Study of Diversity in East Kolkata Wetland Including Gosaba Island with Special Reference to Fungi

S. Rehan Ahmad¹ and Abul Kalam²

¹Shri Venkateshwara University, Gajraula, U.P , India.

²Department of Microbiology, Bidhannagar College, Govt. of West Bengal, Salt Lake, Kolkata -700064.

Corresponding Author E-mail: dr.rehan_indian@rediffmail.com

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/bbra/2512

ABSTRACT: Biodiversity refers to the variety of all forms of life on earth, including the different plants, animals, micro-organisms, the genes they contain and the ecosystem they form. The present work deal with diversities of fungi of natural spot of East Kolkata Wetland , West Bengal , India . Research will be done on different arena of fungi with respect to their form , structure, reproduction, physiology, and classification and their relationship with each other as well as with other living organisms . Microbial Diversity is an crucial a part of biodiversity which includes bacteria, archaea, fungi, algae, protozoa and protests. Fungi represent a major part of natural assets possibly to offer progressive application useful to mankind over the earth .  Fungi have both positive ad negative roles in our daily life. So they are our friends as well as foes . They are major source of antimicrobial agents and produce a lot of vital medicinal compounds , Several alcoholic beverages , organic products like citric acid, fumaric, lactic and oxalic acid , Some fungi are used in production of enzymes like amylase, pectimase etc so that researcher decided to study on diversity of fungi . Still there are some arena where diversity of fungi has yet to be explore . Among such locality there is one locality named as East Kolkata Wetlands , West Bengal , India    The East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW) is situated at 880 20’ E - 880 35’ E and200 25’ N -200 35’ N. Climate here is more or less sub-tropical with the annual mean rainfall around 200 cm. The maximum temperature during summer rises around 42⁰ C. while minimum temperature during winter is around 10⁰ C. The East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW) comprises a large number of water bodies located in the districts of 24 Parganas North & South, West Bengal. It is adjacent to the eastern part of Kolkata and borders on the Salt Lake Township on the one hand and the upcoming new township at Rajarhat on the other. The multifunctional wetland ecosystem consists of an area of 12,500 hectares. It comprises 254 sewage fed fisheries, small agricultural plots and solid waste farms. Besides, there are some built up areas also. The EKW nurtures the world’s largest wastewater fed aquaculture system. East Kolkata Wetland shows an huge  diversity of flora and fauna both at the macro and micro level. Microbial diversity  of this region is still a hidden  asset that needs to be explored and conserved. Soil samples collected from selected spot of  East Calcutta Wetlands shows the presence of various new strains of microbes .Isolation, characterization and  conservation of these resources are important considering their strategic importance for future generation . In  present work several fungi were isolated and purified from diverse area of East Calcutta Wetland out of which about seven organisms was identified by microscopic studies. Among the isolates it is expected that one to two new genus may obtained.

KEYWORDS: Biodiversity East Kolkata Wetland; Gosaba Island; Fungal Diversity; Isolation;

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