The document summarizes Anwesha Banerjee's biodiversity dissertation on a tour of Sikkim and Gangtok. It describes the high biodiversity of plants, animals, birds, and microorganisms found in the region. The tour revealed diverse flora and fauna adapted to the local climate, such as trees with narrow leaves. Samples collected from Gangtok soil isolated the microorganism Staphylococcus aureus. The region's biodiversity is highly adapted to the area's unique ecological conditions and provides habitat for many endemic species found nowhere else.

1. BIODIVERSITY DISSERTATION
TOUR OF SIKKIM & GANGTOK
ANWESHA BANERJEE
6TH SEMESTER
BIOTECHNOLOGY
Roll: 18608211002
GURU NANAK INSTITUTE OF
PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY.

2. BIODIVERSITY:-
BIODIVERSITY” as the name
suggests is the amalgam of biology
and diversity. It simply means the
diversity, or variety, of plants and
animals and other living things in a
particular area or region.
Biodiversity today is a common
term , since many people today are
working towards conservation of
our rapidly depleting biodiversity.
The need to learn biodiversity of our
surrounding is an essential step
towards conserving it , because
biodiversity is the basis of life all
around us , without it earth would
have been nothing but a barren and
soulless land. And life would not
flourish as it is doing today.

3. SIKKIM & GANGTOK
 Biodiversity means diversity of living
organisms.
 The tour of Sikkim from our college Guru
Nanak Institute Of Pharmaceutical Science
and Technology, revealed just how
different is India in terms of diversity of
flora& fauna as well as culturally and lastly
micro-biologically.
 During the tour we visited some important
places like the CIPLA industry , Saramsa
Botanical garden , Lingdum Monastry ,
Banjhakri falls , Changu lake and Baba
Habhajan singh mandir to name a few.
 The tour of Sikkim and Gangtok was an
absolute pleasure which showed us the

4. SPECIES DIVERSITY:-
The diversity seen throughout the tour of Sikkim &
Gangtok was overwhelmingly diverse from that of
our in kolkata .
The flora and fauna seen had a xerophytic
evolution ; for example Birds had a migratory
pattern ; The trees had evolved their own
mechanism of narrow slanted leaves to survive the
extreme cold of the north-eastern cold winds and
snow fall. The animals like dogs and cats had great
and heavy amounts of fur all over their body to
survive in the cold and so on.
Next came the micro-organism biodiversity, soil
sample was collected and biochemical tests were
performed to determine what kinds of micro-
organisms pre-dominate the state of Sikkim and
how they are different from that of kolkata.

5. SPECIES DIVERSITY :PLANTS
 Araucaria luxurians:
 family-Araucariaceae
 It is a coniferous plant growing mainly in the coastal regions of
Hawaii and pacific ocean circle mainly Brazil, it is seen to adjust
remarkably in the tropical climate of India & Sri-Lanka, it is seen in
the botanical gardens all across the country . Often found on rocky
areas near the sea or inland in rocky ravines at mid elevation
ranging from 1–1300m above sea level. It is a monoecious tree up
to 40m tall, with a diameter up to 70cm at maturity. Narrowly
conical or pyramidal. The thick grey bark produces a red exudate.
 USES:-
 The timber is good for wood turning, and is extensively
used by Hawaiian craftspeople.
 It was also used for building masts and yards for sailing
ships .
 Nowadays these trees are used for decoration
purposes. E.g.: Christmas Trees.

6. PLANT DIVERSITY CONTD.

7. SPECIES DIVERSITY : BIRDS
 The Himalayan Bulbul (Pycnonotus
leucogenys) is a species of song-bird in
the Pycnonotidae family. It is found in the
northern regions of the Indian Subcontinent
as well as some adjoining areas of
Afghanistan, Bhutan,Nepal. It is the national
bird of Bahrain.
 Himalayan Bulbul is about 18 cm long,
wingspan of 25.5 to 28 cm and the weight of
an average of about 30 g. Bird's head, throat,
and crest are black and white . The back
side, and a lengthy tail are brown, the
underside and pale yellow .
 This bird is one of the main
attraction to Bird-Watchers ,
foreign tourists especially love to
see exotic birds , this causes
much of the tourism business in

8. BIRDS:
 The-Spot-winged-
Rosefinch (Carpodacus
rodopeplus), also known as
the Spotted Rosefinch, is a
species of finch in
the Fringillidae family. It is
found in India and Nepal.
The Sharpe‘s
Rosefinch was formerly
considered co-specie. Its
natural habitat is
subtropical or tropical high-
altitude shrub land.

