Research Journal of 
Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences
 
__
_____________
______
____
___
ISSN 2320
 
–
 
6535
 
 
 
Vol. 
1
(
2
), 
7
-
8
, 
March
 
(201
3
)
 
Res. J. Animal, Veterinary & Fishery
 
Sci.
 
 
 
 
Int
ernational Science Congress Association
 
 
 
 
    
7
 
Short Communication 
 
Phytoplanktons 
Variation 
with 
Respect 
to Ichthyofaunal Studies of 
Bhandardara Dam, MS, India
 
 
Dhamak R
.
M
.
, Tilekar B
.
B
.
, Ghadage M
.
K
.
, Theurkar S
.
V
.
 
and Patil S
.
B
.
*
 
JJT University, Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, INDIA
 
Dept. of Zoology, Hutatma 
Rajguru Mahavidyalaya, Rajgurunagar, Tal. Khed, Dist. Pune, INDIA
 
 
Available online at: 
www.isca.in
 
Received 
1
st
 
February 
201
3
, revised
 
   
201
3
, accepted
 
   
201
3
 
 
 
 
Abstract 
 
The Western Ghats is an important biogeographic
 
zone of India and one of the thirty four global hot spots. Variation in the 
diversified group of phytoplanktons has been observed and depicted in the paper Cyanophyta with 5 numbers of species 
Chlorophyta with 22 numbers of species Bacillariophyta with 14
 
numbers of species Xanthophyta with single number of 
species were recorded from the region.
 
 
Keywords:
 
Bhandardara Dam, 
p
hytoplanktons, Ahmednagar district.
 
 
Introduction
 
Wilson Dam is located at Bhandardara in western part of the 
Ahmednagar district in
 
Maharashtra. It is also commonly known 
as Bhandardara Dam. It is built across the river Pravara, near the 
village Bhandardara.  This is one of the oldest existing dams in 
the state.  The construction of this dam was started in 1910 and 
it was completed in
 
1926.  The catchment area of dam is 12200 
Sq.kms.  The live storage is of water is 11.039 TMC and dead 
storage is 3 TMC.  The depth of the dam is 270 feet.  The base 
width of the dam wall is 260.10 feet.  The main source of water 
for dam is streams, river
s, fountains etc.  The annual rainfall up 
to Ghatghar is 5460 mm. and on dam 3225 mm. The total 
irrigated area under the dam is 23077 hectors. 
 
 
Algae are the important part of the food web and provide shelter 
to other
 
organisms. Thus they are the major pa
rt in aquatic 
ecosystems. They play a crucial role in the aquatic ecosystem to 
absorb nutrients, toxic material, heavy metals and convert it into 
simplest form. The phytoplankton diversity in relation to 
the 
abiotic
 
factors of a pond at
 
Bagalpur, 
India
 
was
 
recorded
1
. 
The 
primary producers are the base of aquatic ecosystem. Therefore 
the productivity of the aquatic ecosystem is based on primary 
producers
2
. They occur in the lentic (standing water) as well as 
lotic 
water (running water), t
he diatoms flora of 
Marathwada, 
Maharashtra
3
.
 
In the present study diatoms were correlated with 
these references. The seasonal phytoplanktonic diversity of 
Kitham 
l
ake, Agra
4
. Biological assessment is a useful alternative 
for assessing the ecological quality of aquatic ecosys
tems since 
biological communities integrate the environmental effects of 
water chemistry, in addition to the physical and 
geomorphological characteristics of Rivers and lakes
5
.
 
Phytoplankton encountered in the water body reflects the 
average ecological con
dition and therefore, they may be used as 
indicator of water quality
6
. 
 
Significant positive correlations were noticed between surface 
water temperature and total plankton density at all stations in the 
Lake except at station
-
4A. Total plankton density at 
station 4A 
showed a negative correlation with water temperature. Many 
reports on positive correlations between density of specific 
groups of phytoplankton and temperature are available
7,8
. 
However, the negative correlations of phytoplankton density 
observe
d at station
-
4A might be due to the unidentified 
interactions of certain factors operating in the region. 
Correlation analysis of density of different algal classes and 
temperature at different stations revealed that the relationship of 
such groups with te
mperature was positive at certain stations but 
negative
 
at certain other stations. It may be noted that at station
-
4A, where 
Bacillariophyta 
was the dominant group, it showed a 
positive correlation with temperature but negative correlations 
of 
Cyanophyceae
 
and 
Bacillariophyceae 
with temperature. 
According to various classes as well as individual species of 
algae have minimum, optimum and maximum temperatures for 
growth
9
. The author has reported optimum temperature for 
Diatoms as 18
-
30
0
C, for Green
-
algae 30
-
35
0
C and for Blue
-
green algae 35
-
40
0
C. Since the surface water temperature 
fluctuations in 
Periyar 
Lake varied from 24 to 29
0
C, 
temperature regime in the Lake is not very favourable for 
Cyanophycean 
and 
Chlorophycean 
growth
.
 
