Abstract

PHYTOPLANKTON DIVERSITY AND PHYSICO- CHEMICAL PARAMETERS IN KOLAVAI LAKE, TAMIL NADU, INDIA

A. Sonic Patritia and *P. Martin

Abstract

In the present investigation, the physico-chemical parameters and phytoplankton diversity of three different sites of Kolavai Lake, a fresh water lake situated in Chengalpet Taluk, Kancheepuram District, Tamilnadu, India. It is vital to observe the physico-chemical features of a water body in relation to the survival and activity of organisms which solemnly depends on the environmental factors of that water body. A detailed plankton analysis observed from three selected study sites showed the presence of phytoplankton belonging to the class Chlorophyceae, Bacillariophyceae, Cyanophyceae and Euglenophyceae. Further, the phytoplanktons were greatly affected by various ecological conditions like pH, Turbidity, TDS, EC, Total Alkalinity, Total Hardness, Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, Iron, Free ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Chloride, Fluoride, Sulphate, Phosphate, Tidy’s Test, DO, BOD, and COD. The observed data were interpreted with the correlation coefficients values. Observations of the present investigation clearly revealed that the quality of the selected lake water showed that the water is unpalatable. Therefore, it needs some corrective measures to maintain the water chemistry of the Lake and this will help the society to get an awareness of the quality of the water for their sustanance.

Keywords: Phytoplankton, water quality, chemical parameters.