Studies on the plant biodiversity of Hub river estuary [Pakistan]
2005
Khatoon, S.,Karachi Univ. (Pakistan). Dept. of Botany)Ali, Q.M. | Imran, M.
Hub River is an important river of Balochistan whose estuary lies on theSindh - Balochistan border. The present studies involved the inventorying ofplant biodiversity of the vicinity of estuary and monitoring of the changes due toanthropogenic pressure. A total of 35 plant species has been collected andidentified from the Hub estuary area, belonging to one algal, fifteen dicot, andthree monocot families. These species include 13 aquatic/wetland species, the restwere terrestrial species occupying the dry or damp exposed margins of river bedor the higher ground on river banks. Most of the species were halophytes or salttolerant species. One species, i.e. Paspalum vaginatum Swartz is recorded for thefirst time from Pakistan, while another, i.e. Suaeda acuminata (C. A. Mey.) Moq., isa new record for the southern part of Pakistan. Two hitherto unknown hosts ofCistanche tubulosa (Schrenk) R. Wight, viz. Aeluropus lagopoides (L.) Trin. ExThw. and Sporobolus sp. have been recorded. Among the life forms, phanerophytesshowed the highest frequency followed by the cryptophytes. Species with valuesof `n' chromosome number higher than 9 were found in higher frequency than thespecies with lower numbers, indicating that polyploids are better suited to thisenvironment. During this 18-month long study, steady decrease in the number ofspecies was observed due to habitat destruction by the stone and sand extractionactivities which have totally transformed the estuarine ecosystem.
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