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14Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2001. The eastern part of the mangrove forest (about2,585 sq.km.) has been declared as Sundarban Tiger Reserve (STR) area. A large part of theSTR area (1,330 sq. km.) has been further declared as a National Park (known as Core area)by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. Also three islands withinthe mangrove forests namely Sajnekhali, Lothian and Halliday have also been declared asWildlife Sanctuaries by MOEF. Considering the overall ecological interest of forests ofSundarban, it has been declared as a World Heritage Site by IUCN.Flora17. The dominant flora of Sundarban is the mangrove. Altogether thirty true mangrovespecies, thirty mangrove associated plant species (back mangal) and thirty non-mangrovehalophytic plant species have so far been identified from Sundarban. There are altogetherfifty species of phytoplankton constituted by forty species of diatoms, eight species ofdianoflagellates and one species of chlorophyceae and cyanophycaea. Sixteen types ofzooplankton have so far recorded from Sundarban. About eighty species of algae adapted tosalinity value from 15 to 35 ppt have been recorded from Sundarban. A succession of plantgrowth depending on the relative height of the land and consequent time of inundation bytidal water could be seen. In the lower intertidal mud flats, the halophytic grass is the pioneerspecies that rapidly colonises the newly silted up substrate. Floating seeds and seedlings ofmangrove plants are arrested in this grass land and are anchored and germinate there. Theseseedling plants ultimately develop into dense mangrove forests of Avicennia, Sonneratia,Rhizophora, Ceriops and Bruguiera on these intertidal landforms. Ceriops, Phoenix,Xylocarpeus and Nypa grow on the upper intertidal levels to form ridge forests.Fauna18. The diversity and distribution of animals in Sundarban Biosphere Reserve can beappreciated from the following Table (ENVIS Newsletter).PhyllumI Kingdom ProtistaSubkingdomPhyllumProtozoaSarcomastigophoraApicomplexaNumber of species occurring in:TerrestrialHabitatAquaticHabitatTotal Noof species2619195452414