European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

EFFECT OF URBANISATION ON THE DIVERSITY OF PHYTOPLANKTON OF GANG CANAL IN SRIGANGANAGAR, RAJASTHAN, INDIA

Manjeet Jaitly* and Anand Kumar Khatri

ABSTRACT

Phytoplanktons are assemblages of heterogeneous microscopic algal forms whose movement is more or less dependent upon water currents. The present study was undertaken to explore the diversity and ecology of phytoplankton in three sites of gang canal. The present observations were made for a period of fifteen months from September, 2012 to November, 2013. The flora was identified by following standard taxonomic keys and illustrations. The phytoplankton were identified in the gang canal water which was belonged to four families of Chlorophyceae, Bacillariophyceae and Myxophyceae and Xanthophyaceae. The phytoplankton comprises of 16 species belonging to 15 genera. Out of these, 8 species belong to Bacillariophyceae, 5 to Chlorophyceae, 2 to Myxophyceae and 1 to Xanthophyceae. The family Bacillariophyceae was dominating the canal with much abundance throughout the study period. Both the number of genera and number of species belonging to each genera was maximum in case of family Bacillariophyceae followed by Chlorophyceae Myxophyceae and Xanthophyaceae. The algal flora of site III showed the dominance of diatoms like Navicula, Nitzschia, and Fragilaria throughout the investigation and medium amount of abundance of some green algae like Scenedesmus and Ankistrodesmus also occurred. These planktonic forms Navicula, Nitzschia, Fragilaria Ankistrodesmus, Scenedesmus,were observed at site III of Gang Canal in the present study as indicators of organic pollution. Therefore, they can be significantly applied as indicators of organic pollution. It can be concluded that site III is going to polluted and rapidly turning towards eutrophication in future. So our findings highlighted the deterioration of water quality at the site III in the Gang canal due to urbanization and human activities. The study recommended avoiding as far as possible the discharge of untreated sewage and other pollutants into the water.

Keywords: Phytoplankton, Gang Canal, Sriganganagar, Organic Pollution, Eutrophication, Urbanization.