9. SPECIES DIVERSITY :- ANIMALS
YAK:
The yak (Bos-grunniens and Bos-mutus) is a
long-haired bovid found throughout the Himalayan
region of south Central Asia, the Tibetan Plateau
and as far north as Mongolia and Russia.
Yaks belong to the genus Bos, and are therefore
related to cattle ( Bos primigenius indicus).
USES :
1. As a domesticated animal for transport
and field cultivation. As well as for meat
&milk
2. Yaks are used in sports conducted by the
Sikkim sports minister to promote harmony
among the people.
3. Hybrid yaks are now being produced by
crossbreeding domestic cattle with yaks for
increased amount of meat and milk as well
as they are used for mountaineering
experience for tourists.

10. Micro-organism diversity was seen after
isolating micro-organisms from the soil
collected from Gangtok .
Isolation of micro-organism was done
after serial dilution of the soil sample from
stock 10-1 to 10-6 .
From the dilutions nutrient agar plates
were made, incubated for 24-48 hrs at
37°c. from which the isolated bacterial
colonies were selected .
The selected bacteria were stained by
gram staining and cultured into slants.
“Cocci”sp. was chosen to perform the
Biochemical tests to tentatively identify
the species of coccus that was isolated.

11. BIOCHEMICAL TESTS
After the isolation of micro-
organism, Biochemical tests
for the “cocci” species were
performed.
1.(a). Catalase test.
2.(a) Carbohydrate catabolism
by micro-organism (oxidation
and fermentation of glucose).
3.(a) Carbohydrate catabolism
by micro-organism (oxidation
&fermentation by mannitol ).
3.(b) Mannitol salt agar test:-
4.(a)Fermentation of
Carbohydrate(comparison with
glucose ; lactose;sucrose;).

12. OBSERVATION OF BIOCHEMICAL TEST:-
 1.a 2.a 3.(a) 3.(b)

13. OBSERVATION (CONTD.)
(4.a) Comparison of fermentation of carbohydrate
Glucose lactose sucrose.

14. RESULT:-
1.a – The isolated micro-organism may be Staphylococcus aureus ,
since Staphylococcus aureus is a catalase positive micro-organism , i.e it
produces the Catalase enzyme which converts hydrogen peroxide into
oxygen bubble and water.
2.a -- The isolated micro-organism shows the property of fermenting the
glucose in the medium , this property is seen in Staphylococcus aureus , it
ferments glucose to produce lactic acid which induces the colour change in
the O.F media.
3.a -- it has been seen that the Species of Staphylococcus aureus
ferments mannitol (this test helps in distinguishing the isolated species
from Streptococcus epidermidis and Streptococcus saprophyticus).
3.b -- This shows that the plate has yellow colonies , yellow colonies is a
proof of isolation of Staphyloccus aureus, S.aureus ferments mannitol
and it turns the phenol red into yellow.
4.a -- The microorganism inoculated seems to ferment the three
carbohydrate (glucose, lactose, sucrose) . The isolated micro-organism may
be Staphylococcus aureus

15. DISCUSSION& CONCLUSION:-
The micro-organism isolated from the soil sample collected from Gangtok is found to
be Staphylococcus aureus .
Staphylococcus aureus is not commonly a inhabitant of soil , it frequents the
composition of human micro-biota .
Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterium that is a member of the Firmicutes, and is
frequently found in the human respiratory tract and on the skin. Although S. aureus is
not always pathogenic, it is a common cause of skin infections (e.g. boils),
respiratory disease (e.g.sinusitis), and food poisoning.
In plant diversity it was seen that plants structure are very different than that
present in more warm states like West Bengal. The leaves for example in
Sikkim are more sharp and narrow to avoid accumulation of the snow , in
Kolkata the leaves of the plants are seen with broad architecture to trap
sunlight. The evolution of the plants living in the colder state of Sikkim was
noticed when a simple tree of Magnolia campbelii was seen , the tree had
thorns in the warmer climatic states with broad leaves and brown bark,
where as in Sikkim it was seen that the leaves are comparatively narrow
and the bark is greyish- green in colour.
In animals commonly dogs and cats inhabiting the colder region is seen to
have more fur than that of the dogs or cats in kolkata , where is more hot
and humid. The birds found in Sikkim had more plumage to keep its body
warm , where as birds in kolkata has lesser plumage to escape the heat.

16. REFFERENCE :-
 Giller.P.S. 1984 Community Structure and the
Niche ,Chapman and Hall , London.
 May R.M. 1981 . Theoretical Ecology ,
Blackwell, Oxford.
 Andre H.M.Noti, M, I, & Lebrun , P.1994 . The
Soil Fauna: The other last biotic frontier
(biodiv.cons:45-46).
 Brussaard,L.1998 . Soil Fauna , guilds,
functional groups and ecosystem processes.
(Appl.soil Ecol.9: 123-135)