Zooplanktons As Bioindicators Of Water Pollution From Vikram Tearth Sarovar Ujjain (M.P)

Abstract

Freshwater ecosystems harbor a vast diversity of Zooplanktons, and such diverse taxonomic groups play important roles in ecosystem
functioning and services. Bioindicators are living organisms such as plants, planktons, animals, and microbes, which are utilized to
screen the health of the natural ecosystem in the environment. They are used for assessing environmental health and biogeographic
changes taking place in the environment. Each organic entity inside a biological system provides an indication regarding the health of
its surroundings such as zooplankton responding rapidly to changes taking place in the surrounding environment and serving as an
important biomarker for assessing the quality of water as well as an indicator of water pollution. Some species of Zooplanktons are
sensitive to water quality oscillations from natural or anthropogenic causes. Information on basic ecological attributes such as
abundance or absence can be helpful in the context of hydric resource monitoring. In the present study Zooplankton communities
from Vikram Tearth Sarovar (Ujjain) of Madhya Pradesh (India) were sampled from (Jan. 2018- Dec.2018) in order to ascertain the
trophic status of these freshwater bodies of Madhya Pradesh using Zooplankton as indicators. The present study discusses
Brachionus: Trichocerca ratio for the evaluation of the nature of the recognized Site. Our aim was to identify and understand the
abundance of species with potential to monitor water quality in large scale assessments. The selected water body suggested that there
was a tremendous anthropogenic pressure on the freshwater bodies of Madhya Pradesh. Different species of plankters have wide as
well as narrow range of tolerance towards the fluctuating environmental conditions. It can be inferred from the study that the Vikram
Tearth Sarovar is under the tremendous pressures of anthropogenic activities as was reflected by high B/T values. During the present
study a total of 53 taxa of zooplankton comprising 24 Rotifers, 15 Cladocerans, 12 Copepods and only 2 Ostracods were found to
inhabit the Vikram Tearth Sarovar. The presence of organic pollution indicators Brachionus calyciflorus, Keretella Tropica, Keretella
priodonta, Chydorous Sphaericus, Moina sp, Lapdella patella, B. caudatus, B.falactus, Asplanchana brightweli, Asplanchana
priodonta, Ceriodaphnia reticulate, Ceriodaphnia sps. etc. is a warning sign of the deteriorating condition of the water quality in the
reservoir. Measures need to be enforced to reduce the rate of pollution of the selected water body arising from the human activities in
the catchment of the reservoir.