Limnological Studies with reference to Phytoplankton Diversity in Ponds of Semi arid zone of Western Uttar Pradesh

Author: Shazia Ansari and Santosh Kumar Singh

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Abstract

Study of two ponds of semiarid zone of Western Uttar Pradesh was carried out in Aligarh to determine its limnology, in relation to diversity of phytoplankton population. Main water supply is rainwater and surface runoff from surrounding areas. Species diversity ranged from 3.058 (December, 2006) to 3.275 (February, 2007) in Pond I and 3.118 (May, 2007) to 3.335 (February, 2007) in Pond II. Species Evenness ranged from 0.906 (November, 2006) to 0.944 (February, 2007) in Pond I and 0.926 (May, 2007) to 0.945 (February, 2007) in Pond II. In the present study it was noted that no single environmental factor was responsible for the production of phytoplankton organisms but a number of factors acted together to bring the cumulative effect. Most of the phytoplankton were found to flourish at mesophytic environment. Growth of phytoplankton was directly or indirectly dependent upon the concentration of nutrients in both the ponds as evident by the study.

Keywords

Diversity, Phytoplankton, Minerals.

Conclusion

In the present study it was noted that no single environmental factor was responsible for the production of phytoplankton organisms but a number of factors acted together to bring the cumulative effect. Most of the phytoplankton were found to flourish at mesophytic environment. Growth of phytoplankton was directly or indirectly dependent upon the concentration of nutrients in both the ponds as evident by the study. In pond I, as the water temperature increased so the diversity of phytoplankton also increased whereas the diversity was observed to be decreasing in Pond II with water temperature. As the pH increased so does the phytoplankton diversity that is the positive correlation in Pond II while negative in Pond I. With PO4-P positive correlation was found in Pond I while negative in Pond II. With NO3-N correlation was found to be negative in in both the Ponds which indicates that as the concentration of NO3-N increased the it is utilized by phytoplankton for their growth. NO2-Ncorre

References

A study was carried out to determine the effect of limnological factors on the diversity of phytoplankton population of two ponds. As we all know that phytoplankton are important for trophic dynamics as they are the chief primary producers of aquatic environment (Wetzel, 1975) which fix solar energy by the process of photosynthesis assimilating carbon-dioxide and water to produce carbohydrates. They serve as important links between the abiotic factors and the biota in the aquatic system (Saha et al., 2000). Diversity is a concept that refers to the range of variations or differences among some set of entities. Biological diversity thus refers to the variety within the living world. Biodiversity is very commonly used as a synonym of species diversity. Phytoplankton has great importance from ecological point of view (Kumar and Gupta, 2002). MATERIALS AND METHODS The ponds, Pond I and Pond II were seasonal ponds receiving surface runoff and sewage from the surrounding areas. They were

How to cite this article

Shazia Ansari and Santosh Kumar Singh (2017). Limnological Studies with reference to Phytoplankton Diversity in Ponds of Semi arid zone of Western Uttar Pradesh , Biological Forum – An International Journal 9(2): 129-147.