Rotifer Species Assemblages in Three Freshwater Habitats of Manipur, India

摘要

The present commentary deals with the diversity of rotifers from three different habitats that include a river, lake and an irrigation canal from Manipur, India. Using the samples (n?=?288) spanning over a 2-year period the species richness and the abundance of rotifers were assessed. A total of 34 species of rotifers from 11 families were observed with varying relative abundance, with the diversity indices (Shannon–Wiener, H’) ranging between 2.98 and 3.23. The species composition of the three habitats differed considerably, as evident from the multivariate analysis. In the lake habitat, the dominant species was Brachionus calyciflorus (7.9%), while in the irrigation canal the dominant species was Brachionus ruben (10.4%), and for the river habitat the dominant species was B . calyciflorus (11.5%). Using relative abundance of the rotifer species as explanatory variables, the ordination of the 34 species yielded significant differences based on the similarity in the abundance over the sampling period. On the basis of the overall differences in the species composition of rotifers, the three habitats could be segregated significantly ( P ?