Current World Environment

Introduction

A vertebrate has notochord during its embryonic development which is replaced by a cartilaginous or bony vertebral column or backbone in adults. The subphylum Vertebrata comprises seven classes of living animals namely Cyclostomata, Chondrichthyes, Osteichthyes, Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves and Mammalia. First four are popularly known as Anamniota and last three as Amniota (Verma and Praksh, 2020a). The angiosperms are well developed and highly evolved group of plants in which there is seeds enclosed within the fruit. They have well differentiated root, stem and leaves and also have well developed vascular tissue.

India is a developing and agriculture dominating country. Most of its population depends upon agriculture. In India, a large number of ponds, lakes and reservoirs occur naturally but most of them are not being utilized properly due to their improper and insufficient hydrobiological studies. A proper and systematic hydrobiological study is very important to understand the metabolic activities in the aquatic ecosystem especially pond. The pond contains standing water that provides habitat for wetland biota i.e. plants and animals.

Wetlands constitute one of the most productive ecosystems and play a significant role in the regional ecological sustainability. They have been an essential part of human civilization meeting many crucial needs for life such as drinking water, food, fodder, energy supply, flood storage, transport, recreation, biodiversity, and climate stabilization. The cross cultural, economic and ecological values of wetlands provide a fine blend of past, present and future of human descend, existence, and future perspectives of sustainability.

Prakash et al. (2015), Prakash and Verma (2015, 2016), Verma and Prakash (2016) performed the limnological and ichthyological studies of Alwara Lake of Kaushambi (U.P.). Verma (2016, 2017, 2019a, 2019b, 2020a), Verma and Prakash (2017, 2020b), Sugumaran et al. (2020) and Bhagde et al. (2020) studied the limnological parameters as well as distribution and conservation status of fishes in the various lentic fresh water bodies of Uttar Pradesh. The present exploration was undertaken to assess the biodiversity of Balapur pond of the Prayagraj district of Uttar Pradesh with special reference to vertebrates and angiosperms. This study was conducted during a period of one year from January 2018 to December 2018. The pond studied has rich and flourished biodiversity.

Materials and Methods

The pond studied is natural and perennial, located on south side of the village Balapur. It is located in Koraon block and tahsil of Prayagraj district of Uttar Pradesh (image 1). The pond studied is situated at a distance of approximately 62 kilometers from Prayagraj district HQ. Balapur is a small village of about 800 population size, surrounded by Janakpur in east, Paitiha in south west, Banshipur in north east and Murlipur in south. Generally summer begins in the month of March and continues till mid July. In and around this Balapur village, monsoon begins mostly in last July and more or less continues till mid September. Winter season normally starts in mid November and continues till mid February. Minimum temperature was recorded as 14.2 in January and maximum in July as 35.5⁰C. This pond (photo 1) is extended in more than two hectares, not only used for irrigation, fish culture but also used as a source of drinking water for animals.
 

Image 1: Location of study area in Prayagraj district. Click here to View Image

Balapur pond was surveyed and studied in detail to record the vertebrates and angiosperms diversity once for a month along the period of one year from January 2018 to December 2018. The fishes and amphibians were caught and collected for the present survey by hand-nets, gill nets, cast nets, hooks, drag nets with the help of local people and animal catchers. The survey was conducted during daytime from 7 am to 7 pm and all caught animals were released in to the pond after identification. Author did not need to collect the reptiles, birds and mammals as they were easily recognisable even from a long distance.
People of local communities of adjoining areas also helped the author in several ways including hospitality; collection and identification of vertebrates and angiosperms.

A standard survey method of Burbridge (1994) was followed for field work. Fishes were identified by using the standard keys of Mishra (1959), Day (1989), Jhingran (1991), Jayaram (1999) and Srivastava (1998).

