S. Sheeba, N. Ramanujan and S. Santhosh
Abstract
Qualitative and quantitative study of zooplankton population in the lthikkara river of Kerala during November I 995 to October 1996 were studied. Zooplankton composed of six species of Protozoans, thirteen species of Rotifers, fourteen species of Crustacea (especially Cladocera, Copepoda and Ostracoda) and five groups of Meroplanktonic organisms mainly including nymph/larval forms of terrestrial insects.Their population dynamics were mainly influenced by sand mining. Among zooplankton, Crustaceans, particularly Copepods were the dominant group (33.92% to 78.66%) followed by Rotifers. Meroplanktonic organisms decreased from upstream to down stream regions.