Abstract:
Cyanobacteria forms a large group of structurally complex and ecologically significant gram negative prokaryotes which flourish in rice fields and also known to sustain the fertility of this ecosystem. This study is aimed to characterize the abundance of cyanobacteria in various habitats of rice field areas in Goa i.e. Khazan lands, Coastal areas, Hinterlands and Mining areas for khariff and rabi seasons. A total of 16 genera and 90 species of heterocystous, non-heterocystous and unicellular BGA forms were recorded. The diversity of all the three types of algae was higher in the hinterlands as compared to the other habitats and also the diversity was more in Rabi season than khariff. The density of heterocystous forms was most abundant followed by non-heterocystous and unicellular forms respectively.
