BIODIVERSITY DISSERTATION

TOUR OF SIKKIM & GANGTOK

ANWESHA BANERJEE

6TH SEMESTER

BIOTECHNOLOGY

Roll: 18608211002

GURU NANAK INSTITUTE OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.

BIODIVERSITY:-BIODIVERSITY” as the name

suggests is the amalgam of biology

and diversity. It simply means the

diversity, or variety, of plants and

animals and other living things in a

particular area or region.

Biodiversity today is a common

term , since many people today are

working towards conservation of

our rapidly depleting biodiversity.

The need to learn biodiversity of our

surrounding is an essential step

towards conserving it , because

biodiversity is the basis of life all

around us , without it earth would

have been nothing but a barren and

soulless land. And life would not

flourish as it is doing today.

SIKKIM & GANGTOK

Biodiversity means diversity of living

organisms.

The tour of Sikkim from our college Guru

Nanak Institute Of Pharmaceutical Science

and Technology, revealed just how

different is India in terms of diversity of

flora& fauna as well as culturally and lastly

micro-biologically.

During the tour we visited some important

places like the CIPLA industry , Saramsa

Botanical garden , Lingdum Monastry ,

Banjhakri falls , Changu lake and Baba

Habhajan singh mandir to name a few.

The tour of Sikkim and Gangtok was an

absolute pleasure which showed us the

main theme of life “UNITY IN DIVERSITY”.

SPECIES DIVERSITY:-

The diversity seen throughout the tour of Sikkim &Gangtok was overwhelmingly diverse from that ofour in kolkata .

The flora and fauna seen had a xerophyticevolution ; for example Birds had a migratorypattern ; The trees had evolved their ownmechanism of narrow slanted leaves to survive theextreme cold of the north-eastern cold winds andsnow fall. The animals like dogs and cats had greatand heavy amounts of fur all over their body tosurvive in the cold and so on.

Next came the micro-organism biodiversity, soilsample was collected and biochemical tests wereperformed to determine what kinds of micro-organisms pre-dominate the state of Sikkim andhow they are different from that of kolkata.

SPECIES DIVERSITY :PLANTS Araucaria luxurians:

family-Araucariaceae

It is a coniferous plant growing mainly in the coastal regions ofHawaii and pacific ocean circle mainly Brazil, it is seen to adjustremarkably in the tropical climate of India & Sri-Lanka, it is seen inthe botanical gardens all across the country . Often found on rockyareas near the sea or inland in rocky ravines at mid elevationranging from 1–1300m above sea level. It is a monoecious tree upto 40m tall, with a diameter up to 70cm at maturity. Narrowlyconical or pyramidal. The thick grey bark produces a red exudate.

USES:-

The timber is good for wood turning, and is extensivelyused by Hawaiian craftspeople.

It was also used for building masts and yards for sailingships .

Nowadays these trees are used for decorationpurposes. E.g.: Christmas Trees.

PLANT DIVERSITY CONTD.

SPECIES DIVERSITY : BIRDS

The Himalayan Bulbul (Pycnonotusleucogenys) is a species of song-bird inthe Pycnonotidae family. It is found in thenorthern regions of the Indian Subcontinentas well as some adjoining areas ofAfghanistan, Bhutan,Nepal. It is the nationalbird of Bahrain.

Himalayan Bulbul is about 18 cm long,wingspan of 25.5 to 28 cm and the weight ofan average of about 30 g. Bird's head, throat,and crest are black and white . The backside, and a lengthy tail are brown, theunderside and pale yellow .

This bird is one of the mainattraction to Bird-Watchers ,foreign tourists especially love tosee exotic birds , this causesmuch of the tourism business inthe state of Sikkim.

BIRDS:

The-Spot-winged-Rosefinch (Carpodacusrodopeplus), also known asthe Spotted Rosefinch, is aspecies of finch inthe Fringillidae family. It isfound in India and Nepal.The Sharpe‘sRosefinch was formerlyconsidered co-specie. Itsnatural habitat issubtropical or tropical high-altitude shrub land.

SPECIES DIVERSITY :- ANIMALS

YAK:

The yak (Bos-grunniens and Bos-mutus) is along-haired bovid found throughout the Himalayanregion of south Central Asia, the Tibetan Plateauand as far north as Mongolia and Russia.

Yaks belong to the genus Bos, and are thereforerelated to cattle ( Bos primigenius indicus).

