SPATIO-TEMPORAL CHANGES OF WATER QUALITY AND ZOOPLANKTON DYNAMICS OF THE SHIVNA RIVER AT MANDSAUR, INDIA

Rivers are an important source of fresh water, but because of increasing human activity, it is challenging to examine their ecological health. This paper had studied the seasonal change in the water quality and zooplankton population in the river Shivna around Mandsaur in India to establish the influence of physical and chemical conditions of the water on the living organisms. A total of twelve parameters such as pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, hardness, alkalinity, nitrates and phosphates were analyzed and evaluated in the water samples of the various river sites. They were used to calculate the Water Quality Index (WQI). Two tailed Pearson correlation was used to perform the statistical test to establish the impact of water chemistry on plankton density. The results indicated that the values of number of water quality parameters were higher than the BIS/WHO standard limits. The living community is comprised of three major groups: Rotifera (49), Copepoda (33), and Cladocera (13). The values of the WQI differed greatly in different seasons with a range of 32.13 (good) in the monsoon to 166 (inappropriate) in the summer. This shows a critical issue of organic waste. The high density of planktons, high BOD (12.8 mg/L) and low dissolved oxygen (5.1 mg/L) were all significantly correlated, and it was concluded that sudden increase in rotifers also known as Rotifer Surge is one of the main indicators that the water is enriched with nutrients. The results indicate that zooplanktons are beneficial in semi-arid river systems to determine the health of the aquatic system. The study offers useful information for creating sustainable management plans to deal with urban waste and protect the river’s natural habitat.