Assessment of abiotic factors and planktonic structure of Baur and Haripura reservoirs, Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

The study investigated the variation in physico-chemical parameters and planktonic community structure (biotic) of two reservoirs viz. Baur and Haripura located in Tarai region of Uttarakhand from September 2018 to April 2019. The reservoirs hold tremendous potential for inland fisheries development and offer ample scope for fish yield optimisation through adoption of suitable management norms. Variations have been recorded in different water quality parameters viz. temperature (20.00-32.650 C), pH (7.25-8.4), dissolved oxygen (4.35-6.35 mg l-1) and total dissolved solids (159.5-254.0 mg l-1) which shows a positive correlation (except temperature) with phytoplankton and zooplankton production in the selected reservoirs. A total of 29 and 23 phytoplankton genera were observed in Baur and Haripura reservoirs, respectively belonging to Bacillariophyceae (49% in Haripura, 46% in Baur), Chlorophyceae (44% in Baur, 31% in Haripura), Cyanophyceae (9% in Haripura, 4% in Baur), Euglinophyceae (10% in Haripura, 5% in Baur) and Dinophyceae (1% in each) groups. The density of phytoplankton population was found highest in the month of April and lowest during September. A total of 14 zooplankton genera belonging to 3 classes were recorded from both the reservoirs with class Cladocera occupying the major proportion of total zooplankton recorded. A surge in the zooplanktonic community was witnessed in November with minimum density in the month of September. The reservoir Baur observed a higher phytoplankton and zooplankton density as compared to Haripura, pointing towards a more productive ecosystem.

Keywords: Phytoplankton, Seasonal abundance, Water quality, Zooplankton