COMMONWEALTH ASSOCATION FOR EDUCATION,
ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT
ISSN NO 2322-0147
VOLUME 2 ISSUE 9
September
2014
DIVERSITY AND ABUNDANCE OFROTIFERS IN
THREEDERELICT PONDSOF ALIGARH
(EDITOR-IN-CHIEF)
DR MUJIBUL HASAN SIDDIQUI
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION,
ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY,
ALIGARH-202002,
UTTAR PRADESH,
INDIA
website: www.ocwjournalonline.com
Excellence International Journal of Education and
Research (Multi- subject journal)
Excellence International Journal Of Education And Research VOLUME 2 ISSUE 9
ISSN 2322-0147
DIVERSITY AND ABUNDANCE OFROTIFERS IN THREEDERELICT PONDSOF
ALIGARH
By
Dr. Saltanat Parveen
Assistant Professor
Limnology Research Laboratory,
Department of Zoology,
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh - 202002, UP, India,
Email- saltanatparveen@yahoo.co.in,
Syeed Ahmad Untoo
Dr. Syeed Ahmad Untoo
Assistant Professor
Department of Zoology
The Islamia College of Science & Commerce
Sri Nagar - 190001
Jammu &Kashmir, India
Email-syeduntoo1@ rediffmail.com
ABSTRACT
The selected study was conducted monthly from 2000 to 2001 on three derelict ponds of
Aligarh.Samples were collected using plankton net (mesh size-30 µm) and qualitative and
quantitative analyses were done under Olympus compound microscope. Abundance of
rotifersfluctuated between, 7-38 ± 9.69 No./L in pond I; 6-21± 4.84No./L in pond II; 10-23 ±
3.68 No./L in pond III. Qualitatively, rotifers are represented byBrachionus spp., Keratella sp.,
Testudinella sp., Lecane sp., Filiniasp. and Notholca sp. with diversity and dominance shown by
Brachionus spp.
Spatially, rotifersformed second abundant group (26 %) in pond I and third abundant
group in both pond II and pond III (20 %, 23 %, respectively). Temporally, first peak of higher
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magnitude from March to July, 2000 with maximum in June, 2000 and another peak of smaller
magnitude from September to November, 2000 were recorded in pond I. Ponds II and III showed
polymodal occurrence with peaks during May-August, 2000, January-February, 2001 and AprilMay, 2001 in pond II and during March, 2000, August, 2000 and January, 2001 in pond III.
Various measures of diversity were calculated: Diversity index maximum, 1.792 during April
2001 in pond I, minimum 0.4101 during November 2000 in pond II; Dominance,
maximum0.7551 in pond II during November, 2000 and minimum 0.1856 during September,
2001 in pond I; Evenness maximum 0.9915 in pond III during May, 2001 and minimum in pond
I during September, 2000.
Key- words: Rotifers, Temporal variations, Diversity
Introduction:
The Rotifera is one of the oldest groups and a minor phylum of invertebrates. They are
commonly termed as “wheel animalcules” because of their characteristics wheel organ or
“corona” that bears close resemblance to a pair of revolving wheels (Edmondson, 1959). These
interesting micro-invertebrates have been presumed to be a product of the aerobic phase in the
development of our planet (Sladecek, 1983). During the course of evolution to their present
multiplicity, these organisms have, however, successfully invaded and colonized a wide variety
of aquatic and semi-aquatic biotopes (Sharma, 2001). As a result of this, rotifers are found in
open waters of lakes, ponds, pools, canals, slow flowing rivers constituting important component
of zooplankton community.
A good number of Rotifer genera (about 40%) include truly planktonic species, which live in
open waters of the limentic region of freshwater ecosystems all the time (Pennak, 1978). Rotifers
play an important role as grazers, suspension feeders and predators in the zooplankton
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community. Consequently, they are important competitors of the larger crustaceans, especially,
the Cladocera, and the Copepoda. Also,rotifers themselvesform an essential food for vertebrate
and invertebrate predators (Herzig, 1987). Besides, they serve as valuable indicators of trophic
condition of water (Sladecek, 1983).
Lot of work has been done on rotifer distribution and abundance from north eastern region of
India by Sharma (1991, 1998, 2001, 2007 and 2009).
