World Journal of
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences

EFFECT OF ESTUARINE EFFLUENTS ON BENTHIC FAUNAL COMMUNITIES IN RELATION TO TIDAL DYNAMICS OF DHAMRA ESTUARY

*Satyabrata Das Sharma, Rashmi Ranjan Behera, Upasana Mohapatra, Chitta Ranjan Panda and Lakshman Nayak

ABSTRACT

Estuaries are an integral part of the hydrological cycle and regulate the particle delivery from rivers to the coastal environment and to the ocean. The high human population density and rapid economic growth in coastal Bay of Bengal makes the coastal biodiversity at risk. Now a days pollution monitoring is highly appreciable work for conserving coastal water quality and the aquatic diversity. Benthic invertebrates are useful bio-indicators providing a more accurate understanding of changing aquatic conditions. In this apprehension, the study was deals with benthic monitoring in relation to water and sediment quality along Dhamra estuary of East coast of India. Water, sediment and benthic samples were collected in every tidal rhythm (high tide, mid tide and low tide) over a period of 36 hours from May, 2016 to March, 2017. To know the water quality status, pH, conductance, salinity, total suspended solid, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, alkalinity, total phosphorus and total nitrogen were analysed. Sediment samples were examined for texture (percentage of Sand, silt, clay) and organic carbon. Biological samples like macro benthic and meio benthic were investigated and correlate with physic-chemical and textural characteristics to know the community strength with environmental variables. Most of the study has been carried out in spatial and temporal scale along different estuarine system of Indian coast. This study was focused on seasonal survey of benthic population, community and abundance with diurnal cycle over a period of 36 hours. However in Dhamra estuary no previous records and literature was found on diurnal scale. Hence this is an attempt to know the benthic abundance in Dhamra estuarine sediment with special reference to tidal effect.

[Full Text Article]   [Download Certificate]