Vinita Kumari* & Balram SinghÂ
University Department of Botany, B.N.Mandal University, Madhepura, Bihar, India
Received : 18th December, 2020 ; Revised : 07th January, 2021
Abstract:- Understanding diversity patterns and community structure of bryophytes will help integrate nature conservation at multiple biotic-group levels. We conducted a survey of ground bryophytes in Madhepura along an edge-to-interior gradient. We recorded several species out of which 3 species from 2 genera of 2 families were liverworts, while 11 species from 8 genera of 6 families were mosses. A two-way cluster analysis detected the environmental gradient between the forest edge and forest interior for bryophytes with habitat specificity. Functional diversity of bryophytes differed significantly across an edge-to-interior gradient. Seven species were detected with a significant indicator value for indicating environmental conditions in the forest edge, while only one such species was found indicative of the intermediate transect. Our results demonstrate that remarkable edge effects exist for species composition and functional diversity patterns, and the edge is a marginal habitat with high biotic heterogeneity. Furthermore, functional diversity metrics are more sensitive to the edge effect than species diversity.
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