Ecological study of periphyton diversity in crenic habitat of Sahashradhara (Garhwal Himalayas, India)

oleh: Anita Chauhan, Ramesh C. Sharma

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Progressive Sustainable Developers Nepal 2016-02-01

Deskripsi

<p>A maiden attempt has been made to present a biodiversity of periphyton of the Sahashradhara springs, a group of one thousand springs and one of the most important clusters of limnocrenes and rheocrenes springs located in Doon Valley of Garhwal-Himalayas. The environmental monitoring of periphyton community of Sahashradhara springs was carried out for one complete annual cycle (October 2011-September 2012). Annual percentage composition of periphyton revealed that major contribution was represented by Bacillariophyceae (68-70%) followed by Chlorophyceae (26-28%) and Myxophyceae (3-5%). A total of 29 species of periphyton were recorded from different springs of Sahashradhara. A significant correlation between diversity of periphyton and environmental parameters- temperature, turbidity, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, free CO<sub>2</sub>, alkalinity, FPOM and CPOM was observed. Regression analysis was performed between density of periphyton and physico-chemical variables, which revealed that temperature, conductivity, alkalinity, CO<sub>2</sub>, TDS, CPOM and FPOM were found to have strong influence on the density and diversity of periphyton of Sahashradhara springs.</p><p><em>International Journal of Environment Vol. 5 (1) 2016,  pp: 79-95</em></p>