Ecological restoration amplifies riverine fish catch of Gudusia chapra (Hamilton, 1822): an impact study in the river Ganga using multivariate statistical tools and water quality indices

• Published in: Environmental monitoring and assessment 2024-10, Vol.196 (10), p.915-915, Article 915
• Main Authors: Tiwari, Nitish Kumar, Das, Basanta Kumar, Mohanty, Trupti Rani, Das Gupta, Subhadeep, Chauhan, Suraj Kumar, Upadhyay, Aurobinda, Paul, Sameer Kumar, Chanu, Thangjam Nirupada, Ramteke, Mitesh Hiradas, Bhakta, Dibakar, Johnson, Canciyal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algae; Alkalinity; Amplification; Animals; Aquatic crustaceans; Aquatic ecosystems; Aquatic habitats; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bicarbonates; Biochemical oxygen demand; Calcium; Carbonates; Condition monitoring; Copepoda; Cyanobacteria; Dissolved oxygen; Earth and Environmental Science; ecological restoration; Ecology; Ecosystem; Ecotoxicology; Environment; environmental indicators; Environmental Management; Environmental monitoring; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Environmental restoration; Environmental Restoration and Remediation - methods; Feeding habits; Fish; Fishes; Freshwater; Freshwater ecosystems; Gudusia chapra; Habitats; India; Inland water environment; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Multivariate analysis; oxygen; Oxygen requirement; Physicochemical processes; Plankton; Pollution; Pollution index; Restoration; riparian areas; Rivers; Rivers - chemistry; Rotifera; Salinity; Sanitation; Silicates; Total oxygen demand; Water hardness; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water Quality
• ISSN: 0167-6369; 1573-2959; 1573-2959
• DOI: 10.1007/s10661-024-13050-x

Fish residing in the aquatic ecosystem are considered the best ecological indicator for monitoring environmental habitat. To evaluate the changes that occurred due to relative restoration in the ecological habitat, a study was conducted in the freshwater zone of the river Ganga between Buxar, Bihar, and Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, between July 2021 and July 2022. In the monitoring, the physico-chemical condition, as well as the food and feeding habits of the fish Gudusia chapra , were monitored with the help of various pollution evaluating indices, namely, the algal pollution index (API) for planktons, the comprehensive pollution index (CPI-WQI), and the National Sanitation Foundation Water Quality Indices (NSF-WQI) for water. The study showed that the relative restoration facilitated the amplification of the fish catch from 5.60 to 98.98% in two consecutive years. The reduction in the API (15 to 4) as well as CPI (0.80 to 0.72) during both years signified the reduction of the pollution status of the river in the region. The NSF-WQI also decreased from 88.27 to 79.27 from 2021 to 2022. The electivity index for the fish showed that fish preferred the groups Cyanobacteria, Rotifera, and Copepoda. The multivariate, as well as univariate analyses, revealed that the fish G. chapra is significantly influenced by multiple abiotic as well as biotic variables, among which the major contributors are riverine velocity, transparency, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, total alkalinity, carbonate, bicarbonate, salinity, total hardness, calcium, silicate, and biochemical oxygen demand.