Diversity of zooplankton in a Perennial Lake at Sulur, Coimbatore, India (original) (raw)

In the present study, diversity of zooplankton was correlated with physico-chemical characteristics of a perennial lake at Sulur (Lat. 11º01'40" N and Long. 77º07'20" E), Coimbatore, India. In order to assess its suitability for inland aquaculture, the study was conducted for a period of one year from December 2011 to November 2012 in four seasons, like post-monsoon, summer, pre-monsoon and monsoon. A total of 34 zooplankton species was identified qualitatively, which includes 11 species of rotifera, 10 species of cladocera, 7 species of copepoda and 6 species of ostracoda. The mean population of each zooplankton groups from all the seasons was recorded in the following order, rotifers (734 ind./l) > copepods (586 ind./l) > cladocerans (583 ind./l) > ostracods (147 ind./l). This study revealed that the zooplankton productivity was found to be maximum during summer season (2804 ind./L), followed by pre-monsoon (1961 ind./L), post-monsoon (1800 ind./L) and monsoon (1638 ind./L). The population of zooplankton was positively correlated with various physico-chemical parameters, such as water temperature, pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen, total dissolves solids and electrical conductivity of the lake water. Regarding species diversity, some degree of difference was seen in the Shannon (H) diversity index value between different zooplankton groups in summer (rotifer, 2.212; cladocera, 2.195; copepod, 1.851; ostracoda, 1.763). Since zooplankton, both in number of species and population was abundant in the Sulur Lake, there is possibility for continuous utilization of this water body for inland aquaculture.