ISSN 2348-313X (Print) International Journal of Life Sciences Research ISSN 2348-3148 (online) Vol. 10, Issue 2, pp: (21-32), Month: April - June 2022, Available at: www.researchpublish.com
BIODIVERSITY OF PERIPHYTIC COMMUNITY IN A FRESH WATERBODY OF ALIGARH Maryam Limnology Research Laboratory, Department of Zoology Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh- 202002. Uttar Pradesh, India DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6586195
Published Date: 27-May-2022
Abstract: The present investigation on Diggi Pond, located at a distance of about 2 km south-east of the university campus (Lat.270-54`N long.78-04´ E), was conducted during May, 2007-April, 2008 for studying the biodiversity of periphytic community along with various physico-chemical parameters. During the entire study, periphytic community showed a seasonal distribution. Maximum density of periphyton was found in winter (2253 No. /cm2) on natural substrata and in post-monsoon (1191 No. /cm2) on artificial substrata, whereas minimum periphyton density was observed during post winter (479 No. /cm2) on natural substrata and during post winter (842 No. /cm2) on artificial substrata. Periphytic community on natural substrata was found to be more diversified than that of artificial substrata. During the entire period of the study, five groups of plantperiphyton, namely Bacillariophyceae (18 species), Chlorophyceae (24 species), Myxophyceae (10 species), Euglenophyceae (2 species) and Xanthophyceae (3 species), and four groups of zooperiphyton i.e. Protozoa (2 species) Rotifera (15 species), Cladocera (4 species) and Copepoda (4 species) were found to be present on natural substrata. On artificial substrata, three groups of plantperiphyton i.e. Bacillariophyceae (17 species) Chlorophyceae (13 species), Myxophyceae (7 species) and two groups of zooperiphyton i.e. Protozoa (2 species) and Rotifera (5 species) were found to be present on all the three types of artificial substrata i.e. wooden block, stone and glass substrata. During the entire study, among total periphyton density, bacillariophyceae was the only group which was found as dominant group through out the year. Keywords: Periphyton, biodiversity, plantperiphyton and zooperiphyton.
I. INTRODUCTION Periphyton are the microscopic organisms growing on stones, sticks, aquatic macrophytes and other submerged surfaces, and are useful in assessing the effect of pollutants on lakes, streams and estuaries (APHA,1998). According to Wetzel (1983), the term periphyton is usually referred to describe the micro floral growth on the submerged objects Cole (1983) used the term periphyton to describe micro flora attached to submerged objects along with other living forms like bacteria, fungi and animals like vorticella and the branched carchesium (protozoan). Periphytic communities are sensitive to environmental conditions (Besch et al., 1972) and mainly composed of heterogeneous and diverse assemblage of algal forms forming an important food niche in an aquatic ecosystem. Periphyton being a community in itself has its own cycle of abundance having role to play in the trophic structure and function even though some of the members are common to plankton, bottom biota and periphyton (Singh et al., 2003). Because of its almost universal presence in water and the conspicuous quantity often produced, periphyton play an important role in limnological process of a lake or stream
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