Study of fungal diversity of some selected natural spot of east Kolkata Wetland Nath Souvik, Kalam Abul* Department of Microbiology, Bidhannagar College, Govt. of West Bengal, EB-2, Sector – I. Salt Lake, kolkata-700064 *Corresponding Author: E-mail: kalam66@gmail.com
Online published on 21 March, 2015. Abstract Biological diversity - or biodiversity - is a term we use to describe the variety of life on Earth. Microbes are one of the dominant life forms in the earth. Their contribution to the earth and human being is beyond the imagination. Their science is concerned with their form, structure, reproduction, physiology, metabolism and classification. It also includes their distribution in nature, their relationship with each other and other living organisms, their effects on human beings, other animals and plants. Biological diversity (biodiversity) encompasses the variety of life forms occurring in nature, from the ecosystem to the genetic level, as a result of evolutionary history (Wilson 1992). Microbial Diversity is an integral part of biodiversity which includes bacteria, archaea, fungi, algae, protozoa and protests. Fungi constitute a major portion of natural resources likely to provide innovative applications useful to man. Fungi are one of the major sources of antimicrobial agents and produce a wide range of other important medicinal compounds, industrially important biomolecules, novel enzymes, insecticides the microbial level is beginning to be recognized, but this richness of diversity amongst bacterial, fungal and virus species has yet to be catalogued particularly in West Bengal. The East Kolkata Wetland (EKW) is situated at 880 20’ E - 880 35’ E and 200 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 39° C. while minimum temperature during winter is around 10° C. The average temperature during most part of the year is around 30° C during day time with a fall in temperature of 5°-6°C at night. East Kolkata Wetland shows an immense diversity of flora and fauna both at the macro and micro level. Microbial richness of a region is its unseen asset that needs to be explored and conserved. Soil samples collected from East Calcutta Wetland shows the presence of various new strains of microbes which are not only ecologically important but also have commercial value. Isolation, characterization, documentation and conservation of these resources are important considering their strategic importance for future generation as well as complimentary economic growth and prosperity. In this present work several fungi were isolated and purified from diverse area of East Calcutta Wetland out of which about 10 organisms was identified by microscopic studies. Among the isolates it is expected that one or two new genus may obtained. Top Keywords East Kolkata Wetland, Biodiversity, Fungal Biodiversity, Isolation. Top |