Journal of Environmental Biology

Survey, distribution pattern and elemental composition of lichens in Yercaud hills of Eastern Ghats in southern India

Ponnusamy Ponmurugan¹*, Ganesan Ayyappadasan¹, Rama Shankar Verma² and Sanjeeva Nayaka³

¹Department of Biotechnology, K.S.Rangasamy College of Technology, Tiruchengode - 637 215, India

²Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, Chennai - 600 036, India

³Lichenology Laboratory, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow ? 226 001, India

*Corresponding Author E-mail: drponmurugan@gmail.com

Publication Data

Paper received:

21 February 2015

Revised received:

05 August 2015

Accepted:

06 October 2015

Abstract

Due to climate change, occurrence of both higher and lower plants in forest areas is deteriorated considerably. Keeping this in view, a survey was undertaken to study the distribution of lichen communities in Yercaud hills belonging to Eastern Ghats, Tamil Nadu, India. The results indicated that distribution of lichens was registered from 700 m above msl in silver oak trees and the same was noted from 900 m above msl in rock surface. Distribution of lichen colonies was abundant, while temperature was low along with sunshine and RH was high along with rainfall pattern.? Sunshine was negatively correlated with lichen distribution, but rainfall was positively correlated. These biologically important hills exhibited a total of 61 different lichen species covering 13 families with 33 genera in the survey. In addition, about 22 new species of lichens were recorded in the lichen database of Yercaud hills. The results revealed that lichens grew well in the pH range of 4.3 - 5.5 in silver oak tree barks and 4.5 - 6.0 in rocks, which coincided with the buffering action of bark and rock. There was a direct relationship between the moisture content of tree barks and rocks and lichen adherence. Estimation of various micro and macro elements including ash contents were found to be more in fruticose than in foliose lichen and lest in crustose lichens. The study revealed that there was a drastic reduction in lichen density due to low tree bark moisture content and pH values owing to change in environmental parameters at Yercaud hills.?

 Key words

Eastern Ghats, Environment, Lichen, Survey of lichens, Yercaud hills

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