial vegetation and a few with Eichhornia crassipes. All the samples were screened with a
wild-stereoscopic binocular microscope and the cladocerans were isolated. Permanent mounts of different species
made in a Polyvinyl-alcohol lactophenol mixture were examined with a Leica DM
1000image analyzer. The Cladocera
were identified following Smirnov (1971, 1974, 1996), Michael & Sharma
(1988), Sharma & Sharma (1999, 2008) and Van Damme et al. (2010). An account of faunal diversity of
Rotifera present in our collections was published recently by Sharma &
Sharma (2011).
RESULTS
The
details of the sampled localities of the NBR are given in Table 1 along with the
number of species collected from each locality. In addition, Table 2 includes a
systematic list of the Cladocera examined in this study.
DISCUSSION
Thirty-four species of Cladocera observed
in our collections from the NBR reveal the fairly speciose nature of these
micro-crustaceans. Our report is
important in view of a total of 58 species of this group known to date from the
state of Meghalaya (vide Sharma & Sharma 1999; Sharma 2008, 2010b). The
recorded richness also assumes importance in light of a conservative estimate
(Fernando & Kanduru 1984; Sharma & Michael 1987; Sharma 1991) of the
occurrence of up to 60–65 species of Cladocera from tropical and
subtropical parts of India. Coronatella anodonta is the first confirmed
report from India; Disperalona caudata andChydorus ventricosusare new records from Meghalaya. Our samples are characterized by rich generic diversity: out of 30
genera of Cladocera recorded from the state of Meghalaya (Sharma & Sharma
1999; Sharma 2008), 24 genera are represented in this study. Further, among eight families of
freshwater Cladocera known from India, seven are represented in our
collections: the phylogenetic stem Ctenopoda belong to one family (i.e.,
Sididae) while Anomopoda are represented by six families (Daphniidae -
Bosminidae - Moinidae - Macrothricidae - Ilyocryptidae - Chydoridae). The species-rich nature, as well as the
rich higher diversity (genera and families), reflects the fairly diverse
composition of the cladoceran communities of the NBR. This salient feature concurs with previous work on the
faunal diversity of the Rotifera of this biosphere reserve (Sharma & Sharma
2011).
Incomplete Cladocera inventories from the
conservation areas of India may not permit meaningful comparison with our
report. This generalization is
evident from the reports of only one species from the Kanha National Park,
Madhya Pradesh (Rane 1984) and nine species from the Saipung Wild Life
Sanctuary / Narpuh Reserve Forest of Meghalaya (Hattar et al. 2004). The faunal diversity is
distinctly richer than the 21 species (Sharma 2010a) examined from the Baghmara
Reserve Forest of Meghalaya. The
richness, however, broadly compares with the reports of 31 species from the
Nagerhole National Park, Tamil Nadu (Raghunathan & Rane 2001), 29 species
from the Melghat Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra (Rane 2005a) and 39 species each
from the Keoladelo National Park, Rajasthan (Venkataraman 1992), as well as the
Nathsagar wetland and the Jaikwadi Bird Sanctuary, Maharashtra (Rane
2005b). On the other hand, the
richness is distinctly lower than the reports of 45 (Sharma & Sharma 2008)
and 51 (Sharma & Sharma 2009) species known from two Ramsar sites of India,
namely Deepor Beel (Assam) and Loktak Lake (Manipur), respectively. However, we caution against
over-emphasizing the importance of the stated comparisons without considering
sampling intensity and the nature of the different ecosystems.
Daday (1905) described Alona anodonta from Lake Gregory, but
his description and illustrations were not satisfactory (refer: Rajapaksa &
Fernando 1982). Rajapaksa &
Fernando (1982), in turn, recorded it from Sri Lanka with proper figures as A. cf. anodonta Daday, 1905. Brehm (1933) examined specimens without characteristic
tubercles and described them as A. pseudoanodonta.
The former was designated as A. pseudoanodonta
anodonta and the latter as A. pseudoanodonta pseudoanodonta by
Smirnov (1971). Van Damme et al.
(2010) termed this treatment to be incorrect as anodonta is an earlier described species, and
opined these to be different species which require more analysis. He also proposed to allocate them to
the genus Coronatella. An earlier Indian report of Coronatella anodonta from the Keoladeo
National Park (Venkataraman 1998), a Ramsar site, remains indeterminate because
of the different shape of the diagnostic labrum as well as the shape and
armature of its characteristic postabdomen and, hence, needs confirmation. Fernando & Kanduru (1984) listed
this species in their publication on the latitudinal distribution of Cladocera
on the Indian subcontinent but lacked any indication of its occurrence in
India. In view of the mentioned facts, the present study (Images 1 & 2) is
the first confirmed report of Coronatella
anodonta in India.
The Australasian Disperalona caudata (Image 3) is a
biogeographically interesting species observed from the Nokrek Biosphere
Reserve. Described from Australia,
this species is known outside of Australia to this date only from Thailand and
northeastern India; the latter report refers to its occurrence in Assam (Sharma
& Sharma 2007, 2008) while the present study extends its distributional
range to the adjoining state of Meghalaya. Alonella clathratula (Image 4), A. pulchella, A. guttata tuberculata, Simocephalus serrulatus,
Camptocercus uncinatus (Image 5), Chydorus ventricosus and Graptoleberis testudinaria (Image 6) are examples
of regional distributional interest in India.
