Research Journal of Recent Sciences ________________________________________________ ISSN 2277-2502Vol. 2(7), 81-83, July (2013) Res.J.Recent Sci. International Science Congress Association 81 Short Communication Effect of Anthropogenic Activities on Zooplankton Population of Sogal Pond, Belgaum District, Karnataka, IndiaAbbai S.S. and * Sunkad B.N. K.L.E Society’s, R.L. Science Institute, Belgaum-590 001, INDIAAvailable online at: www.isca.in Received 21st February 2013, revised 17th March 2013, accepted 15th April 2013 AbstractThe present study is aimed at the impact of anthropogenic activities on the richness of zooplankton of Sogal pond. The Sogal pond is located at 150 51’ 35” North latitude and 74 58’ 28” East longitude. The observations reveal presence of 16 different species belonging to 3 groups namely. Rotifera, Cladocera and Copepoda and formed 41, 30 and 29 percent of total zooplankton population in the pond. The overall observation reveals that presence of many of them are pollution indicators due to the lot of interference of human activities. Rotifers are found maximum in summer and least in monsoon, similarly cladocera are maximum in monsoon than in other seasons. Water is not found to be suitable for human consumption. Keywords: Sogal pond, zooplankton, rotifer, cladocera. Belgaum district. Introduction Water is one of the important components of the earth, essential for the existence and continuity of life. It occupies 71% of the total area of the earth’s surface but fresh water is relatively small in portions. Quality of aquatic environment has inevitably associated with the problems caused by the anthropogenic activities. India is bestowed with many large and small water bodies. These water bodies are of immense importance and serve as source of water for various uses. The small water bodies especially ponds, man made ponds and paddles are diverse in their water quality which in turn provide diverse environments for the micro fauna. Although Zooplankton form a minute aquatic group but play a vital role in food chain by linking the producers and consumers. The distribution of aquatic organisms in particular has long been known to be heterogeneous in nature. In all ecosystems functioning is the result of many interesting physical and biological process. The study of the fresh water fauna especially zooplankton, is complicated due to environmental variations. Fresh water zooplankton plays a key role in preservation and maintenance of ecological balance and a study on its basic aspects is absolutely necessary. The seasonal fluctuations of the zooplankton exhibits a bimodal oscillation with a spring and autumn phenomenon in the temperate lakes and reservoirs. This fluctuation is greatly influenced by the variations in the temperature along with many other factors. Among various factors, temperature seems to exhibit the greatest influence on the periodicity of zooplankton3,4. Sogal pond is located at 15 51’ 35” North latitude and 74 58’ 28” East latitude. Every year thousands of pilgrims visit the temple. Surface water run towards south and forms a fall in front of the temple. Earlier pond water was used for drinking but anthropogenic activities pond is polluted and unfit for drinking. Several researchers worked on the characteristics of natural and man made ponds. Present work is an attempt to know the diversity of zooplankton and impact of anthropogenic activities. Material and Methods Water samples were collected monthly by using plankton net made of bolting nylon cloth. (No; 25 and 60 µ in size) by sieving a known volume of water sample. Samples were fixed in 4% formalin and preserved in 50 ml bottles. Numerical estimation of zooplankton was done under microscope using Sedge-Wick Raftar Cell. Average 10 counts were made for each sample and expressed in numbers per liter. All data are statistically analyzed. Results and Discussion Zooplankton species survive under a wide range of environmental conditions and their growth and intensity totally depend on physical, chemical and biological factors. Monthly