Photograph 1: A view of Balapur pond in Prayagraj district Click here to View Photograph

Dutta (1997) and Dinesh et al. (2019) helped to identify amphibians while reptiles with the help of Aengals et al. (2012). Birds were identified with the help of Ali (1988) while angiosperms were identified with the help of Sambamurty (2010).

Results and Discussion

The author recorded (a) 40 species of vertebrates: 12 species of fishes (Verma 2019b), 2 species of amphibians, 7 species of reptiles, 11 species of birds, 8 species of mammals and (b) 38 species of angiosperms from Balapur pond (table 1).

Table1. List of vertebrates and angiosperms recorded from Balapur pond in the year 2018.

FISHES
S.No.	Biological name	Common name	Family
	Catla catla	Bhakur	Cyprinidae
	Labeo rohita	Rohita	Cyprinidae
	Labeo calbasu	Karaunchh	Cyprinidae
	Cyprinus carpio	Common carp	Cyprinidae
	Cirrhinus mrigala	Naini	Cyprinidae
	Mystus seenghala	Tengara	Bagridae
	Rita rita	Rita	Bagridae
	Wallago attu	Pardni	Siluridae
	Clarias batrachus	Mangur	Clariidae
	Heteropneustes fossilis	Singhi	Saccobranchidae
	Channa punctatus	Saura	Ophiocephalidae
.	Gudusia chapra	Suhia	Clupeidae
AMPHIBIANS
	Hoplobatrachus tigerinus	Indian bullfrog	Dicroglossidae
	Duttaphrynus melanostictus	Common Indian toad	Bufonidae
REPTILES
	Calotes versicolor	Garden lizard	Agamidae
	Uromastix hardwickii	Spiny tailed lizard	Agamidae
	Hemidactylus flaviviridis	House gecko	Gekkonide
	Naja naja	Indian Cobra	Elapidae
	Bungarus caeruleus	Krait	Elapidae
	Eryx johnii	Red Sand Boa	Boidae
	Varanus bengalensis	Indian Monitor lizard	Varanidae
BIRDS
	Pavo cristatus	Peacock	Phasianidae
	Eudynamis scolopaceus	Koel	Cuculidae
	Acriodotheres tristis	Common myna	Sturnidae
	Passer domesticus	House Sparrow	Passeridae
	Corvus splendens	House Crow	Corvidae
	Pycnonotus cafer	Red-vented Bulbul	Pycnonidae
	Psittacula eupatria	Parrot	Psittaculidae
	Columba livia	Common Rock Pigeon	Columbidae
	Bubo bubo	Owl	Strigidae
	Gyps indicus	Indian Vulture	Accipitridae
	Egretta garzetta	Indian Egret	Ardeidae
MAMMALS
	Oryctolagus cuniculus	Rabbit	Leporidae
	Sorex araneus	Shrew	Soricidae
	Rattus rattus	Rat	Muridae
	Mus musculus	House mouse	‎  Muridae
	Funambulus palmarum	Squirrel	Sciuridae
	Sus scrofa	Pig	Suidae
	Boselaphus tragocamelus	Nilgai	Bovidae
	Lutrogale perspicillata	Smooth-coated Otter	Mustelidae

