Antaryami Kumar Adhishwar and Sunil K. Choudhary
Abstract
The present study documents the diversity and distribution of the freshwater macrophytes in the Gogabil lake. This is a perennial ox-bow type of wetland in Amdabad block of Katihar district in Bihar. Gogabil lake wetland is located at 6 km east of Manihari and about 19 km south-east to district headquarter of Katihar. The wetland at present is under high environmental stress due to cultural and chemical pollution. We listed the macrophytes on seasonal basis for a period of two years, i.e. from October, 2009 to September, 2011. Altogether 137 macrophytic species were recorded from the wetland during the study period which were categorized into marginal (74 species), Submerged (11 species), floating (13 species) and emergent (39 species). Out of 137 macrophytic species, 91 species belonged to dicotyledons, 42 species to monocotyledons and 2 species each to algae and pteridophytes. From the analysis of the distribution pattern of the macrophytes in the wetland, it appears that there is no well marked differentiation in colonies of marginal, submerged, floating and emergent species and as such all the communities were found in intermixed mats. Eichhornia crassipes(free floating), Hydrilla verticillata(submerged), Cyprus rotundus(emergent) and Cynodon dactylon(marginal) were the dominant species in the wetland.