Faunistic overview of the freshwater zooplankton from the urban riverine habitats of Pune, India

Abstract

Urbanization modifies the physical, chemical, and biological nature of all ecosystems including rivers. Such changes negatively impact all aquatic biodiversity including the freshwater zooplankton. Given the fast pace of urbanization in all the major cities across India, the aim is to provide a faunistic overview of Rotifera, Cladocera, and Ostracoda from two polluted rivers flowing through Pune, one of the rapidly growing cities in the state of Maharashtra, India. A one-year survey of three localities on the rivers Mula & Mutha and data from published literature on another locality revealed the presence of 73 species which includes 47 rotifers, 15 cladocerans, and 11 ostracods. A higher species number of rotifers was seen at lesser polluted localities while cladocerans and ostracods occurred even in the most urbanized sampling locality. Many of the species found were commonly observed species from the region. Epizoic associations of cladocerans and rotifers and red coloration in the former group were observed during a low dissolved oxygen phase in both rivers. Such observations underscore the potential bioindicator value of these small animals to the impacts of urbanization.