Variation of Aulacoseira granulata as an eco-pollution indicator in subtropical large river Ganga in India: a multivariate analytical approach

Abstract

Aulacoseira granulata (Ehrenberg) Simonsen 1979 is one of the major ecological indicators of the water quality of lotic as well as lentic aquatic ecosystems. To assess major environmental factors contributor to A.granulata bloom in the riverine system, a study was carried out from 2018 to 2019 comprising four different seasons at 11 sampling sites of river Ganga in the middle and lower stretch of river Ganga comprising freshwater and estuarine zones. For the analysis, different univariate, as well as multivariate analytical tools such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Water pollution Index (WPI), were used. In the nding, it was observed that the average abundance of Aulacoseira granulata was found maximum during the winter season. Among all the studied sites, the maximum average abundance was at Balagarh (71576 cell l -1 ) and minimum at Diamond Harbour (68 cell l -1 ). The environmental factors such as dissolved oxygen, depth, and altitude showed a positive and water temperature negatively in uencing the growth rate of A. granulate. WPI showed a signi cantly negative correlation with cell length. Finally, the study concludes that the blooming of Aulacoseira granulata is highly in uenced by varied environmental conditions along the river Ganga suggesting possible eutrophication. Therefore, a certain minimum ow and depth especially during the lean season have to be maintained for the sustenance of planktonic biota in the river Ganga. Material And Methods Study sitesRiver Ganga is the largest in India and the fth-largest in the world. The river emerges out to be cool in the uplands in the north and warmer during its course of ow until it's nally con uence to form the biggest delta in the world before draining into the Bay of Bengal in the east. The sites covered were almost 1208 Kilometers and a total of 11 sampling stations comprising the Indian States of Bihar and West Bengal. The entire stretch has been divided into two zones based on their hydrological characteristics. Freshwater zones are mainly comprised of Buxar, Patna, Bhagalpur, Farakka, Jangipur, and Berhampore. Likewise, the estuarine stretch covers the regions Balagarh, Tribeni, Godakhali, Diamond Harbour, and Fraserganj. All the sites have been selected based on their physical nature of water (tidal, etc.) and altitude gradient (Fig. 01). Climatic conditionThe entire Ganga basin speci cally the middle and lower stretches experiences a typical monsoon n climate extending from June to October. Although there are some differences in precipitation between the middle and lower Ganga, the annual amount of rainfall remains the same which is 1000 mm (Quincey, 2017). Warm and dry seasons extend from March to May however, winter starts from November and ends in February. Sample collection and identi cationPlankton samples were collected quarterly for one year(2018 to 2019) covering all four tropical seasons. Composite samples from the mid-channel of the river were collected manually against the water current using the typical country boat. To maintain un...

Biodiversity and the Community Structure of Chromista Cavalier-Smith, 1981 in Nyong and Kienke River Mouths (South-Cameroon)

“…The present study is the first step in an in-depth study of the algae assemblage in Nyong and Kienke (Southern Cameroon), evaluating the place occupied by zoonotic species, or those useful for the nutrition of fish. Collected cells belonged to three phyla, eight classes, 23 orders, 32 genera and 40 species [20] species (50.0%) from each river mouth) and no common species was recorded. Melosiraceae was the most collected family (13.4%), followed by Bacillariaceae (12.2%), Surirellaceae (10.8%), Gomphonemataceae (9.6%), Stephanodiscaceae (7.7%), Goniochloridaceae (7.2%), Rhizosoleniaceae (7.0%), Fragilariaceae (6.3%), Cryptomona-daceae3.5%), Ceratiaceae (3.0%), Catenulaceae (2.8), Phytodiniaceae (2.6%), Aulacoseiraceae (2.2%), Diploneidaceae (1.9%), Cocconeidaceae (1.4%), Achnanthaceae (1.2%), Anomoeoneidaceae (1.2%), Rhopalodiaceae (1.2%) while other families were rare and represented each by less than 1.0% of the total collection.…”

“…For these reasons, the Chromista kingdom is very important for the ocean and freshwater ecology [11]. As photosynthetic species they are essential primary producers of the aquatic food webs for fish and other macro invertebrates as well as mocrovertebrates, and they also have an economic importance as oxygen producers [12], or as bioindicators of the water quality (due to the preference of each species for aquatic environments with very specific physicochemical characteristics) [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22], or as biofertilizer from their N-fixing endosymbionts [for example similar to other species of Epithemia, Ep. turgida (Baccillariophyceae: Rhopalodiales: Rhopalodiaceae) contains N-fixing Cyanobacteria, these endosymbionts enable algae cells to become abundant in microhabitats with a low N/P ratio and they are frequently abundant as epiphyte on Cladophora and other coarse filamentous algae (particularly in western rivers) [23], or as detoxifiers of wastewater polluted with antibiotics (case of Chaetoceros muelleri (Bacillariophyta: Baccillariophyceae: Chaetocerotanae incertae sedis: Chaetocerotaceae) which is an appealing solution to remove certain antibiotics such as sulfamethoxazole and ofloxacin from wastewater) [24].…”

Eco-innovation of food processing and manufacturing SMEs

“…Customers of food businesses, being stakeholders are much concerned about eco-footprints and the environmental impacts of the businesses. As food processing and manufacturing SMEs are considered innovative (Bhaskaran, 2006), their environmental impact is very important in the era where eco-pollution is increasing daily (Mohanty et al ., 2022). Strategy building for environmental issues is important as it is crucial for organizational innovation and competitive advantage (Geraie and Rad, 2015).…”

Multidecadal assessment of environmental variables in the river Ganga for pollution monitoring and sustainable management

“…The water quality status of the river has regularly been monitored by several researchers from various organizations for many decades and has indicated noteworthy changes over the years. Significant differences in water quality were reported in different stretches of the river with severe deterioration in some stretches depending upon the gravity of anthropogenic influences (Mohanty et al, 2022). As river Ganga is considered a sacred river, various initiatives including the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) were in place to restore the previous status of the riverine water quality.…”