COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ECOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF FOUR WETLANDS OF PUNJAB USING MACROINVERTEBRATES AS BIOINDICATORS - J. Emmanuel; G. Joshua; S. B. Shams (Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, 2012)
A baseline study was conducted from November 2006 to October 2007 to investigate the status of aquatic macro-invertebrates as bio-indicators and their ecological linkages to physico-chemical characteristics of four wetland areas of Punjab namely, Balloki Headworks, Qadirabad Headworks, Rasul Headworks and Kalar Kahar Lake. The sampling points were marked on a map using GPS; Garmen 97. The hydrological parameters such as temperature, pH, LDO, salinity and TDS were recorded to get knowledge of the effect of season on the pond ecosystem. Macroinvertebrate sampling from the pelagic water was done using a dip net of mesh size approximately 0.6 mm, dragged in the water for 15 minutes. These were then preserved and identified up to the order level. The results revealed that Balloki area being under the effect of dry season and agricultural stress had more tolerant species. The presence of pollution sensitive ephemeroptera was justified by low TDS and high LDO at Rasul Headworks. The hydrology and fauna of Kalar Kahar Lake was exclusively different from the other sites. In this case pH, TDS, salinity were highest whereas LDO was the lowest. The relative abundance of sensitive to tolerant species was in accordance with the hydrological data.
Keywords: journal article; Macroinvertebartes; Bioindicators; Physicochemical characteristics; Wetlands; Ecological study