Qualitative and quantitative analysis of phytoplankton in Ramala Lake

Plankton are important biotic component of aquatic habitat. They do determine the trophic status and quality of water. The phytoplankton is the base of most of the lake food web. It forms a bulk of food for zooplankton, fishes and other aquatic organisms. The biodiversity of phytoplankton and zooplankton in any water body shows a correlation with reference to their occurrences and physic-chemical factors. The present paper is an attempt to enumerate the phytoplanktonic diversity of the Ramala Lake, Chandrapur, and Maharashtra. Data is collected during the different seasons from November 2006 to October 2007. The plankton community showed the seasonal fluctuations. The phytoplankton population of Ramala Lake was found to be composed of four major groups namely Chlorophyceae (48.40%), Bacillariophyceae (24.81%), Myxophyceae (22.44%) and Euglenophyceae (4.32%). The class Chlorophyceae represented by 11 species stood first quantitatively and qualitatively, Bailloriophyceae by 7 species, Myxophyceae by 5 and Euglenophyceae by only 2 species.