Mannar hill in Karamadai range is one of the most important geographic regions in Western Ghats with rich biodiversity.

To understand the eco-system in reserved forest we choose Mannar hill as our study area and applied Litter fall, litter accumulation and litter decomposition analysis.

Study area :

Mannar hill range view located in Western ghats, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. It’s wonderful hill station which is filled with medical treasury  and it is located near Baralikkadu.

My study site is a evergreen forest with rich vegetation of floras and faunas. In this area microorganisms play a major role for decomposition.

In my first visit into the forest I’m really surprised to see the faunas like Honeybees, Ant, Butterflies, Monkeys, Earthworm, Millipedes etc.,

At that time I became more enthusiastic to capture that bewitching pic in my mobile phone with the help of foldscope.

For litter dynamics calculation I have planned to study the followings:

1. Litter fall
2. Litter accumulation
3. Litter decomposition

Litterfall

• Based on the surved list I have choosen two dominant species and two associated species in mannar hill ranges.
• To analysis the litterfall of selected species, Trap had been placed in trees for seasonal studies.
• For litter fall analysis trap was fixed in size of 1feet × 1.5 feet upon the dominant trees.

Litter Accumulation

• To analysis the litter accumulation of selected species, Trap had been placed under the tree. I constructed 1m x 1m size of meter quadrat.
• I focused mainly litter accumulation in meter quadrat.

Litter decomposition

• This is an interesting part in litter dynamics. For this study, I brought nets in the size of 20cm x 10cm for decomposition of litter with the help of microbes.
• For litter decomposition studies, I placed neted litter bags into the soil holding leaves, twigs and miscellenious parts.

As per the schedule of work plan, I have started my work in the middle of  May 2018. In this regard, I have planned all the necessary steps to be followed for litter fall, litter accumulation and litter decomposition.

I will planned to capture the microorganisms that is used for decomposition in the month of June 2018 with the help of foldscope magnification.

I am eagerly waiting to study the microorganisms because I knowtFhefoldscope is so affordable, handy and easy to use.

“Awaiting for next step follow up”

I am sure that, I will identify the different type of decomposing microorganisms in the next month with the help of foldscope. I am coincide this foldscope will enrich my carrier and develop my project work.