ANGIOSPERMS
	Eichhornia crassipes	Common water hyacinth	Pontederiaceae
	Monochoria vaginalis	Pickerel weed	Pontederiaceae
	Hygroryza aristata	Asian water grass	Poaceae
	Vetiveria zizanioides	Vetiver	Poaceae
	Apluda mutica	Mauritian grass	Poaceae
	Pistia stratiotes	Water cabbage	Araceae
	Spirodela polyrhiza	Common duckweed	Araceae
	Wolffia arrhiza	Rootless duckweed	Araceae
	Lemna perpusilla	Minute duckweed	Araceae
	Ludwigia adscendens	Water primrose	Onagraceae
	Nelumbo nucifera	Indian lotus	Nelumbonaceae
	Nymphea stillata	Water lily	Nympheaceae
	Hydrilla verticillata	Water thyme	Hydrocharitaceae
	Najas graminea	Ricefield water-nymph	Najadaceae
	Potamogeton crassipes	Clasping leaf pondweed	Potamogetonaceae
	Vallisnaria spiralis	Eel grass or tape grass	Hydrocharitaceae
	Ceratophyllum demersum	Hornwort or coontail	Ceratophyllaceae
	Alternanthera sessilis	Sessile joy weed	Amaranthaceae
	Glinus lotoides	Lotus sweetjuice	Molluginaceae
	Boerhavia diffusa	Red spiderling	Nyctaginaceae
	Canscora decurrens	Bhui neem or kilwar	Gentianaceae
	Centella asiatica	Indian pennywort	Apiaceae
	Eleocharis dulcis	Chinese water chestnut	Cyperaceae
	Cyperus spp.	Nutgrass	Cyperaceae
	Fimbristylis littoralis	Lesser fimbristylis	Cyperaceae
	Ipomoea aquatica	Swamp Morning Glory	Convolvulaceae
	Evolvulus assenoides	Slender dwarf morning glory	Convolvulaceae
	Peristrophe bicalyculata	Kali Anghedi	Acanthaceae
	Hygrophila auriculata	Kokilaksha	Acanthaceae
	Juncus bufonius	Toad rush	Juncaceae
	Limnophila indica	Indian Marshweed	Plantaginaceae
	Nymphoides cristata	Water snowflake	Menyanthaceae
	Heliotropium spp.	Indian heliotrope	Boraginaceae
	Polygonum spp.	Drooping knotweed	Polygonaceae
	Sonchus arvensis	Perennial sowthistle	Asteraceae
	Tephrosia pumila	Indigo sauvage	Fabaceae
	Trianthema portulacastrum	Horse Purslane	Aizoaceae
	Typha angustifolia	Lesser bulrush	Typhaceae

All the 12 species of fishes recorded are edible. People of the Balapur and adjoining areas hunt some birds and rabbit for flesh. Indian cobra and krait are poisonous reptiles. Most of the species of birds and few species of mammals are hunted for food. On the basis of rate of decline, population size, area of geographic distribution and degree of population, distribution fragmentation etc., most of the above species has already been evaluated by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List. Most of the species recorded during exploration belong to least concern (LC) to critically endangered (CR) categories (Verma, 2020b, 2020c). Out of the 38 species of angiosperms recorded; 22 species are rooted amphibians, 7 free floating, 4 rooted floated, 4 rooted submerged and 1 suspended hydrophytes. Besides, pteridophytes, bryophytes, algae, several species of annelids, crabs, butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, ants, termites, lobsters, snails, other gastropods and a number of diatoms and planktons have also been observed in and around the pond.

Conclusion

The author thus, recorded a total of 40 species of chordates including 12 species of fishes, 2 species of amphibians, 7 species of reptiles, 11 species of birds, 8 species of mammals and 38 species of angiosperms in and around the Balapur pond. Moreover, a number of species of annelids, crabs, butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, ants, termites, lobsters, snails, other gastropods and pteridophytes, bryophytes, algae, planktons, diatoms have also been observed. Considering the importance of rich biodiversity and highly productive ecosystem, the author suggests and strongly recommends for a complete study of the said pond both for diversity of plants and animals on large scale so as to offer a natural abode to the animals, a beautiful habitat to the plants and ecological gift to the environment.

Acknowledgement

Author is highly grateful to the Prof. Ashish Joshi, Principal, Government P.G. College, Saidabad- Prayagraj for providing necessary laboratory facilities. Author is thankful to friends Dr Shri Prakash eminent Zoologist, Dr H.P. Pandey eminent Botanist, Dr A. N. Shukla Scientist, Botanical Survey of India and youngster Mr Prabhakar Singh, local people and Gram Pradhan for their co-operation during entire study.

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