Seasonal variations in physicochemical characteristics and cyanobacterial diversity of a lake in Northern India

Abstract

Physicochemical analyses and cyanobacterial diversity of Ramgarh Lake water were performed at five sampling sites during winter, summer, and monsoon seasons. Higher load of solids, carbon, and nutrients were persistent throughout the analysis that indicates the conversion of lake from oligotrophic to eutrophic nature. High nutrients load enhanced cyanobacterial biomass, while low nutrients load produced relatively less biomass. The physicochemical parameters of water samples revealed minimum 2.9 mg L⁻¹ dissolved oxygen (DO) at site-1 during summer, while maximum (5.6 mg L⁻¹) at site-4 in monsoon season. Maximum biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) (40 mg L⁻¹) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) (126 mg L⁻¹) were recorded at site-1 during summer, whereas minimum BOD (18 mg L⁻¹) and COD (52 mg L⁻¹) were evident at site-3 in monsoon season. Minimum concentration of nitrate (0.72 mg L⁻¹) was recorded at site-3 in summer, whereas maximum 2.7 mg L⁻¹ was present at site-5 in winter season. The phosphate concentration was maximum (0.52 mg L⁻¹) at site-5 in summer, and minimum (0.18 mg L⁻¹) was observed at site-4 in monsoon season. Cyanobacterial diversity was higher during all the seasons, and dominated by the species of Microcystis at all the five sampling sites.

Keywords:

• algal blooms
• cyanobacteria
• diversity
• water quality

Acknowledgement

The authors express gratitude to Council of Science and Technology (CST), Uttar Pradesh (India) for providing financial assistance.