Impact Of River Flow Regulation On The Planktonic Population In Ganga River At Rishikesh (Uttaranchal)

Biological monitoring is an essential element to assess the environmental health of aquatic biotopes. Any stress imposed in aquatic ecosystem manifests its impact on the inhabitant communities and result in restructuring the present biotic components. The present study is an effort to assess the impact of damming of river water on the physico-chemical characteristics and their relations to planktonic population of Ganga river. Results indicated remarkable changes in some physico-chemical factors in upstream and downstream of Ganga river at Pashulok barrage. Rich planktonic concentration were observed as 1273.67 ± 598.124 and 1184.25 ± 588.724 units/l in the upstream and downstream section respectively. Phytoplankton always dominated (88.4 to 91.7%) over zooplankton and mainly constituted by Bacillariophyceae (65.07-78.95%) followed by Chlorophyceae (25.34-17.14%) in Ganga river.