Floristic Composition of Shahid Chandra Shekhar Azad Bird Sanctuary, Nawabganj, Unnao- A Ramsar Site

Introduction

Wetlands are places where water covers the soil or is present periodically or continuously throughout the year, including during the growing season, at or close to the soil’s surface. This specific condition made a particular environment for a luxuriant variety of vegetation. So, it is also known as the supermarket of biodiversity. After the Ramsar Convention, some wetlands are known as Ramsar sites for conservation purpose.

There is a total of 75 Ramsar sites in India covering an area of 1,326,677 ha, out of which 10 are located in Uttar Pradesh. Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary is one of them, which was added to the list on 19 September 2019. Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary, renamed in 2015 as Shahid Chandra Shekhar Azad Bird Sanctuary.

A Wetland has diversified habit and habitat for a growing variety of plants like aquatic, semiaquatic, terrestrial. Wetlands are veritable plant treasure chests, as they are ecological hotspots with a large variety of species and roles. It acts as a microclimatic condition. Wetlands have functions in ecology management as a centre of carbon sequestration by absorbing from the air, a purifier that filters water slowly, where vegetation is dense also reducing flood situation and lines up with nutrient cycling.

In wetland hydrophytic plants are classified in 7 lifeforms as free-floating hydrophytes, suspended hydrophytes, suspended anchored hydrophytes, floating leaf anchored hydrophytes, floating shoot anchored hydrophytes, emergent amphibious hydrophytes, wetland hydrophytes [1]. Mesophytic plants are classified in herbs, undershrubs, climbers, lianas, shrubs and tree.

Agnihotri et al. [2], Narain and Kumar [1], and Garg and Singh [3] have previously investigated the area and reported 12, 111, and 243 plants, respectively. The present study was done in terms of diversity of flora and their threat status by IUCN at the global level.

Study Area

The Shahid Chandra Shekhar Azad Bird Sanctuary is located in the Hasanganj tehsil of the Unnao district in Uttar Pradesh, India. From Lucknow, it is roughly 50 kilometers away via the Lucknow-Kanpur route. Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary, renamed in 2015 as Shahid Chandra Shekhar Azad Bird Sanctuary. It lies between 26⁰48” to 27⁰2” north latitude and 80⁰ to 81⁰ east longitudes, comprising a miniature wetland ecosystem in 224.60 hectares.

Materials and Methods

A comprehensive survey of Chandra Shekhar Azad Bird Sanctuary, Nawabganj, is done thrice in a year i.e. in three seasons, to assess the native flora. All collected specimens will be identified by the key of species available in literature [4,5,6] and processed following standard herbarium techniques [7]. The name of the species will be listed, as per ICBN (2006) and collected plants will be classify following Bentham & Hooker’s system. Threat categories for each species will be decided according to current categories as per IUCN [8].

Results and Discussion

 Chandra Shekar Azad Bird Sanctuary has its own ecosystem, which has a vast phytodiversity. There is a total of 254 plant species that were found, of which 174 species belong to dicots, 75 species belong to monocots, and 5 species belong to pteridophytes. 174 species of dicots are distributed in 132 genera of 54 families. 75 species of monocots are distributed in 47 genera of 17 families. Pteridophytes have only 5 families, namely Azollaceae, Marsileaceae, Isoetaceae, Pteridaceae, and Thelypteridaceae. A lot of plants are invasive in nature like Parthenium hysterophorus, Cuscuta reflexa, Evolvulus nummularius, Calotropis procera, Lantana camara, etc.

A wetland contains a variety of habits and habitats within a small area. It comprises aquatic, semiaquatic, and terrestrial habitats. Among the collected plants, there are about 26 aquatic plants, 53 semiaquatic plants, and 175 terrestrial plants. In terrestrial plants, most are herbaceous in nature; of about 109 species, 26 are trees, 20 are shrubs, 10 are undershrubs, 8 are climbers, and 2 are lianas. All semiaquatic plants are herbaceous except one, i.e., Ipomoea obscura is a climber in nature. Mostly aquatic plants are also herbaceous in nature; only Tinospora sinensis is a liana in nature. In total there are 186 species that are herbaceous, 26 species that are trees, 20 species that are shrubs, 10 species that are undershrubs, 9 that are climbers, and 3 that are lianas in their habit.

Despite their importance, wetlands face threats from urbanization, pollution, and unsustainable farming. In India, a substantial portion of wetlands has been lost to development. So, in this study we also identified species according to their threat status from IUCN at global level. Two plants show vulnerable status, namely Thevetia peruviana and Utricularia stellaris. Cocculus hirsutus is found to have a near-threatened status in the IUCN Red Data List. There are 141 plants, which have the least concerning threat status. One plant, Nelumbo nucifera, is data deficient. The other 109 plants are not evaluated by IUCN.

The variety of plants found in wetlands is astounding, ranging from delicate watery herbs to tall grasses. Therefore, maintaining these ecosystems is essential for the plants as well as the life they support and the benefits they provide to humans, such as food supplies, medicines, and natural purifiers of environment.

Conclusion

Wetlands are mighty havens of plant diversity, providing vibrant living spaces that support life well beyond their mucky margins. By virtue of their unique functions in water purification, climate regularisation, flood control and service to the traditional way of life, wetted plant species become irreplaceable in maintaining ecological equilibrium and human quality. Preserving these ecosystems isn’t just about saving plants — it’s a matter of protecting the delicate web of life that relies on them.

Acknowledgment

The authors are grateful to the PCCF of Uttar Pradesh and the Staff of Chandra Shekhar Azad Bird Sanctuary, Unnao for permission to conduct the survey and collection of plants. Authors are also thankful to the HoD, Department of Botany, University of Lucknow.

Author Contribution

Prof. Alka Kumari was supervised the research work and give suggestions for the manuscript. Aanchal Verma conducted field surveys, identified specimens, assessed threat status, and wrote a manuscript. Priyanshi Singh and Pratibha were also involved in identification and data analysis.

References

1. Narain, S., & Kumar, S. (2008). Phytodiversity of Nawabganj bird Sanctuary, Unnao, India. Phytotaxanomy, 8, 76-80.
2. Agnihotri, P.; Hussain, T. and Maliya, D. (2008) Aquatic flora of some notified bird sanctuaries of Uttar Pradesh. Indian forester 134: 1398-1401
3. Garg, A., & Singh, P. (2018). Floristic Diversity of Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary–A Wetland in Upper Gangetic Plains of Uttar Pradesh, India. Indian Journal of Forestry, 41(3), 273-284.
4. Duthie, J. F. (1903-1929). Flora of the upper Gangetic plain, and of the adjacent Siwalik and sub-Himalayan tracts (Vol. 1-3). Superintendent of Government Printing.
5. Saini, D.C.; Singh, S. K. and Rai, K. (2010). Biodiversity of aquatic and semiaquatic plants of Uttar Pradesh (with special reference to eastern U.P.) U.P. State Biodiversity Board, Lucknow, U.P., India
6. Singh, K. P., Khanna, K.K. and Sinha, G.P. (2016, 2020). Flora of Uttar Pradesh Vol-I, II. Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata.
7. Jain, S. K., & Rao, R. R. (1977). A handbook of field and herbarium methods.
8. IUCN. (2012). Guidelines for application of IUCN red list criteria at regional level and national level: version 4.0.