Diversity and distribution of algae in cave ecosystems of Meghalaya: An overview

Abstract

Meghalaya has a good number of caves and each cave has unique features and habitat, can hold a diverse group of living organisms. The diversity, distribution and chlorophyll a content of algae from seven caves namely Arwah cave, Mawsmai cave, Mawjymbuin cave, Krem Dam cave, Krem Puri cave, Krem Traw cave and Siej Tyra cave of Meghalaya was carried out. In order to study the distributional pattern of algae, study sites of the caves were divided into three zones; entrance area, artificially lighted area and complete dark area. A total of 95 species have been recorded from seven caves spreading over 10 classes. Maximum number of species was recorded from Bacillariophyceae member (39 species) followed by Cyanobacteria (31 species), Chlorophyceae (13 species) and Zygnematophyceae (6 species), whereas only a single species each of Euglenophyceae, Trebouxiophyceae, Chrysophyceae, Klebsormidiophyceae, Xanthophyceae and Eustigmatophyceae was recorded. Entrance area has maximum algal species followed by artificially lighted area and complete dark area. The species diversity and species richness was high in Krem Dam cave. The chlorophyll a content was also high in Krem Dam cave as compared to other selected caves. The present investigation revealed that entrance area and artificially lighted zones harbor a good number of algal species as compared to dark area. It also revealed that Bacillariophyceae (diatom) and Cyanobacteria can survived in extreme environmental conditions.