Heritiera fomes

About: Heritiera fomes is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 128 publications have been published within this topic receiving 1911 citations. The topic is also known as: Sundri.

Nutrient Dynamics Associated with Leaching and Microbial Decomposition of Four Abundant Mangrove Species Leaf Litter of the Sundarbans, Bangladesh

Abstract: Release of nutrients and organic matter from mangrove litter during the leaching and decomposition processes play an important role in the biogeochemical cycling in mangrove ecosystems. Mass loss and nutrient dynamics associated with leaching and microbial decomposition of leaf litter of Heritiera fomes, Excoecaria agallocha, Ceriops decandra and Xylocarpus mekongensis were studied in the Sundarbans. The initial mass of H. fomes, E. agallocha, C. decandra and X. mekongensis leaf litter was significantly decreased to 11 %, 18 %, 21 % and 19 % respectively after 168 h of leaching process. Irrespectively, mass loss due to the microbial decomposition was higher for E. agallocha (97 %) followed by X. mekongensis (74 %), C. decandra (44 %) and H. fomes (42 %) after 7 months. Highest amount of N (3.29 mg/g) was released from leaf litter of C. decandra and the highest amount of P (1.69 mg/g) and K (16.36 mg/g) was released from E. agallocha. Comparatively higher amount of N (6.36 mg/g), P (2.68 mg/g) and K (16.41 mg/g) was released from the leaf litter of E. agallocha than others. Our results are useful for estimating the total flux of nutrients of mangrove forest ecosystem, especially where the studied mangrove species occur abundantly.

Rooting response in stem cuttings from five species of mangrove trees : effect of auxins and enzyme activities

Abstract: An experiment was conducted to optimise rooting in stem cuttings of the mangrove tree species Bruguiera parviflora, Cynometra iripa, Excoecaria agallocha, Heritiera fomes and Thespesia populnea. Cuttings were girdled or non-girdled and treated with the auxins indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and naphthalene-acetic acid (NAA) and amylase, IAA-oxidase, peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase activities were measured. The best rooting performance (in terms of root number) was in stem cuttings of E. agallocha followed by C. iripa and H. fomes when treated with IBA + NAA. IAA and IBA combinations were more effective in T. populnea and B. parvifolia. Variations in rooting response were markedly reflected in amylase, IAA-oxidase, peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase activities. Sharp increases in amylase and polyphenol-oxidase activities were associated with enhanced rooting in E. agallocha, C. iripa and H. fomes. On the contrary, lowered IAA-oxidase and peroxidase activities favoured rooting in T. populnea and B. parviflora. A higher number of roots occurred in pre-girdled cuttings in comparison to non-girdled cuttings.

Present Status of Salinity Rise in Sundarbans Area and its Effect on Sundari (Heritiera fomes) Species

Abstract: The world largest mangrove forest, Sundarbans is situated at the western coastal zone of Bangladesh that covers about 40% of the total forest and gives good feedback to the national economy. But for last few years, salinity increasing drastically in this particular region due to sea water intrusion, reduction of fresh water flow and human activities like shrimp farming. In this study both field survey (primary data) and historical (secondary) data were used to assess the present status of salinity rise in Sundarbans area as well as the effect of salinityrise on species destruction like Sundari (Heritiera fomes) which is the climax species of Sundarbans. It was observed that sea level is rising in the Sundarbans coast at the rate of 4 mm/year that is much higher than global trend of 2 mm/year and results more areas to inundate by tidal water. Besides, the water diversion and withdrawal of fresh water in the upstream significantly hampering salt balance system in Sundarbans that leads to permanent and high level of salinity. The soil salinity rise increases with the increase of depth of soil and high level of salinity in the root zone of the plants results a high concentration of sodium salts within the plants body that causes to the reduction of the forest production, restricting the growth of the species like Sundari (Heritiera fomes) and even causes to die.

Anti-MRSA activity of oxysporone and xylitol from the endophytic fungus Pestalotia sp. growing on the Sundarbans mangrove plant Heritiera fomes.

Abstract: Heritiera fomes Buch.-Ham., a mangrove plant from the Sundarbans, has adapted to a unique habitat, muddy saline water, anaerobic soil, brackish tidal activities and high microbial competition. Endophytic fungal association protects this plant from adverse environmental conditions. This plant is used in Bangladeshi folk medicine, but it has not been extensively studied phytochemically, and there is hardly any report on investigation on endophytic fungi growing on this plant. In this study, endophytic fungi were isolated from the surface sterilized cladodes and leaves of H. fomes. The antimicrobial activities were evaluated against two Gram-positive and two Gram-negative bacteria and the fungal strain, Candida albicans. Extracts of Pestalotia sp. showed activities against all test bacterial strains, except that the EtOAc extract was inactive against E. coli. The structures of the purified compounds, oxysporone and xylitol, were elucidated by spectroscopic means. The anti-MRSA potential of the isolated compounds were determined against various MRSA strains, i.e., ATCC 25923, SA-1199B, RN4220, XU212, EMRSA-15 and EMRSA-16, with MIC values ranging from 32-128 μg/mL. This paper, for the first time, reports on the anti-MRSA property of oxysporone and xylitol, isolation of the endophyte Pestalotia sp. from H. fomes, and isolation of xylitol from a Pestalotia sp.