Amongst the stated species, Alonella clathratula was formerly treated as
a subspecies of A. excisa by
Smirnov (1971) while Smirnov (1996) subsequently resurrected its specific
status based on an elongated body and postabdomen as well as a different
distributional range. The former occurs in Australia, the Ethiopian and
neotropical regions, and Java while A. excisa shows a cosmopolitan distribution. A. clathratula is apparently
overlooked in the Indian works, until its reports from Bihar (Sharma &
Sharma 2001), Assam (Sharma & Sharma 2008, 2010) and Meghalaya (Sharma
2010a). Alona guttata tuberculata, treated as a
subspecies of A. guttata by
Smirnov (1971), is distinctly characterized by rounded pits or tubercles on its
head shield and valves. The former is known only from Europe, Columbia, and
former USSR as against the nominate Alona guttata which apparently is a
cosmopolitan species. A. guttata tuberculata is, however, recently
documented from India from Meghalaya (Sharma 2008) and Assam (Sharma &
Sharma 2010). Simocephalus acutirostratus appears
to occur in central India and southwards (Sharma 1991) while S. serrulatus is so far only known from southern India,
Assam and Meghalaya. The
cosmopolitan Graptoleberis testudinariashows a disjunct occurrence in India, with records from Kashmir, Uttaranchal,
Meghalaya, Assam and Andhra Pradesh. Smirnov (1971) described Camptocercus
uncinatus from Lake Nikolaevskoe (Russia) while
Smirnov (1998) again provided a detailed description of this species to resolve
taxonomic anomalies, anticipating its wider occurrence, and remarked on the
need for re-examination of the reports supposed to be that of C. australis, in particular. The first confirmed record
of C. uncinatus from
the Indian subcontinent is provided by Sharma (2008) who proposed C. latikae, described by Rane (1985) from Madhya
Pradesh, as its synonym. This
species is so far known from this country from the states of Assam and
Meghalaya. Chydorus ventricosus, an anomalous chydorid,
was re-described by Rajapaksa & Fernando (1986). This species is known from Sri Lanka, Java, Africa and South
America while it is so far observed in this country from southern, central and
western India. C. ventricosus is recently reported
(Sharma & Sharma 2010) from northeastern India from Assam and this study
extends its distribution to the state of Meghalaya. Interestingly, the stated aspects indicate that the
occurrence of Alona guttata tuberculata, Camptocercus
uncinatus and Chydorus ventricosus is restricted to
northeastern India. Alona davidi is assigned to the genus Leberis following Sinev et al. (2005).
The Chydoridae, the largest family of
Cladocera, forms a main component (20 species, 58.8%) of the reported
species. This generalization
concurs with the composition of the Indian Cladocera (Sharma 1991) and also
with the faunas of various regions or states of this country. The chydorids essentially include the
littoral-periphytonic species. On the contrary, the paucity of planktonic
Cladocera, a distinctive feature of our study, is apparently attributed to a
shallow ephemeral nature of the majority of water bodies in the study area and
even the lack of distinct limnetic conditions in others. However, a few members of this category
include Bosmina longirostris, Bosminopsis
deitersi, Ceriodaphnia cornuta, and Moinodaphnia macleayi and these exhibit
limited occurrences. Alona costata, Chydorus sphaericus,
Diaphanosoma sarsi, Karualona karua, Macrothrix triserialis and Simocephalus mixtus show common occurrence
and the rest of the listed species are observed in fewer samples.
Our collections show qualitative dominance
of cosmopolitan species while cosmotropical and pantropical elements are well
represented. In general, the cladoceran
fauna of the NBR exhibits a ‘tropical character’. The stated generalization is in broader conformity with the
general composition of several tropical cladoceran communities (Fernando 1980;
Fernando & Kanduru 1984; Dussart et al. 1984; Sharma & Michael 1987; Sharma
1991; Sharma & Sharma 2008, 2009). The present study raises the cladoceran richness (58 species) known
earlier from this state (vide Sharma & Sharma 1999; Sharma 2008, 2010a) to
61 species, the highest recorded from any state of India, and is followed by
the reports from Jammu & Kashmir (59 species) > West Bengal (52
species).
The limited collections examined by us
from different localities (excluding four partially sampled localities of South
Garo Hills) indicate total species richness ranging from 11-24 (15±3) species
and this is fairly speciose. Peak richness observed in Chiring Chirapat is
followed by the reports of 22 and 21 species from Mandal Chiring and Sasategre
Chiring, respectively. In addition, various localities of East, West and South
Garo Hills districts indicate broadly concurrent mean richness; i.e., between
16±3, 14±3 and 14±1 species, respectively.
To sum up, the cladoceran fauna of the NBR
is fairly rich and diverse, reflects a tropical character with cosmopolitan
> cosmotropical species, reveals certain biogeographically interesting
species and is characterized by distinct richness of the littoral-periphytonic
members of the Chydoridae as well a paucity of planktonic Cladocera. The fauna, however, still requires
extensive future collections from the study area. Nevertheless, this study is an important contribution to our
understanding of the aquatic biodiversity of the biosphere reserves and
conservation areas of India.
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