study of pollution bioindicators of the river ghaggar in punjab with special reference to phytoplankton and zooplankton

Abstract

newline Polluted water not only affects the life of present generation but it also affect the life of upcoming generations. Aim of the present investigations was to study the pollution bioindicators of the river Ghaggar with special reference to phytoplankton and zooplankton. In this study, two sampling stations were selected and survey of biotic fauna of the Ghaggar river was conducted during three seasons. The study was also conducted to monitor statistical analysis by dominance index and species evenness index, Simpson index and Shannon Weaver s diversity index have been applied. The basic calculations such as statistical mean standard deviation and total count were calculated. A total of 35 genera of phytoplankton were recorded belonging to 4 major classes. Among these Bacillariophyceae with 20 genera were found to be dominant followed by Chlorophyceae with 7 genera, Cyanophyceae with 4 genera and Euglenophyceae with 3 genera during the study period. The study also shows that the species like Synedra ulna, Nitzschia accuuta, Euglena viridis, Fragilaria sp., Oscillatoria sp., Gomphonema sp. and Meridion sp. were present throughout the study time and they are the bioindicators of pollution. The abundance of phytoplankton is more at S1 as compare to S2 that give signal that S1 has more pollution. Zooplankton 27 genera Rotifera consists of 14 while, Copepods comprises of 7, Cladocerans 3, protozoans also with 3 genera. Group wise sequence of dominance about the diversity of zooplankton population was as follows: Rotiferagt Copepodsgt Cladocerans= Protozoan. During present investigation, of the river Ghaggar water some bioindicators species are observed, those are Brachionus angularis, Daphnia pulex, Vorticella sp. species were found to be among zooplankton as indicators of deprived water quality. Thermocyclops is an indicator of Eutrophic conditions of river water, Brachionus calyciflorus, Brachionus forficula and Mesocyclops are indicators of organic pollution. The study revealed that the phytoplankton and