In the present study rotifer diversity simply means number of rotifers taxa present and their
relative abundance. Moreover, the two water bodies can be compared through quantitative
measure i.e., various diversity indices such as Shannon index, Evenness, Dominance, etc. The
objective of the present work is to identify rotifer taxa present, to find out their abundance and to
calculate diversity and with the help of literature to justify the water quality status of selected
water bodies.
Methodology:
Aligarh, a district of Uttar-Pradesh in Northern India, is located in the central GangaYamuna Doab at latitude 27º54’N and longitude 78º4’E. It experiences the tropical monsoon
type of climate with marked North-East and South-West monsoons. The year can be broadly
divided into the following five seasons, viz. winter season (December to January), post-winter
(February to March), summer season (April to June), monsoon season i.e. season of general rains
(July to September), post-monsoon season (October to November). The selected Ponds I and II
are sewage fed ponds located in Jawan Town, about 13 Km away in the North-East of University
campus, whereas Pond III or so-called ITI pond is located in Aligarh nearly 5 Km away from the
Zoology Department. Thesehave area > 1 ha and depth ranged between 0.5-2.1 meters at
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different places and during different seasons.The water bodiesare turbid.Some pollution tolerant
notonectids insects and some air breathing fishes can be seen through naked eyes.
For rotifers analysis, monthly zooplanktonsamples were collected from each water body by
passing water through plankton net made up of bolting silk cloth having mesh size of 30 μm, and
were preserved by adding 5% formaldehyde solution to them. Further analysis was done by
putting 1 ml of the fixed sample on a Sedgewick-Rafter cell, and studying it under Olympus
compound microscope. Counts were made as number of rotifers per litre of water sample. For
qualitative analysis, keys given in Edmondson (1959), Pennak (1978) were utilized. All the
charts are made with the help of Microsoft Excel-2007 and diversity measures are computed
with SPSS16.0.
Results and discussion:In the present study rotifers are represented by seven taxa, Brachionus
angularis, Brachionus calyciflorus, Keratella tropica., Testudinella sp., Lecane sp.,
Filinialongisetaand Notholca sp. with diversity and dominance shown by Brachionus spp. Their
total abundance fluctuated between 7-38 ± 9.69 No./L in pond I; 6 – 21± 4.84No./L in pond II;
10-23 ± 3.68 No./L in pond III (Table-1).
Spatially, rotifers formed second abundant group (26 %) in pond I and third abundant group in
both pond II and pond III (20 %, 23 %, respectively) (Fig.1). Temporally, first peak of higher
magnitude from March to July, 2000 with maximum in June, 2000 and another peak of smaller
magnitude from September to November, 2000 were recorded in pond I. Ponds II and III showed
polymodal occurrence with peaks during May-August, 2000, January-February, 2001 and AprilMay, 2001 in pond II and during March, 2000, August, 2000 and January, 2001 in pond III
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(Fig.2). Various measures of diversity were calculated: Diversity index maximum, 1.792 during
April 2001 in pond I, minimum 0.4101 during November 2000 in pond II; Dominance,
maximum 0.7551 in pond II during November, 2000 and minimum 0.1856 during September,
2001 in pond I; Evenness maximum 0.9915 in pond III during May, 2001 and minimum in pond
I during September, 2000 (Table-2).
Taxa-wise distribution:
Keratella tropica, one of the most important rotifer species, occurred throughout the
study period I. Pond II showed its absence during March, 2000, September-January, 2001 and
March, 2001. Pond III showed its presence during May-August, 2000, November-January, 2001
and April-May, 2001.
Testudinella sp. was found throughout the study in Pond I. In pond II, it was recorded in
the collections of May-October, 2000 and January to April, 2001, whereas in pond III, it was
observed in the collections of February-March, 2000, July-December, 2000 and February and
April, 2001.
Brachionus calyciflorus was recorded throughout the study except in the month of
January, 2001 in pond I. In pond II, its absence was recorded from May-August, 2000 and May,
2001 while pond III showed its absence during October -February, 2001.
B. angularis was recorded from Feb-June, 2000 and from Sepember-January, 2001 in
pond I; from February to April, 2000 and from September to April, 2001 in pond II; and from
February to May, 2000 and August to April, 2001in pond III. In the remaining months, B.
calyciflorus dominates. Pennak (1978) remarked that B. angularis is often considered dicyclic or
perennial.
