Seasonal phyto and zoo plankton dynamics in Karanja reservoir, Bidar
Lingesh G, HRV Reddy, Narshivudu D, Muthappa K and Padmanabha A
In the present study, both qualitative and quantitative analyses of Phytoplankton were made to investigate their abundance and distribution in Karanja Reservoir located in the northern part of Karnataka between 17°22′30″ N latitude and 76°59′0″ E longitude. During the one year study period highest count of phytoplankton was recorded in winter season while low incidence was observed in monsoon season. High species richness and diversity indices of Phytoplankton were recorded during post monsoon season and low during monsoon season. A total of 54 genera of phytoplankton belonging to 4 groups viz, Chlorophyta, Cyanophyta Chrysophyta and Rhodophyta were identified during the study. Chlorophyta was the dominant group of phytoplankton contributing about 63.14% followed by Cyanophyta (23.78%), Chrysophyta (11.37%) and Rhodophyta (1.69%). During the present investigation the phytoplankton biomass (wet weight) varied from 0.34 mg/l during monsoon at station 3 to 2.97 mg/l at season 4 during winter and phytoplankton biomass (Dry weight) varied from from 0.11 mg/l during monsoon at station 3 to 1.95 mg/l at season 4 during winter. A total phytoplankton number varied from 28 to 807/l. In this study an attempt has been made to evaluate the Plankton diversity in the region and suggests mitigating measures.