Dynamics of Algae in Sundarbans and their Implications as Climate Change Proxies

Abstract

The algae as a group does not include single taxa but is an agglomeration of absolutely unrelated or distantly related groups of organisms. This confers them a variety of morphology, structure, process, and characteristics unknown in any other single group of organisms. Sundarbans spread across India and Bangladesh is reportedly quite rich in terms of its algal flora, the presence of 762 species of algae has been documented, and the present treatise has been prepared combining all available literature that have documented algal species’ richness in Sundarbans. This includes information regarding their presence in different zones of Sundarbans with notes on the habitats they occupy. A spatial distribution model based on autocorrelation has been generated for the algal species reported. The dynamics of the system and the algae inhabiting this ecosystem are dependent on many different environmental variables; and a combined representation of a few such selected variables on a spatial range across India and Bangladesh has been generated for the purpose, based on works by different groups in the Sundarbans. This is accompanied by a discussion on the efficacy of diatoms as palaeo-ecological proxies and indicators of climate change.