Taxonomic Survey of Phytoplankton in Manasbal Lake of Kashmir Himalaya, India

Abstract

The current study was conducted over a two-year study period at Manasbal Lake, which has a catchment area of 22 km2 and is located in the district of Ganderbal, 30 kilometers north of the city of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir. The Manasbal catchment is defined by latitudes 34°14' - 34°16' N and longitudes 74°40' - 74°43' E, with an elevation of approximately 1551m a.s.l. During the present study, 101 phytoplankton species from six groups were identified from Manasbal Lake: Bacillariophyceae, Chlorophyceae, Cyanophyceae, Chrysophyceae, Dinophyceae, and Euglenophyceae. Among these, Bacillariophyceae formed the bulk of phytoplankton with 49 species, followed by Chlorophyceae (39), Cyanophyceae (7), Euglenophyceae (3), Dinophyceae (2) and Chrysophyceae (1). The Bacillariophyceae, the dominant group, was present at all six sites with the maximum diversity of species.