Abstract
Zooplankton communities of Loktak Lake showed rich and speciose biocoenosis (162 and 142 species), high monthly richness (91 plus or minus 13 and 80 plus or minus 10 species) and by higher similarities (51.1-82.0 and 51.8-78.3 %) and peak richness during winter and autumn over two years of study. Zooplankton (267 plus or minus 41 n/l) formed a significant quantitative component (56.0 plus or minus 6.3 %) of net plankton and showed annual peak abundance during winter. Rotifera and Cladocera are dominant quantitative groups while Copepoda and Rhizopoda are sub-dominant groups. We observed significant annual and monthly variations of zooplankton richness and abundance. This study showed limited influence of individual abiotic factors on zooplankton, with richness showing a significant inverse correlation with water hardness and chloride, and abundance inversely correlated with nitrate. Multiple regressions indicated higher cumulative effects of 15 abiotic factors on richness and abundance. Our results exhibited no definite periodicity of richness and abundance of zooplankton and their constituent groups during two annual cycles. Zooplankton is characterized by highest species diversity (4.172 plus or minus 0.237), higher evenness and lower dominance.
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