Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

LONGITUDINAL DISTRIBJTION OF BENTHIC FLORA AND FAUNA OF LTHIKKARA RIVER5 KERAIA

S. Sheeba and N. Ramanujan

Abstract

Distribution of benthic flora and fauna was studied for the Ithikkara river at six sites. The benthic algal community was dominated by diatoms. Benthic algal flora composed of 2 species of Cyanophyceae (blue green algae), 9 species of Chlorophyceae (green algae), 17 species of Bacillariophyceae (diatoms) and 2 species of Euglenophyceae. Benthic fauna composed of 16 species of Protozoa, 9 species of Annelida, 14 species of Crustaceae (Arthropoda), 8 species of nymph! larvae of insects (Arthropoda), 5 species in Mollusca and one species of nematode worm (Achelminthes). Protozoans were mainly found in upstream region and crustaceans in down stream region.