Jai Prakash Keshri
The school of phycology at Burdwan University was established only after the joining of Pranjit Sarma as a faculty member in the Department of Botany. It is one of the very few centers in India where Phycology is taught as special paper. The special paper “Phycology” was introduced in 1976 in this department.
Pranjit Sarma joined in this department 1964. He is one of the two teachers who initiated this Department under the leadership of Prof. Param Nath Bhaduri. Pranjit Sarma had the privilege of having been a student of Prof. A. K. M. Nurul Islam of Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan), an accredited phycologist of international repute. P. Sarma with a sound training in algal taxonomy and ecology took initiatives in the direction of establishing the school of Phycology at Burdwan. He confined himself on the taxonomy of filamentous green algae of West Bengal. Contributions of Professor P. Sarma and his students may broadly be divided into three phases: (i) The work with Prof. Islam of Bangladesh as a post graduate student, (ii) The work with Prof. V.J. Chapman in New Zealand as a Commonwealth Fellow, and (iii) The works with his students after coming back from New Zealand.
The published work with Prof. Islam was mainly the outcome of his dissertation work on Oedogoniales of Bangladesh at M. Sc. stage. In his work he contributed a new species and a new variety of Bulbochaete and four new species including two terrestrial forms, 14 new varieties and 2 new formae of Oedogonium.
As a commonwealth fellow he worked on freshwater Chaetophorales with Prof. V. J. Chapman. The whole work was published as “Freshwater Chaetophorales of New Zealand” (J. Cramer, Berlin) in the year 1986. In this work he described altogether 83 taxa (72 spp. and 11 varieties/formae) belonging to 26 genera. Of these 13 taxa were described as new to science. Apart from this monographic account a significant quantum of work was also done on other groups as well. These works included the description of a new species of Sphaeroplea (S. chapmanii Sarma).
After his return to Burdwan he introduced Phycology as a subject of specialization in post graduate curriculum of this university in 1976. Many researchers like G. Mustafa, D.D. Mukherjee, A.N. Kargupta & A.K. Chakraborty joined his team of research and started working on filamentous green algae of different districts of West Bengal. While Kargupta concentrated more on Zygnemataceae, other workers concentrated on Oedogoniales, Chaetophorales, Ulotrichales & Cladophorales. One of his students of Phycology special paper, B.K. Dutta however, worked on marine algae at CSMCRI Bhavnagar and later joined Vivekananda Institute of Biotechnology, Nimpith, West Bengal, where he concentrated his studies on Azolla as biofertilizer. He also investigated the microbial flora of the neighbouring islands. A.N. Kargupta, a UGC career awardee, after getting his doctoral degree under Prof. Sarma established a good taxonomic laboratory at L.N. Mithila University Darbhanga. Besides making a revised key of Indian species (Kargupta et al 1987) he monographed the genus Spirogyra in West Bengal (Kargupta & Sarma 1992). Some younger researchers like J.P. Keshri & Mrs. Aparna Karmokar (Dey) worked under the supervision of P. Sarma. J.P. Keshri worked on filamentous green algae of Midnapur district & Mrs. Karmokar on the filamentous green algae of Malda district of West Bengal.
After joining the department as a faculty member in 1997 J.P. Keshri included desmids and Cyanobacteria in the schedule. Over 500 desmid taxa have been worked in the mean time. Cyanobacterial taxa have been worked out in culture and over 300 taxa have been investigated. A culture collection of freshwater algae has also been established presently with over 75 strains in live cultures. Recently a monograph “The genus Bulbochaete in West Bengal” has been published (2008) authored by J. P. Keshri (Bibliotheca Phycologica, Band 114 Germany). Besides these works, presently two monographs on Oedogonium, and Chaetophorales respectively are awaiting press release. Presently three full time and three part time research scholars are working under his on different aspects of Phycology. He has completed two research Project (one Minor and one Major both funded by UGC) and one Major research Project (UGC) has recently been awarded to him (2009).
The present faculties of this section are G. Mustafa, A. K. Chakraborty and J. P. Keshri all are being trained with Prof. P. Sarma, founder of this section.
Phone: 9474363465
Address: Dr. Jai Prakash Keshri
Professor
Centre of Advanced Studies in Botany
The University of Burdwan
Burdwan 713104
West Bengal, India
Pranjit Sarma joined in this department 1964. He is one of the two teachers who initiated this Department under the leadership of Prof. Param Nath Bhaduri. Pranjit Sarma had the privilege of having been a student of Prof. A. K. M. Nurul Islam of Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan), an accredited phycologist of international repute. P. Sarma with a sound training in algal taxonomy and ecology took initiatives in the direction of establishing the school of Phycology at Burdwan. He confined himself on the taxonomy of filamentous green algae of West Bengal. Contributions of Professor P. Sarma and his students may broadly be divided into three phases: (i) The work with Prof. Islam of Bangladesh as a post graduate student, (ii) The work with Prof. V.J. Chapman in New Zealand as a Commonwealth Fellow, and (iii) The works with his students after coming back from New Zealand.
