Assemblage patterns and community structure of macro-zoobenthos and temporal dynamics of eco-physiological indices of two wetlands, in lower gangetic plains under varying ecological regimes: A tool for wetland management
Assemblage patterns and community structure of macro-zoobenthos and temporal dynamics of eco-physiological indices of two wetlands, in lower gangetic plains under varying ecological regimes: A tool for wetland management
Date
2019
Authors
Meena, D.K.
Lianthuamluaia, L
Mishal, P
Swain, H.S
Naskar, B.K
Saha, S
Sandhya, K.M
Kumari, S
Tayung, T
Sarkar, U.K
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract
Wetlands are rich biological resources and support livelihood and nutritional security to a huge populace
globally. In the present study, two ecologically distinct floodplain wetlands viz., Khalsi and Akaipur located in
the sub-basin of Jamuna river in lower Gangetic basin, were studied for abundance, species richness and diversity
indices of macro-zoobenthic communities across four seasons. The selected wetlands vary in terms of
ecological regimes such as, water volume, depth, link channel, agricultural runoffs, macrophyte coverage etc.
Khalsi, a seasonally open beel (wetland) that occasionally exchange water with river Jamuna during high flood,
while Akaipur is a closed beel with no exchange of water. The studies indicated higher community richness in
macrophyte dominated seasonally open Khalsi wetland (22species) as compared to closed Akaipur wetlands (20
species). The community abundance was higher in Khalsi (8496 nos/m2) as compared to Akaipur. Average
Dominance, Simpson and Shannon diversity indices for Khalsi and Akaipur were calculated as 0.3, 0.7 & 1.5 and
0.2, 0.8 & 1.7, respectively. The community structure of wetlands revealed dominance of a single group, gastropoda
(99%), followed by bivalvia (0.64%), diptera (0.27%) and oligochaeta (0.09%) in Khalsi, whereas,
Akaipur depicted community structure with dominance of gastropoda (46.18%) followed by oligochaeta
(41.36%), diptera (11.22%) and bivalvia (1.24%). The trophic state index (TSI) based on chlorophyll a (Chla),
Secchi disc transparency and total phosphorus showed significant (p < 0.05) variations in both wetlands between
different seasons. The water quality parameters were also significantly (p < 0.05) differ in both the
wetlands except dissolved oxygen. The CCA components, CCA1 and CCA2 explained 27.59% and 23.95% and
39.78% and 15.26% of the species environment correlation in Akaipur and Khalsi, respectively. The distribution
range of macro-zoobenthos varies 0.30–0.92 and 0.26–0.96 in Khalsi and Akaipur, respectively. The study revealed
better ecosystem health of Khalsi beel in sustaining aquatic diversity while Akaipur beel is succeeding
towards super eutrophic state. Thus, the present study provides baseline information on assemblage patterns and
community structure of macro-zoobenthos in two important wetlands for sustainable management of the aquatic
bioresources.
Description
Keywords
Macro-zoobenthos, Wetlands, Biodiversity, Assemblage, Community structure, Ecology, India
Citation
Ecological Engineering 130 :1–10