variations of zooplankton is depicted in table 1. Zooplankton consists of by rotifer (41%), cladocera (30%) and copepod (29%) and all the three groups contributed to richness in the pond. Rotifera formed the dominant group over cladocera and copepod. Density of various zooplankton thus, in the order rotifera�cladocera�copepod. Rotifers represented by 6 genera namely Brachionus, Keratella, Asplanchna, Trichocerca, Lecane and Filinia. Research Journal of Recent Sciences ______________________________________________________________ ISSN 2277-2502Vol. 2(7), 81-83, July (2013) Res. J. Recent Sci. International Science Congress Association 82 Table-1 Variation of zooplankton in Sogal pond ( Number /l)Zooplankton Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Rotifera Brachionus angularis 40 41 52 32 - - - 10 28 24 20 22 B. caudatus 78 62 - 38 20 32 28 44 - - - - B.calyciflorus 26 20 100 31 - - - - - - - 28 B.forficula 31 28 28 40 12 22 38 - 20 12 26 28 Keratella tropica 40 30 32 58 12 14 - - - - - - Trichocerca cylindrical 72 18 50 - - - 10 18 14 28 24 - Asplanchana priodenta 32 28 20 - - - - - 42 28 46 32 Lecane monostyla - - 19 - 20 22 32 26 - - - - Filinia longiseta 22 19 - 30 40 34 - - - - - 24 Cladocera Daphnia carinata 20 20 - - 100 86 68 104 83 - - - Ceriodaphnia cornuta 18 16 20 - 56 32 24 18 28 - - 22 Alona rectangular 10 12 - - - 42 32 28 14 - - - Moina macrocopa - - 12 - 34 42 52 42 10 18 28 - Macrothrix laticarnis - - - - 20 16 28 32 12 - - - Chydorus reticulates 16 - - 22 48 60 98 70 40 - - - Copepoda Rhinodiaptomus sps 22 32 18 38 10 12 18 48 28 36 42 30 Mesocyclops leukarti 26 18 28 40 - - - - 46 42 28 48 Tropocyclops prasinus 26 28 38 - - - 68 58 38 38 62 38 Nauplius larva 35 48 40 28 18 26 42 46 43 40 34 40 Table-2 Month -wise variations among different group of Zooplankton population (Number/l) Month Rotifera Cladocera Copepodes February 341 64 109 March 246 48 126 April 327 32 124 May 267 22 106 June 104 268 28 July 124 288 38 August 108 302 128 September 98 294 152 October 102 187 155 November 92 18 156 December 116 28 166 January 134 22 156 Rotifers in general, are cosmopolitan and their distribution is not limited to any continent. It is also suggested that the distribution of rotifer species depends on their relations to environment and other species of the aquatic community. The composition of rotifer population showed higher population in summer, while lower population observed in monsoon. This may be due to availability of food such as bacteria, organic matter of dead and decaying vegetation, perhaps may be due to the influence of copious quantity of rain water and turbidity which gets drained into the reservoir. Rotifer were recorded maximum in Feb (341 org/l) and minimum in Sept (80org/l). Seasonally they are abundant in summer and indicate the influence of temperature (table 3). Similar observations have been recorded6-8. Table-3 Seasonal variations in zooplankton (Numbers/l) Summer Monsoon Winter Total Rotifers 1181 434 444 2059 Cladocer 166 1152 255 1573 Copepods 465 346 633 1444 Brachionus species recorded dominated the pond in summer (649 org/l) followed by winter (208 org/l) and 206 org/l in Monsoon indicating temperature dependent factor. Brachionus angularis (10 org/l) has been observed throughout the study period except June, July and August. While B. caudatus found in summer, monsoon and not in winter. B calyciflorus ranged 28 org/l to 10 org/l. B.forficula observed throughout the study period except September. Numerically they were 40 org/l to 12 org/l. Keratella tropica appeared in summer and early monsoon seasons. They were recorded maximum in Feb (40 org/l) and minimum in June (12 org/l).Tricocerca sps were also abundantly observed in summer and winter seasons. Asplanchana sps were observed from April to September. They were maximum in August (32 org/l) and minimum in April (19 org/l). Lecane sps were observed in summer. Filinia longiseta were observed only in April . Keratella sps, Lecane sps and Filinia sps are abundantly found in the pond indicating the eutrophic status. Research