The published work with Prof. Islam was mainly the outcome of his dissertation work on Oedogoniales of Bangladesh at M. Sc. stage. In his work he contributed a new species and a new variety of Bulbochaete and four new species including two terrestrial forms, 14 new varieties and 2 new formae of Oedogonium.
As a commonwealth fellow he worked on freshwater Chaetophorales with Prof. V. J. Chapman. The whole work was published as “Freshwater Chaetophorales of New Zealand” (J. Cramer, Berlin) in the year 1986. In this work he described altogether 83 taxa (72 spp. and 11 varieties/formae) belonging to 26 genera. Of these 13 taxa were described as new to science. Apart from this monographic account a significant quantum of work was also done on other groups as well. These works included the description of a new species of Sphaeroplea (S. chapmanii Sarma).
After his return to Burdwan he introduced Phycology as a subject of specialization in post graduate curriculum of this university in 1976. Many researchers like G. Mustafa, D.D. Mukherjee, A.N. Kargupta & A.K. Chakraborty joined his team of research and started working on filamentous green algae of different districts of West Bengal. While Kargupta concentrated more on Zygnemataceae, other workers concentrated on Oedogoniales, Chaetophorales, Ulotrichales & Cladophorales. One of his students of Phycology special paper, B.K. Dutta however, worked on marine algae at CSMCRI Bhavnagar and later joined Vivekananda Institute of Biotechnology, Nimpith, West Bengal, where he concentrated his studies on Azolla as biofertilizer. He also investigated the microbial flora of the neighbouring islands. A.N. Kargupta, a UGC career awardee, after getting his doctoral degree under Prof. Sarma established a good taxonomic laboratory at L.N. Mithila University Darbhanga. Besides making a revised key of Indian species (Kargupta et al 1987) he monographed the genus Spirogyra in West Bengal (Kargupta & Sarma 1992). Some younger researchers like J.P. Keshri & Mrs. Aparna Karmokar (Dey) worked under the supervision of P. Sarma. J.P. Keshri worked on filamentous green algae of Midnapur district & Mrs. Karmokar on the filamentous green algae of Malda district of West Bengal.
After joining the department as a faculty member in 1997 J.P. Keshri included desmids and Cyanobacteria in the schedule. Over 500 desmid taxa have been worked in the mean time. Cyanobacterial taxa have been worked out in culture and over 300 taxa have been investigated. A culture collection of freshwater algae has also been established presently with over 75 strains in live cultures. Recently a monograph “The genus Bulbochaete in West Bengal” has been published (2008) authored by J. P. Keshri (Bibliotheca Phycologica, Band 114 Germany). Besides these works, presently two monographs on Oedogonium, and Chaetophorales respectively are awaiting press release. Presently three full time and three part time research scholars are working under his on different aspects of Phycology. He has completed two research Project (one Minor and one Major both funded by UGC) and one Major research Project (UGC) has recently been awarded to him (2009).
The present faculties of this section are G. Mustafa, A. K. Chakraborty and J. P. Keshri all are being trained with Prof. P. Sarma, founder of this section.
Phone: 9474363465
Address: Dr. Jai Prakash Keshri
Professor
Centre of Advanced Studies in Botany
The University of Burdwan
Burdwan 713104
West Bengal, India
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and often form bloom in those waters. During the taxonomic investigations on the
algal flora of Eastern India the authors recorded eight taxa of dinoflagellates from
different habitats of West Bengal. They belong to four genera viz. Peridinium (2),
Ceratium (3), Gymnodinium (2) and Glenodinium (1). All the eight taxa are new
record for Eastern India. Following five taxa are new record for India: Peridinium
umbonatum Stein var. goslaviense (Woloszyńska) Popovský and Pfeister, Ceratium
furcoides (Levander) Langhans, Gymnodinium fuscum (Ehrenburg) Stein,
Gymnodinium cnecoides Harris and Glenodinium bernardinense Chodat & Zender.
Ceratium hirundinella (O.F.Müller) Dujardin and Ceratium cornutum (Ehrenberg)
Claparède and Lachmann appear to be new record for the main land. Peridinium
willei Huitfeld-Kass is the most common freshwater species of dinoflagellate all
over the globe. All the species were found growing in the winter months of the
year between a temperature range of 210C-250C although persist till the onset of
summer. They prefer acidic conditions although not extreme.
water in a lentic water body. Diversity indices of 58 phytoplankton species and the regulatory effects of the 10 physico-chemical
parameters of water on the phytoplankton diversity were assessed. The phytoplankton diversity, richness and dominance were
high in winter but the evenness was high in the months of pre-summer. From the Euclidean distance of seasonal variation of
phytoplankton diversity and physico-chemical parameters of water it was revealed that the phytoplankton diversity were changed
with the seasonal i.e. pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon changes of physico-chemical parameters.
The knowledge about the distribution of its species in India is however, insufficient. During an algal
excursion to Visakhapatnam coast, the authors encountered following three taxa of the genus viz., E.
f l exuosa (Wulfen) J. Ag. subsp.flexuosa, E.flexuosa subsp. paradoxa (C.Ag.) Bliding and E. lingulata
J.G. Ag. First and third taxa constitute new record from Visakhapatnam coast.