ECOLOGICAL ASSEMBLAGES OF HYDRACHNIDIA AS BIOINDICATORS OF WATER QUALITY IN THE UPLAND STREAMS OF GARHWAL HIMALAYASL. Lodhi and N. KumarAbstract The present study is based on the of Density and Diversity of various Acari: Hydrachnidia (water mites) and their relationship with physico-chemical parameters in the first to fourth order stream of Kirtinagar Gad, a spring-fed tributary of River Alaknanda in the upland Garhwal Himalayas. Three sampling sites were explored for studying various Hydrachnidia assemblages in relation to different levels of environmental organization: 1). Landscape level (Sub-catchment, terrestrial environment), 2). Macrohabitat level (Sampling sites along the aquatic environment) and Mesohabitat level (Sampling sub-sites, aquatic environment). Several physico-chemical parameters (i.e., DO, water temp., water current, pH, Conductivity, nitrates, and phosphates) were analysed at the macrohabitat level to correlate with the density and diversity of water mite assemblages. Some diversity and statistical indices such as Brillouin index (HB) and Shannon-Weiner index (Hâ), Simpson index etc were also analysed. It can be concluded that during the study period (March 2021 to Feb 2022) water mite assemblages can be very well described by the Mesohabitat level analyses. The physico-chemical parameters however, showed loose correlations with mite assemblages. |