 
Material and Methods
 
Phytoplan
ktonic samples were collected from surface water 
samples of identified station of this lake at a depth of more than 
one foot using polythene cans of two liter capacity. Algal 
material was preserved in 3
-
4% formalin at the site of 
collection. Isolated sampl
es were washed with 2
-
 
3% Acetic 
acid solution to remove organic impurities along with visible 
particles. Pure cultures were obtained using serial dilution 
method and obtained dilution was filtered and introduced in 
Research Journal of 
Animal, Veterinary and Fishery Sciences
 
___
_
_
_______________________________
___
 
ISSN 2320
 
–
 
6535
 
 
Vol. 
1
(
2
), 
7
-
8
, 
March
 
(201
3
)
          
 
         
Res. J. Animal
, Veterinary & Fishery
 
Sci
.
 
  
 
International Science Congress Association
 
 
8
 
small
 
growth containers and kept on ligh
t table to grow and 
observed using microscope.
 
The algal forms were further 
identified by staining with 1% Iodine solution and examined 
under Research microscope with 
Micro Image Projection 
System 
(MIPS) and identified with available literature
10
. The 
iden
tification of phytoplankton was done with the help of 
standard books and monographs
11
-
13
.
 
T
he
 
study of 
phytoplankton in 1litre samples were collected from the surface 
water at all the stations in clean plastic jars and were fixed 
immediately using Lugol’s 
iodine solution (1ml: 10ml)
14
 
.
 
 
Algal studies are very essential for the assessment and 
abatement of water pollution. Phytoplankton and its seasonal 
successions can be a better predictor of long term environmental 
changes in the aquatic systems than the m
ore usual descriptors 
of biomass and productivity indices
15
.
 
 
Results and Discussion 
 
The present investigatory study reveals
 
in the lake have a 
collection of so many algal genera of different class. It was 
reported that genus 
Anabaena, Nostoc, Spirulina, 
Phormidium, 
Merismopedia 
that belongs to the class 
Cyanophyta 
with 5 
number of species. Genus 
Oedogonium, Mougeotia, Chlorela, 
Cosmarium, Hydrodictyon Pediastrum, Pithophora Volvox, 
Eudorina Spirogyra, Scenedesmus, Coleochaete, Staurastrum, 
Planktospaeria,
 
Quadrigula, Crucigenia
, that belongs to the 
class Chlorophyta with 22 number of species. Genus 
Navicula, 
Pinularia, Amphiplura, Stauroneis, Epithemia, Hantzschia, 
Gyrosigma, Tabellariafenestrata, Melosira, Synedra, Anphora, 
that belong to class Bacillario
phyta with 14 numbers of species. 
Genus 
Chlorobotrys 
is belongs to class Xanthophyta with single 
number of species. The pond also shows the presence of Algal 
blooms and various algal forms. These algal forms belong to the 
class Chlorophyta.
 
 
Conclusion
 
The
 
study has revealed that, the pond had a diversified algal 
flora in which Chlorophycean members were dominant 
followed by Bacillariophyceae, Cyanophyceae, and 
Xanthophyceae.
 
Algal studies are very essential for the 
assessment and abatement of water polluti
on. Phytoplankton 
and its seasonal successions can be a better predictor of long 
term environmental changes in the aquatic systems than the 
more usual descriptors of biomass and productivity indices.
 
Biodiversity of all systems forms a vital resource that 
needs to 
be carefully conserved for our future generation, and planktons 
are especially important as they form the most sensitive 
component of the ecosystem and signal environment 
disturbances. However, biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems 
remains neglected
.
 
 
 
Acknowledgements
 
Authors are thankful to the 
Chairmen, Secretary 
K.T.S.P. 
Mandal
’s
, 
Principal, Head, Department of Zoology, Hutatma 
Rajguru Mahavidyalaya, Rajgurunagar and the teaching and non 
teaching staff providing the necessary facilities to complet
e this 
research work. I wish to express my sincere thanks to my 
colleagues, teachers and my friends for the manuscript 
correction for the assistance in statistical analysis.
 
 
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