Survey and Documentation of Cyanobacteria from the Muthi Area of Jammu (J and K), India

Abstract

In the present paper a study was undertaken to enumerate the blue-green algae from the Muthi area of Jammu. A total of 21 Cyanobacteria pertaining to 15 genera and seven families have been identified. Nostocales dominate over other orders, with the major genus Oscillatoria having ten species, followed by Chroococales with five genera and Stigonematales with two genera. Within the order Nostocales, the dominant family is Oscillatoriaceae, which is represented by 87% of all the species, followed by Nostocaceae (10%), Scytonemataceae (4%) and Rivulariaceae (3%). In the order Chroococcales, Chroococcaceae is the dominant with 86% species, followed by Entophysalidaceae with 16% cyanobacterial species under this order. Order Stigonematales is represented by a single family of Stigonemataceae with two cyanobacterial species. These cyanobacterial species belong to different habitats; 22 species are epilithic, followed by seven miscellaneous, seven epipelic, six terrestrial, three epiphytic, and three free-floating. The highest numbers of cyanobacterial species were epilithic, and the lowest numbers were epiphytic and free-floating.