Status of Plant Diversity in 2022 and Its Progression in Campus of Maltidhari College, Naubatpur, Patna Since 2007

Abstract

Maltidhari College, Naubatpur, Patna is a rural area constituent college of Patliputra University, Patna in the state of Bihar. The college has maintained high standards in relation to ecological perspective. Google Earth data of last 15 years prior to 2022 shows that changes in campus has not disturbed the biodiversity and number of trees. Efforts to improve plant diversity include establishment of different gardens with various purposes like Sundar Lal Bahuguna Fal Udyan for fruits, Rishi Bagh Bhatt Ayurvedic Udyan for medicinal plants, Malti Pusp Vatika for flowers, Botanical Garden for woods and Gandhi Naitik Sthal for aesthetic plants. Besides these many other plants have been planted along the sides of pathway and backyard of most of the buildings. These areas have large trees which maximises utilisation of land area of the campus for greenery purpose. Our scientific survey of flora found a total of 322 trees of 51 different species that includes trees of mainly Gymnosperms and Angiosperms. Tectona grandis followed by Wodyetia bifurcate are most frequent species of tree. To our surprise the campus also has few species of plants which are in various categories of risk of extinction such as critically endangered, Endangered, Threatened and Vulnerable as per IUCN red list data. It also has species of trees whose global trend of population is decreasing as per IUCN Red List Data. In campus these plants have Shannon’s diversity index of 2.91 and Simpson’s diversity index of 0.88. This college presents an ideal example of development with ecological preservation. Number of trees have increased from 11 in 2012 to 322 in 2022. Collective tree plantation programme of 2016 caused the increase the number of trees from 27 in 2017 to 255 in 2018.