USES :

1. As a domesticated animal for transportand field cultivation. As well as for meat&milk

2. Yaks are used in sports conducted by theSikkim sports minister to promote harmonyamong the people.

3. Hybrid yaks are now being produced bycrossbreeding domestic cattle with yaks forincreased amount of meat and milk as wellas they are used for mountaineeringexperience for tourists.

Micro-organism diversity was seen afterisolating micro-organisms from the soilcollected from Gangtok .

Isolation of micro-organism was doneafter serial dilution of the soil sample fromstock 10-1 to 10-6 .

From the dilutions nutrient agar plateswere made, incubated for 24-48 hrs at37°c. from which the isolated bacterialcolonies were selected .

The selected bacteria were stained bygram staining and cultured into slants.

“Cocci”sp. was chosen to perform theBiochemical tests to tentatively identifythe species of coccus that was isolated.

BIOCHEMICAL TESTSAfter the isolation of micro-organism, Biochemical testsfor the “cocci” species wereperformed.

1.(a). Catalase test.

2.(a) Carbohydrate catabolismby micro-organism (oxidationand fermentation of glucose).

3.(a) Carbohydrate catabolismby micro-organism (oxidation&fermentation by mannitol ).

3.(b) Mannitol salt agar test:-4.(a)Fermentation ofCarbohydrate(comparison withglucose ; lactose;sucrose;).

OBSERVATION OF BIOCHEMICAL TEST:-

1.a 2.a 3.(a) 3.(b)

OBSERVATION (CONTD.)

(4.a) Comparison of fermentation of carbohydrate

Glucose lactose sucrose.

RESULT:-

1.a – The isolated micro-organism may be Staphylococcus aureus ,since Staphylococcus aureus is a catalase positive micro-organism , i.e itproduces the Catalase enzyme which converts hydrogen peroxide intooxygen bubble and water.

2.a -- The isolated micro-organism shows the property of fermenting theglucose in the medium , this property is seen in Staphylococcus aureus , itferments glucose to produce lactic acid which induces the colour change inthe O.F media.

3.a -- it has been seen that the Species of Staphylococcus aureusferments mannitol (this test helps in distinguishing the isolated speciesfrom Streptococcus epidermidis and Streptococcus saprophyticus).

3.b -- This shows that the plate has yellow colonies , yellow colonies is aproof of isolation of Staphyloccus aureus, S.aureus ferments mannitoland it turns the phenol red into yellow.

4.a -- The microorganism inoculated seems to ferment the three carbohydrate (glucose, lactose, sucrose) . The isolated micro-organism may be Staphylococcus aureus

DISCUSSION& CONCLUSION:-The micro-organism isolated from the soil sample collected from Gangtok is found tobe Staphylococcus aureus .

Staphylococcus aureus is not commonly a inhabitant of soil , it frequents thecomposition of human micro-biota .

Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterium that is a member of the Firmicutes, and isfrequently found in the human respiratory tract and on the skin. Although S. aureus isnot always pathogenic, it is a common cause of skin infections (e.g. boils),respiratory disease (e.g.sinusitis), and food poisoning.

In plant diversity it was seen that plants structure are very different than thatpresent in more warm states like West Bengal. The leaves for example inSikkim are more sharp and narrow to avoid accumulation of the snow , inKolkata the leaves of the plants are seen with broad architecture to trapsunlight. The evolution of the plants living in the colder state of Sikkim wasnoticed when a simple tree of Magnolia campbelii was seen , the tree hadthorns in the warmer climatic states with broad leaves and brown bark,where as in Sikkim it was seen that the leaves are comparatively narrowand the bark is greyish- green in colour.

In animals commonly dogs and cats inhabiting the colder region is seen tohave more fur than that of the dogs or cats in kolkata , where is more hotand humid. The birds found in Sikkim had more plumage to keep its bodywarm , where as birds in kolkata has lesser plumage to escape the heat.

REFFERENCE :-

Giller.P.S. 1984 Community Structure and the Niche ,Chapman and Hall , London.

May R.M. 1981 . Theoretical Ecology , Blackwell, Oxford.

Andre H.M.Noti, M, I, & Lebrun , P.1994 . The Soil Fauna: The other last biotic frontier (biodiv.cons:45-46).

Brussaard,L.1998 . Soil Fauna , guilds, functional groups and ecosystem processes. (Appl.soil Ecol.9: 123-135)