Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

STUDIES ON THE DIVERSITY OF PLANKTON IN THE WETLANDS OF NAMERI NATIONAL PARK AND ITS ADJACENT AREA, ASSAM, INDIA

Sangeeta Miliand Prasanta Kumar Saikia

Abstract

The present investigation deals with the study on the diversity of phytoplankton and zooplankton community structure in twelve selected sampling sites of the wetlands of Nameri National Park and its adjacent area using various diversity indices. The survey was carried out from January 2018 to February 2020. A total of 36 genera of phytoplankton and 21 genera of zooplankton belonging to four families each were identified in this study, which include Chlorophyceae, Bacillariophyceae, Cyanophyceae, Desmidiaceae, Cladocera, Copepoda, Rotifera and Protozoa. Family Chlorophyceae was dominant among the other groups of phytoplankton and the family Cladocera and Rotifera were found to be the most dominant group in the zooplankton followed by Copepoda and Protozoa. Low community similarities, seasonal species richness variations and the cluster groupings affirmed heterogeneity of plankton species composition. The maximum diversity of phytoplankton was observed in pre-monsoon at S3 and minimum in monsoon season at site S6 and for zooplankton, diversity index (H ́) was found to be the highest at S6 during pre- monsoon and lowest at S5 in monsoon period. Slight variations of the species diversity of plankton population among the four seasons across all the studied sites indicate good quality of the habitat Ecosystem.