Biodiverse rotifer assemblage (Rotifera: Eurotatoria) of floodplain lakes of the Brahmaputra basin of lower Assam, northeast India: composition and ecosystem diversity -- Journal of Oceanology and Limnology,2018,36(2):362-375

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	Bhushan Kumar SHARMA, Shaikhul Islam KHAN, Sumita SHARMA. Biodiverse rotifer assemblage (Rotifera: Eurotatoria) of floodplain lakes of the Brahmaputra basin of lower Assam, northeast India: composition and ecosystem diversity[J]. Journal of Oceanology and Limnology, 2018, 36(2): 362-375

Biodiverse rotifer assemblage (Rotifera: Eurotatoria) of floodplain lakes of the Brahmaputra basin of lower Assam, northeast India: composition and ecosystem diversity

Bhushan Kumar SHARMA, Shaikhul Islam KHAN, Sumita SHARMA

Freshwater Biology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong-793 022, Meghalaya, India

Abstract:

The study aims to ascertain the hypothesis on the rich rotifer biodiversity of the floodplain lakes (beels) of the Brahmaputra river basin and to use these metazoans to assess trophic status or to characterize habitat variations of wetlands. The plankton samples collected from four beels of lower Assam revealed 160 Rotifera species belonging to 35 genera and 19 families. The richness is of biodiversity value as~38.0% and~57.0% of the rotifer species known till date from India and northeast India (NEI), respectively. One species each is new to the Oriental region and NEI, and three species are new to Assam; 23 species merit global biogeography interest and several exhibit distribution values in the Indian sub-region. The diverse Lecanidae > Brachionidae > Lepadellidae > Trichocercidae and speciose littoral-periphytic Lecane > Lepadella > Trichocerca, and richness of Brachionus spp. following removal of aquatic macrophytes are noteworthy. Overall rotifer composition showed homogeneity amongst beels while lower monthly richness and community similarities affirmed heterogeneity within individual beels. We propose L/B quotient based on Lecane:Brachionus species ratios to characterize habitat variations of the sampled wetlands. Sládeček's B/T quotient based on Brachionus:Trichocerca species ratios affirmed general ‘meso-trophic’ status of different beels. Our results provided little insight on the influence of individual abiotic factors but the canonical correspondence analyses asserted higher cumulative influence of ten abiotic parameters on Rotifera richness in each beel.

Received: 2016-09-27 Revised:

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