Study on Inter Co-Relation Among Aquatic Insect Diversity to Vegetation and Physico-Chemical Parameter of Lakes on Kaas Plateau, World Natural Heritage Site, Western Ghats, Maharashtra, India

Aquatic biodiversity plays a major role in maintaining the health of the ecosystem. Kass Plateau is one of the major biodiversity hotspots in the western ghats. The insects are sensitive to change, and alterations in chemical and physical factors in their habitat structure can impact their diversity. The present study investigated the interrelation between aquatic insect diversity and physiochemical parameters in four different lakes namely Kas Lake, Gay Talav, Sarwar/Kumudini Talav, and Bhadar Talav on the Kass Plateau. A total of 75 species belong to three orders. Odonata is being most dominant order with 42 species followed by the order Coleoptera with 25 species and the order Hemiptera accounting for 8 species. The water bodies also show the presence of aquatic plants foster environment. Additionally, physiochemical parameters of water such as temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, hardness, turbidity, total dissolved solids (TDS) and alkalinity were recorded. In this study we also identified the presence of some aquatic plants. The result concluded that unpolluted water bodies significantly contributed to the richness of aquatic insects.