A Study of Zooplankton Community Structure and Its Variations in a Fresh Water Canal

摘要

The zooplankton are a very important constituent of the aquatic ecosystems. In the present study, analysis of zooplankton and physico-chemical parameters of water from the fresh water canal in Mawana region of district Meerut was done for a period oftwo years from Feb 2009 to Jan 2011. The study was designed to estimate zooplankton abundance, community structure and seasonal variation. The zooplankton community was found to be composed of 4 species of copepods, 5 species of rotifers and 2 species ofcladocera. The dominance or peak of zooplankton was recorded during winter months. Numerically, copepoda was the most dominant group throughout the study period followed by rotifers and cladocerans. Various indices like Shannon-Wiener In-dex and Percent Similarity Index have been used to analyse the zooplankton community.