Studies on a Collection of Rotifers from three freshwater Wetlands in Bishnupur District, Manipur, North East India Presented by:

M. Bimola Devi

Division of Wetlands, Fishery Science and Aquaculture Department of Life Science and Bioinformatics Assam University, Silchar, Assam

INTRODUCTION
Rotifers (Rotifera = wheel bearers) are microscopic,

pseudocoelomate freshwater animals, and are amongst the smallest members of the Metazoa. They are able to survive long periods - even hundreds of years in a hibernation-like dehydrated state known as Anhydrobiosis. They become normal living creatures when rehydrated or thawed. Most of the rotifers have a hard or semi-hard shell, known as lorica, which forms the outer surface of the body.

Study Sites
1.Yenpat Yenapat of Bishnupur district Manipur is a freshwater lake. It lies in the intersection of 24o38 N latitude and 93o48 E longitude. 2.Thongjaorok river The Thongjaorok river, located in the Bishnupur District of Manipur, North East India, is a freshwater hill stream a partially subterranean stream originating from the western hill ranges and falling into the Loktak Lake. The river lies in the intersection of 24o 30N and 93o 45E. 3.Irrigation Canal The Phubala Irrigation canal is located in the Bishnupur District of Manipur, North East India, is a freshwater artificial channel constructed for the purpose of irrigating the adjoining paddy field. It lies in the intersection of 9379E longitude to 2460N latitude.

MATERIALS AND METHOD

Materials for the present studies were collected during the period

September 2012 to August 2013 at monthly intervals. Collection of rotifer is done using plankton nets made of bolting silk cloth no. 25 of mesh size 55 microns. Identification was done following Edmondson (1959), Patil and Gouder (1989), APHA (1991), BATTISH (1992), Nogrady et al (1993), Segers (1995), Sharma (1999), and Khan (2003). Segers (2002). Microscope observations & photograhy of both live and preserved samples were done using Fisher-Scientific Micromaster computerised microscope with inbuilt CCD camera and image capture software

 RESULT S AND DISCUSSION

Species Diversity of rotifer of Yenapat

A total of 11 species belonging to 8 genera viz Brachionus, Keratella, Anuraeopsis, Platyias, Plationus, Euchlanis, Lecane and Mytilina are reported.

Species Diversity of rotifer of Thongjaorok river

A total of 14 species belonging to 10 genera viz Brachionus, Anuraeopsis, Lecane, Mytilina, Keratella, Plationus, Euchlanis, Colurella, Cephalodella and Otostephanus.

Species Diversity of rotifer In Phubala Irrigation canal

Phubala Irrigation canal is represented by 6 species belonging to 4 genera viz Brachionus, Anuraeopsis, Keratella and Plationus.

Table1. Rotifer biodiversity of Yenapat, Thongjaorok river and Phubala Irrigation Canal
Sl Group No Rotifera Genus Name of Species Yenapat Thongjaorok Phubala Irrigation Canal + -

Brachionus

Brachionus urceolaris (O.F. Muller, 1773) +

Brachionus plicatilis (O.F. Muller, 1786) Brachionus caly ciflorus (Pallas, 1766) + +

+ -

Brachionus falcatus(Zacharias, 1898)

Brachionus quadridentatus (Hermann, + 1783) Brachionus ruben (Ehrenberg, 1838) Keratella Keratella tropica (Apstein, 1907) + + +

+ + +

+ + +

Anuraeopsis Anuraeopsis fissa (Gosse, 1851)

Table 2. PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PARAMETER OF YENAPAT:

Months September 2012 October 2012 November 2012 December 2012 January 2013 Water pH Temperature(oC) 22 7.2 20 17.9 17.5 18.6 7 7.1 7 7 DO(mg/l) 7.2 6.5 6.6 6.8 6 FCO2 (mg/l) TA(mg/l) 5 6 6.4 6.2 7.2 50 54 53 51 54

February 2013
March 2013

18
18.2

6.9
6.5

5.8
6

7.0
7.1

53.5
54

April 2013
May 2013 June 2013 July 2013 August 2013

19.5
20 25 24 24

6.5
7 6 6 7

4.8
5.5 8 6.4 6.6

6.5
6.8 7 6 7

52
52 50 53 50

Table3. PHYSICOCHEMICAL PARAMETER OF THONGJAOROK:

Months
Serptember 2012 October 2012 November 2012 December 2012 January 2013 February 2013 March 2013

Water temperature(oC)
24 20 18 17.4 18.5 19 18.5

pH DO(mg/l) FreeCO2 TA(mg/l) (mg/l) 7 5.8 6 57 6.5 4.8 4.9 55 7 6 5.8 53

6.8 7 6.8 6 6.5 6.8 7 8.4 5.5 6 6.5 6.8 52.5 54 53.8 51

April 2013
May 2013 June 2013 July 2013 August 2013 23.5

19.4
21 23

6.4
6.5 7 7

7
7 6 6 4.9

6.5
6.4 5.5 5.8 5

52
52.5 53.8 53.5 55

24

Table4. PHYSICOCHEMICAL PARAMETER OFPHUBALA IRRIGATION CANAL :

Water Tempature(oC) September 2012 20,4 October 2012 November 2012 December 2012 January 2013 February 2013 March 2013 April 2013 May2013 June2013 July2013 19.5 18.5 17.8 18.7 18.5 20.9 21 21.5 22.5 23.2 Month pH DO(mg/lt) 6.5 7 6.5 6.8 7 6.7 6.8 7 6.5 7 6.5 6.6 6.4 7 7 6.9 7 6.8 7 6.7 6.5 6.2 FCO2 (mg/l) 6 5 6.5 6.2 5.4 5.5 5.7 5.9 6 5.5 5 TA(mg/lt) 34 32 33 32.5 30.5 31.9 32.2 33.1 31.5 32 34

Table 5: Mean value of the different parameters of the study sites:

Parameters Yenapat Thongjaorok Phubala
Irrigation canal Temperature(oC) 19.9 pH DO2(mg/lt) 6.8 5.3 20.5 6.7 6.3 20.5 6.7 6.6

FCO2 (mg/l)

6.5

5.8

5.6

Alkalinity(mg/lt) 52

53.5

32.39

60

50

Average value

40

30

Temperature C pH DO

20

Free CO

Alkalinity
10

Yenapat

Thongjaorok

Study sites

Phubala Irrigation Canal

Fig. Physico-chemical parameters of water

Photographs of Some of the Rotifer

Brachionus urceolaris (O.F. Muller, 1773)

Brachionus plicatilis (O.F. Muller, 1786)

Brachionus calyciflorus (Pallas, 1766)

Brachionus falcatus (Zacharias, 1898)

BRACHIONUS QUADRIDENTATUS (HERMANN, 1783)

Platyias quadricornis(Ehrenberg,1832 )

LECANE LUDWIGI (ECKSTEIN, 1883)

Discussion
Altogether eighteen rotifer species were collected. The four genera of rotifer viz. Brachionus, Keratella, Anuraeopsis and Plationus were found in all the study sites. Brachionus sp. is found to be the most dominant while other species of rotifer showed fluctuation resulting in distinct pulses among the rotifer population. Maximum temperature 25oC was recorded in summer and minimum temperature 18oC in winter. Temperature play a prime role in the productivity of water by influencing abundance primary producer. The result revealed that there were fluctuations in the physico-chemical characters of the three water bodies in different seasons of the year

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