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Filinia longiseta was observed throughout the year in all these ponds, except in
November, 2000 in pond III. Maximum density was recorded during July, 2000 in pond I, during
June, 2000 in pond II and August, 2000 in pond III. Filinialongiseta has also been reported by
Pejler (1957) as a representative of eutrophic waters.
Notholca sp. was recorded more frequently in pond I than in ponds II and III.
Lecane sp. was encountered during February-July, 2000, September-October, 2000 and
April-May, 2001 in pond I, during February-March, 2000, May-June, 2000, August 2000,
January, 2001and April-May, 2000, in pond II and during March, 2000, September-October,
2000 and January-February, 2000 in pond III.
In the present study, rotifers did not show any distinct pattern of occurrence. The roles of
food supply in the development and composition of rotifer population is also very significant.
Thus, availability of nanoplanktonic food determines the succession of rotifers. However, other
zooplankton such as cladocera and copepod, perhaps due to their large size, pose stiff
competition to the rotifer for feeding as well as reproductive niches in an aquatic ecosystem,
maintaining density of latter at lower level. Moreover, each species has its own optimum
resulting from combination of various factors that bring about its dominance in a water body.
Whenever the quantity of a factor exceeds the tolerance limit, the exposed species dies off.
Brachionus sp. has been designated as indicator of organic pollution in eutrophic waters (Pejler,
1957; Maemets, 1983). Thunmark (1945) and Berzins (1949) designated Brachionus angularis
(several forms), Keratella quadrata and Filinia longiseta etc. as indicator of eutrophy. Arora
(1966) also indicated that B. angularis, B. calyciflorus and F. longiseta are common eutrophic
species of Indian freshwaters. Sharma (1998) while reviewing the work on rotifera, stated that
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Keratella tropica, Brachionus angularis and B. calyciflorus are considered as eutrophic
indicators of Indian waters.
A s S h a n n o n d i v e r si t y i n d e x d e p e n d s u po n t w o p a r a m e t e r s ; n u m b e r o f s p e c i e s
a n d t h e p r op o r t i o n o f i n di v i d u al s b y e a c h s p e c i e s t o t ot a l c o m m u ni t y, t h u s ,
m a x i m um v a l u e o f d i v e r s i t y i n d e x d u r i n g A p r i l 2 0 1 2 i s d u e t o t h e m a x i m um
s p e c i e s c o n t r i bu t i on.
Conclusions:
Rotifers,
Filinia,
Keratella,
Lecane
and
B r a c h i o n o us
are
o m n i v o r ou s i n ge s t a l l o r ga n i c p a r t i c l e s o f a p p r o p r i a t e s i z e s , w e r e r e gu l a r l y
r e c o r d e d ( P e n n a k , 1 9 7 8 ) . A l s o , a b u n d an c e o f C l a d o c e r a i n d i c a t e d i m p a c t o f
s i z e , w hi c h c o m p e t e w i t h r o t i f e r s a s f o r m e r s h a r e s a v a i l a b l e f o o d w i t h
r o t i f e r s a n d al s o due t o p r e d a t i o n , t h u s, d e n s i t y o f r o t i f e r s i s m a i n t ai n e d b ut
a t l o w e r l e v e l t h a n l a r ge r c r u s t a c e a n Zo o p l a n k t on .
Acknowledgement
Authors are thankful to the Chairman Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh for providing necessary facilities to carry out this research work.
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Fig. 1 % Contribution of rotifers to total zooplankton in three derelict Ponds
Nauplii 5%
Eggs 8%
ostracoda 3%
cladocera 40%
rotifera 20%
copepoda 24%
Pond 1
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Nauplii 4%
Eggs 6%
ostracoda 4%
cladocera 36%
rotifera 26%
copepoda 24%
Pond 2
Nauplii 4%
Eggs 8%
ostracoda 6%
cladocera 34%
rotifera 23%
copepoda 25%
Pond 3
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Fig. 2 Monthly abundance of Rotifers No./L in three derelict Ponds
40
35
30
25
Pond I
20
Pond II
15
PondIII
10
5
0
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