Epiphytic Bryodiversity of Cedrus deodara (Roxb. ex D.Don) G.Don Forest at Lohaghat (Champawat), Uttarakhand

Abstract

The present bryoexploratory study deals with the documentation of epiphytic bryophytes species and communities flourishing on the Cedrus deodara (Roxb. ex D.Don) G.Don phorophytes at Lohaghat. The study site is located near the bank of Lohawati River, with an altitudinal range of 1600-1754 m at the North-East aspect of district Champawat. A total of 42 bryotaxa were recognized from the acidic (pH 4.20 - 4.74) bark of C. deodara phorophytes of varied girth classes ranging from saplings to giant ones. In all, 09 leafy liverworts and 33 mosses were recorded, belonging to 27 families. Amongst leafy liverworts, Frullaniaceae turned out to be the dominant family followed by Lejeuneaceae. Two species of Frullania viz., F. benjaminiana Inoue and F. udarii V. Nath & Ajit P. Singh have been identified as new records for Western Himalayas. Pleurocarpous epiphytic mosses were found to dominate over the acrocarpous ones. Pylaisiadelpha capillacea (Griff.) B.C. Tan & Y. Jia, (Pylaisiadelphaceae) is identified as a new record for Western Himalayan moss flora. The members of the family Meteoriaceae and Anomodontaceae were recognized as the dominant pleurocarps. Amongst acrocarpous mosses, the family Bryaceae was noticed as the most diversified epiphytes. Morphologically, the majority of epiphytic bryophytes were found to be mat-forming followed by the tuft. Leafy liverworts namely Lophocolea minor Nees and Radula complanata (L.) Dum., as well as the mosses viz., Brothera leana (Sull.) Mull. Hal. and Pylaisiadelpha capillacea emerged as gemmiferous. The north and south aspects of the forest site were discovered to have the highest species richness. The water trickling site of the tree trunks, junction of the broad branches, humus accumulated areas, as well as giant tree bases, were observed to be the suitable habitat and microhabitats for the colonization of epiphytic bryophytes on Cedar phorophytes. The present study will provide firm bases for comparative and quantitative bryosociological investigations and would be useful to future workers.