Journal of Recent Sciences ______________________________________________________________ ISSN 2277-2502Vol. 2(7), 81-83, July (2013) Res. J. Recent Sci. International Science Congress Association 83 Asplanchna sps observed in monsoon are usually found in oligotropic nature of water body. Cladocerans in general, heavily depend on the supply of food. During summer low density could be due to more dense growth of the rotifers.In monsoon the density is high due to the availability of food in the water. Cladocera represented by Daphnia sps, Ceriodaphnia sps, Alona sps, Moina sps Macrothrix and Chydorus sps. They together forms 31% of the zooplankton. Daphnia carinata abundantly found in monsoon. They recorded maximum in June (110 org/l) and minimum in Feb and March ( 20 org/l). Ceriodaphnia cornuta ranged 16org/l to 56 org/l. They appeared maximum in monsoon season. Alona rectangular are recorded from 12 org/l to 42 org/l, seasonally they are abundant in monsoon followed by winter. Moina macrocopa are recorded from 10 org/l to 52 org/l. Macrothrix laticornis fluctuated between 12 org/l (Oct) and 32 org/l (Sept). Seasonally they were plenty in monsoon followed by winter. These are restricted to clean waters, indicated that during July and August anthropogenic activities have been considerably reduced, but as anthropogenic activities increased water body leads to eutropic condition. Chydorus sps were recorded minimum in Feb (16 org/l) and maximum in August (98 org/l). They were abundantly observed in monsoon season. Copepodes were represented by Rhinodiaptomus indicus, Mesocyclops leuckartii, Tropocyclops prasinus and Nauplius larvae. Copepods contributing 29% of the total net zooplankton. Similar trends are also observed in Fort lake of Belgaum. They are moderately good numbers throughout the study period. Density of R.indicus fluctuated between 10 org/l and 48 org/l. Mesocyclops sps ranged from 18 org/l (April) to 48 org/l (Jan). Tropocyclops prasinus fluctuated between 28 org/l (March) to 68 org/l (August). Seasonally they were abundantly observed in winter season. Nauplius larvae were observed throughout the study period. Copepods are found in clean as well as polluted waters, this is in conformity with the observations made by Patalas. Sladecek’s Q B/T quotient is useful to know the trophic status of individual water bodies. According to the Sladecek’s quotient values less than 1.0 is oligotrophy, between 1-2 is mesotrophy and above 2.0 is eutrophy and above 4 is hypereutrophy. The values obtained in the lake shows the lake is eutrophic to hypereutrophic in nature (table -4). ConclusionPresent study indicated that the plankton population of pond is highly influenced by contamination of discharge of domestic waste, floral offerings, washing clothes, cleaning vehicles, bathing and other anthropogenic activities. The shift in the zooplankton community dominance of pollution tolerance forms indicated deterioration of the water quality in the Sogal pond. Public awareness is required to know about the water quality and biodiversity. Still a comprehensive study is essential. Table-4 Value of Q B/T quotient Month No.of Brachionus sps /litre No.of Tricocerca sps/litre Q B/Tratio Tropic status February 175 72 2.43 Eutropic March 151 18 8.38 Hypereutropic April 180 50 0.2 Oligotrophic August 66 10 6.6 Hypereutropic Sept 54 18 3.0 Eutropic October 48 14 3.42 Eutropic November 36 24 1.5 Mesotrophic December 46 24 1.9 Mesotrophic Table-5 Simple Correlation Co-efficient test for various zooplankton Rotifer Cladocera Copepoda Rotifer 1.00 -0.522 -0.086 Cladocera -0.522 1.00 -0.456 Copepoda -0.086 -0.456 1.00 Acknowledgement Author is grateful to the UGC for awarding Minor Research Project and thankful to the Principal , HOD & Staff of Zoology Department for continuous encouragement. References1.Pinel-Alloul, Spatial heterogenisity is a multiscale characteristic of zooplankton community, Hydrobiologia, 301, 17-42 (1995) 2.Wetzel R.G., Limnology; Lakes and reservoir ecosystem 3rdEdn. 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