Research Projects

sikkim's geographical position, physiography, and geological components have contributed to enormous plant diversity, including algae. Vascular plant diversity is more prevalent in the state than non-vascular plants. However, little work has been done on algal diversity in sikkim. Algal research dates back to Dickie (1882), but the overall scenario is not impressive. sikkim's humid environment may provide a wide habitat range for algal growth. In recent years, several researchers have contributed to the algal flora of sikkim, including suseela and Toppo (2004), Kumar and Rai (2005), Bhatt et al. (2008), Bhakta et al. (2010), and Bhakta et al. (2014). Desmids diversity in sikkim has also been studied. Flat filamentous green algal diversity in this part of the Himalaya is poorly studied and remains obscure in algal research. Recent articles have published new distributional records and species from high altitude water bodies of North sikkim, such as Bulbochaete mirabilis (2016), Bulbochaete sinensis (2020), Bulbochaete nana var. chungkingensis (2021), and Bulbochaete thanguensis (2018). Mandal and Maity (2019) revised the taxonomy of Draparnaldia and Draparnaldiopsis, merging Draparnaldiopsis within Draparnaldia and recirculating the latter genus with amended descriptions. D. yajnavalkii is the first member of this group in the high altitude Himalayan environment. studies on filamentous green Chlorophyta are highly desirable to fill the gap in algal research in this part of the Himalaya.