Diel variation of plankton in the highly impacted freshwater zone of Hooghly estuary in relation to ecological alteration

• Published in: Environmental monitoring and assessment 2024-02, Vol.196 (2), p.154-154, Article 154
• Main Authors: Mohanty, Trupti Rani, Das, Basanta Kumar, Tiwari, Nitish Kumar, Kumari, Suman, Mondal, Kausik, Kundu, Sourav, Das Gupta, Subhadeep, Roy, Shreya, Baitha, Raju, Ramteke, Mitesh Hiradas, Swain, Himanshu Shekhar, Upadhyay, Aurobinda
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abundance; Animals; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Calcium; Calcium sulfate; Cells; Composition; Diel activity; Diel variations; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecological distribution; Ecological monitoring; Ecological niches; Ecology; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Management; Environmental Monitoring; Estuaries; Estuarine dynamics; Fresh Water; Freshwater; Inland water environment; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Niches; Nutrients; Phosphorus; Phytoplankton; Plankton; Pollution sources; Salinity; Seasonal variation; Seasonal variations; Sulfates; Turbidity; Variance analysis; Water quality; Water quality variables; Zooplankton
• ISSN: 0167-6369; 1573-2959
• DOI: 10.1007/s10661-023-12274-7

Plankton are promising ecological monitoring tool that responds quickly to any sort of aquatic ecological alteration, of which many of them are much susceptible to ecological variations. Therefore, monitoring shifts in plankton composition can indicate changes in water quality and aid to identify potential pollution sources. In the present study, the variation in plankton dynamics in relation to ecological variables were monitored in the freshwater zone of the Hooghly estuary from May 2020 to April 2021. The study was conducted in the interval of every six hours. i.e., at 6 A.M., 12 P.M., 6 P.M., and 12 A.M. The present finding revealed the occurrence of 54 phytoplankton and 20 zooplankton taxa/species. Diel variation revealed that among different time intervals, the highest abundance of phytoplankton was recorded 28,307 cells l −1 at 12 P.M, while the lowest was recorded 10,632 cells l −1 at 6 A.M. However, the highest zooplankton abundance was observed 804 ind l −1 at 6 A.M., and the lowest was recorded 156 ind l −1 at 6 P.M. The ANOVA (p