Algal Diversity and Water Quality Assessment During Summer in Some Suburban Water Bodies of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

Freshwater algae can tolerate wide range of environmental stress and grow naturally in mixed communities. In the present study diversity of algae has been studied in some suburban water bodies near Lucknow, which revealed the occurrence of 32 genera and 40 taxa under four phyla - Cyanophyta, Chlorophyta, Bacillariophyta and Euglenophyta. It is observed that heavy anthropogenic activities and low water level in late summer resulted in accumulation of pollutants which affected the algal species composition. The polluted water with high conductivity and total dissolved solids (TDS) showed the dominance of Cyanophyta and Bacillariophyta whereas most of Chlorophyta and few Bacillariophyta were found in less polluted water with low conductivity and TDS. Taxa Centritractus belonophorus belonging to Xanthophyta is being reported for the first time from Uttar Pradesh. The study also recorded for the first time several algal taxa from these water bodies of Lucknow.