Biomonitoring Tool: Morphological Anomalies in <i>Zygnema</i> sp. of Ganga River Bank

Abstract

The present study aims to detect morphological abnormalities in Zygnema sp. because this test species have high adaptive capacity in unfavourable environmental stress. This alga is inhabited at the suburban bank of river Ganga, West Bengal, India. The study was done at experimental sites, downstream at Khardah near sewage water mixing area was compared with upstream control site Kalyani as no sewage water discharge. External and internal abnormal morphology such as undulating or wavy and extra outgrowth on cell wall, sometimes bending inwardly and outwardly as external deformities while internal anomalies such as pigment loss, nucleus was in circular, rectangular, oval and amoeboid shapes, also vacuolated and trilobed, broom like chloroplasts and central part of the thallas dried in between two segments. It was observed that this test species was surviving and well adapted with above mentioned deformities. The present preliminary study with Zygnema sp. can be utilized for in situ and ex situ indicator species for riverine biomonitoring. Further research may be relevant to know both tolerant and sensitive algae species inhabited at the river Ganga bank alongwith biochemical and genetic parameters. The present work is suggesting that other inhabiting algae and this adaptive test species can be used for bioremediation of pollutants.