జీవశాస్త్రం మరియు వైద్యం

నైరూప్య

Zooplankton population in relation to physico-chemical factors of a sewage fed pond of Aligarh (UP), India

*Ahmad U, Parveen S, Khan AA, Kabir HA, Mola HRA, Ganai AH

The present study conducted during the year 2008 deals with zooplankton population and chemical characteristics of a sewage fed pond of Aligarh. Sampling was done monthly between 8 am and 11 am from January to December 2008 to work out parameters such as air and water temperature, transparency, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, pH, alkalinity, hardness, calcium, magnesium, hydroxide, carbonate, bicarbonate and conductivity. Air temperature ranged from minimum 17 °C in January to maximum 37 °C in June, and water temperature ranged from 15 °C in January to 35 °C in June. Minimum transparency was recorded 15.0 cm while maximum was 19.5 cm. Dissolved oxygen ranged from 1.6 mg/l to 9.2 mg/l. The pH ranged from 8.3 to 9.1. Carbon dioxide was never recorded throughout the study period. Phosphate ranged from 0.435 mg/l to 1.02 mg/l. Nitrate ranged from 0.106 mg/l to 0.198 mg/l. Total of 20 zooplankton species were found belonging to 4 groups i.e. Cladocera (4 species), Copepoda (3 species), Rotifera (11 species) and Ostracoda (2 species). Rotifers were found to be dominating other groups of zooplankton. The water body is receiving domestic discharge leading to large amount of nutrient inputs and high amount of phosphate and nitrate in the water body indicates that water is eutrophic in nature. Continuous presence of Asplanchna, Brachionus, Keratella, Fillinia, Cyclops and Diaptomus is an indicator of organic pollution.