Abstract
Present research was carried out to study the diversity of Cladocera in Manasbal Lake and compare it with previous studies. In present study, 21 species of cladocerans were recorded belonging to 5 families: Chydoridae, Daphnidae, Bosminidae, Macrothricidae and Sididae. Chydorids were responsible for major cladoceran diversity followed by daphnids. The frequently species found were Chydorus sphaericus, Graptoleberis testudinaria, Daphnia pulex, Ceriodaphnia reticulata and Bosmina longirostris. While comparing the cladoceran diversity of present study with earlier studies, many species present earlier were not found in present study due to increasing pollution of the lake. However, five species (Chydorus sphaericus, Graptoleberis testudinaria, Bosmina longirostris, Sida crystallina and Diaphanosoma brachyurum) recorded earlier were still present and were reported by all authors. This depicted that these species can tolerate wide range of fluctuations in environmental changes. Further, Daphnia pulex was not recorded in earlier studies but was recorded latter which also showed increased pollution in the lake as this species prefers polluted water. Environmental changes have great influence on distribution of cladocerans and therefore, they act as excellent indicators of pollution.
Highlights
Zooplankton are the most important biotic components influencing all the functional aspects of an aquatic ecosystem, such as food chains, food webs, energy flow and cycling of matter (Murugan et al, 1998; Dadhick and Saxena, 1999; Sinha and Islam, 2002)
Chydorids and daphnids were responsible for major cladoceran diversity (Sharma and Michael 1987)
In Manasbal Lake most species belonged to the family Chydoridae which is in view of Yousuf and Qadri (1981c), who reported that this family plays a dominant role with regard to plankton dynamics
Summary
Zooplankton are the most important biotic components influencing all the functional aspects of an aquatic ecosystem, such as food chains, food webs, energy flow and cycling of matter (Murugan et al, 1998; Dadhick and Saxena, 1999; Sinha and Islam, 2002). In addition to provide an important food source for planktivorous fish and aquatic invertebrates, they are important grazers on algae and detritus (Balayla & Moss, 2004) and play an important role in the recycling of nutrients in aquatic ecosystems (Hudson et al, 1999; Urabe et al, 2002) This group feeds on smaller zooplankton, bacterioplankton and algae (Murugan et al, 1998) and affect the population growth of bacteria, heterotrophic protozoans, microalgae, and even some rotifer species through trophic relationships and competition (Arnold, 1971; Pace and Vaque, 1994). About 187 species of freshwater Cladocera have been reported from India (Raghunathan and Kumar, 2003)
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