Lichens Diversity of Gawilgarh fort, Amravati district, Maharashtra, India

Abstract

An enumerations of 27 species of lichens belonging to 21 genera and 12 families from Gawilgarh fort situated in Melghat forest, Amravati district, Maharashtra are provided. The rock inhabiting lichens exhibits their maximum diversity in the area represented by the occurrence of 21 species belonging to 16 genera followed by 05 species belonging to 05 genera on bark and Collema pulcellum Ach., is common in both on bark and rock. The local rocks and boulders are used for the constructions of Gawilgarh fort which provide suitable substratum for rock inhibiting lichens in the study area. It is interesting to note that only thirteen species of lichens have effective biodeterioration activity having the presence of secondary metabolites and closely attached to the substratum. This is the first report on lichens diversity of Gawilgarh fort of Melghat forest and will be a base line data for further studies.