Journal of Environmental Biology

Studies on phytoplankton diversity in response to abiotic factors in Veeranam lake in the Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu

 

R. Senthilkumar and K. Sivakumar*

 

Department of Botany, Directorate of Distance Education, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar - 608 002, India

 

(Received: September 01, 2006; Revised received: May 15, 2007; Accepted: June 05, 2007)

 

Abstract: The phytoplankton samples were collected from the Veeranam lake for a period of one year from March-2005 to February-2006. The physico-chemical parameters of water such as air-temperature, water temperature, pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity and total dissolved solids were observed and their ranges were: 30.1-36.5^oC, 29.0-34.4^oC, 7.9-8.4, 1.2-2.5 mgl^-1, 7.6-9.2 mS and 2.5-5.2 mgl^-1.? Totally 160 species of phytoplankton belonging to different taxonomic groups were identified. Among these 74 species to belong to Bacillariophyceae, 43 species to Chlorophyceae, 38 species to Cyanophyceae and 5 species to Euglenophyceae. The phytoplankton density was high (1705 cells l^-1) during the summer season and low (760 cells l^-1) during the winter season. Bacillariophyceae formed the dominant group. Species diversity index (H?), species richness (SR) and species evenness (J?) were calculated.?

 

Key words: ? Phytoplankton, Physico-chemical parameters, Veeranam lake

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