Diversity of Freshwater Macrophytic Vegetation of Kharkai River, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand

The present investigation deals, the diversity of macrophytic vegetation of Kharkai River of Jamshedpur. It flows through Adityapur region of Jamshedpur. Macrophytes are an important component of an aquatic ecosystem and play a major role in primary productivity of the aquatic ecosystem. An extensive field survey and plant collection revealed the presence of 62 species of aquatic plants belonging to 50 genera and 32 families in the site. Out of them 12 families, 23 genera and 29 species are monocot, 16 families, 23 genera and 27 species are of dicot and 04 families, 04 genera and 06 species are of pteridophytes. Most identified aquatic species were found to be used for various purposes by the local inhabitants. The use for providing tradition health care was the most abundant causing the wide spread use of most of the plants for medicinal purposes, some species were edible and few species were used as fodder. The present study describes the ecological status including taxonomic structure and richness of the aquatic flora of the Kharkai River. The data recorded from the site shows the predominated species are Fimbristylis dichotoma (L) and Cyperus difformis L. having 100 % frequency. It is found that highest density (18.43), (15.1) and abundance (17.86), (17.7) and IVI (Importance value index) 49.11 and 53.1 respectively. The minimum density shows Neptunia oleracea Lour. (2.4), Eurgale ferox Salib (1.6) and abundance (2) and (1.76). The minimum IVI value found 8.08 and 6.06. Terrestrial as well as aquatic biodiversity has great importance for living world. Unfortunately, aquatic ecosystem are destroyed rapidly due to various reasons. Present paper is specially focused on aquatic plants biodiversity for their conservation.