World Journal of
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences

STUDIES ON DIVERSITY, SEASONAL VARIATION AND ZOOPLANKTON COMMUNITY OF FRESHWATER, RAMADESHWAR LAKE (HIRWA TALAV) OF TEHSIL –RAMTEK, DISTRICT- NAGPUR, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA

Aasidhara Darvekar* and Vijay Raut

ABSTRACT

Seasonal study on Zooplankton Dynamics as indicator of water quality was carried out on Ramadeshwar Lake (Hirwa Talav) in Tehsil Ramtek, Nagpur District in Maharashtra. The lake is situated near Tai Golwalkar Mahavidyalaya, Ramtek and enhances scenic beauty to the college premises, but may cause problems if not maintained regularly owing to its rapid eutrophication due to human settlement. Hence a study was carried out during January 2021 to December 2021 to investigate the Zooplankton diversity. Four representative sampling stations were selected on Ramadeshwar Lake. Zooplankton net (62 ?) was used to collect the water samples and Sedgwick Rafter Cell was used to enumerate the Zooplankton. Water sampling was done monthly . Results showed around 26 species were found belonging to Rotifera, Cladocera & Copepoda inhabit all four sampling stations. Rotifera included 13 species and dominated in all the months with average composition of 39.52 % in Summer, 41.27% in Monsoon & 44.16 % in Winter. Cladocera included 8 species with average composition of 24.15% in Summer, 25.2 % in Monsoon & 23.69 % in Winter. Whereas, Copepoda comprised 5 species with average composition 36.27% in Summer, 33.45% in Monsoon & 32.53 % in Winter with an intermediate range of population. The values of Shannon Wiener Diversity Index (SWDI) (1.42 in Summer, 1.65 during Monsoon and 2.2 in Winter) for the four sampling locations, indicate a Mesotropic to Eutrophic status of water body, that is detrimental for swimming, anthropogenic activities and irrigation of crops due to microbial contamination. The study reveals that the Lake water is highly productive as the Zooplankton count is moderate. Hence, such water bodies should be monitored at proper intervals, pollution may be controlled by promoting fish culture activities must be acclaimed by the Government authorities which will control anthropogenic sources of pollution to the Lake. Such restored lakes will be highly beneficial for sustainable water source for future generations to come.

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