Macrobenthic community structure of artificially aerated lake Naukuchiatal
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Date
2018-07
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G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar - 263145 (Uttarakhand)
Abstract
Physico-chemical parameters of water, soil analysis and macro benthic community structure of artificially aerated Lake Naukuchiatal, situated at 290 19 N’ latitude, 79037’ E longitude and an altitude of 1220 m above mean sea level was studied for a period of 8 months from October 2017 to May 2018. Three sites viz., S1 (near pump house), S2 (near lake resort) and S3 (Chanauti) were selected on the basis of anthropogenic activities and fortnightly sampling was done at surface and at the depth of 32m at each sites. The important physicochemical parameters of water such as water temperature, water transparency, total dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, free carbon dioxide, pH, DO, total alkalinity, nitrate and phosphate of the lake were analyzed which varied from 15.05-22.25°C, 166-260.5cm , 77.2-117 mg L-1, 165-230.10μScm-1 , 0-3.5 mg L-1, 7.25-9.03, 1.52-11.13 mg L-1, 82.5-115.85 mg L-1, 0.11- 0.25 mg L-1 and 0.01- 0.13 mg L-1 respectively. The soil quality parameters viz., soil texture, soil conductivity, soil pH, organic matters and organic carbon of lake were analyzed which varied from sand % 20.08, silt % 32.15, clay % 47.78%, 282.5-373.5 μScm-1, 7.65-8.55, 0.79-1.09% and 0.5-0.66% respectively. Recorded macrobenthic fauna was comprised of three phyla Arthropoda, Annelida and Mollusca.The macrobenthic species composition of Lake Naukuchiatal consists of total number of 7 taxa belonging to order Oligochaeta, Diptera and Gastropoda, Mollusca.The population density of macrobenthic invertebrates in Lake Naukuchiatal varied between 133.3 ind.m-2 (December) and 688.6 ind.m-2 (January) with an average of 133-252 ind.m-2.Groupwise distribution of macrobenthic diversity reveal that Diptera was most dominant group in term of population density followed by Mollusca, Oligochaeta and Decapoda. The dominant species during investigation were Tubifex tubifex,
Branchiura sp.,Chironomus chironomus, Chaoborus, Lymnaea acuminate and Gyraulus convexiusculus. The result shows that the ecological status of the water body at present is favorable for growth and production of aquatic organisms. The study concludes that the ecosystem of artificially aerated Lake Naukuchiatal is better for aquatic organisms and Lake is more diverse for macrobenthic organisms and it was observed that the maximum diversity of macrobenthos in the Lake was found during the month of November followed by January,
April, and October.
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