Soil-crust Cyanobacteria from Forest Soil of Burdwan, West Bengal: Relating Species Distribution and Physiological Attributes with Soil Parameters

Abstract

The present study, concerning isolation of cyanobacteria from biological soil crust from forest soil and correlation between their distribution and soil parameters has been conducted on two forests (Garhjangal and 11 miles) located in the district of Burdwan, West Bengal. Five cyanobacterial species were isolated from Garhjangal and three cyanobacterial species were isolated from 11 miles. Soil parameters studied are pH, ammonium, organic carbon, available nitrogen and available iron. Species distribution, physiological parameters and soil parameters were correlated with the help of Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA). CCA ordination diagram indicates that high amount of iron helps in occurrence of heterocystous cyanobacteria which augments ammonium content of the soil. Their occurrence is much less in locations with high amount of available nitrogen. Occurrence of thick sheathed cyanobacteria is correlated with high carbon content of the soil. Two populations of one heterocystous cyanobacteria N. punctiforme were isolated separately from Garhjangal and 11 miles and characterized physiologically with regard to Chl a, growth, protein, carbohydrate and nitrogenase activity. Macromolecular components of taxa collected from these two sites vary with variation of different soil parameters. High Chl-a content of organisms was found in the organisms isolated from soil with high amount of available iron.