Occurrence and diversity of microalgae in phytoplankton collected from freshwater community ponds of Hooghly District, West Bengal, India

Abstract

A study on diversity, seasonal occurrence, distribution percentage of microalgal taxa and physico-chemical parameters of five community ponds, located in Chinsurah town, Hooghly district of West Bengal, has been carried out. Correlation between occurrence of microalgal genera and some parameters of environment, physico-chemical nature of natural water bodies were explored by Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA). Diversity indices have been calculated using PAST software program. A total of 23 microalgal taxa belonging to four algal classes were recorded and the study indicated that the microalgal diversity vary with variation in physico-chemical parameters of water and light intensity. Out of these genera, occurrence of Chodatella sp. in late summer and Tetrallantos sp. and Synechocystis sp. in winter season were specific. In CCA, multiple variables (dissolved oxygen, water temperature, electrical conductivity, pH, light intensity and inorganic phosphorous) played a significant role in occurrence of microalgal taxa. Observation concluded that the Chlorophycean members were dominant throughout the study period and the Shannon–Wiener diversity index was highest for a site with large number of Chlorophycean member. This study will help in future to assess water quality.