ENVIS Technical Report: 25
http://www.iisc.ernet.in/

ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF LENTIC WATER BODIES OF BANGALORE

T. V. Ramachandra     and     Malvikaa Solanki
 http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/energy/
Contents Page No.
Summary
Table of contents 3
List of tables 5
List of figures 6
Introduction 7
1.1        Water 7
    1.1.1     Hydrologic cycle - The sun powered cycle 8
    1.1.2     Distribution of water on earth 10
    1.1.3     Water resources in India 11
    1.1.4     Threats to water resources 12
1.2       Aquatic Ecosystem 13
    1.2.1     Types of aquatic ecosystems 13
    1.2.2     Watershed – Linking aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems 14
    1.2.3     Freshwater Ecology 15
    1.2.4     Freshwater organisms and food web 17
    1.2.5     Causes and effects of pollution on aquatic ecosystems 22
1.3        Wetlands 26
    1.3.1     Functions and values of wetlands 27
    1.3.2     Threats and loss of wetlands 29
    1.3.3     Implications of losses and mismanagement of wetlands 30
    1.3.4     Conservation of wetlands 32
    1.3.5     Convention on wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971) 33
    1.3.6     Conservation and restoration of wetlands -the ecosystem approach 34
    1.3.7     Wetlands in India 35
    1.3.8     Status of wetlands in Bangalore 38
    1.3.9     Need for ecosystem quality assessment of water bodies 40
1.4        Ecological assessment of wetlands 40
    1.4.1     Assessment of water quality 40
    1.4.2     Physico chemical assessment 41
        1.4.2.1        Temperature 42
        1.4.2.2        Total solids, Total suspended solids & Total dissolved solids 42
        1.4.2.3        Turbidity 42
        1.4.2.4        Transparency 43
        1.4.2.5        pH 43
        1.4.2.6        Specific conductivity 43
        1.4.2.7        Dissolved oxygen 44
        1.4.2.8        Alkalinity 44
        1.4.2.9        Total hardness, Calcium hardness & Magnesium hardness 45
        1.4.2.10       Nitrates 45
        1.4.2.11       Phosphates 45
        1.4.2.12       Sodium 46
        1.4.2.13       COD 46
    1.4.3     Biological Monitoring 46
        1.4.3.1        Plankton as indicators of water quality 48
        1.4.3.2        Macroinvertebrates as indicator species 50
        1.4.3.3        Fish as indicator species 51
Literature review 52
1.5        Studies using organisms as Bio indicators 53
1.6        Studies in India 56
1.7        Studies in Bangalore, Karnataka, India 58
Objectives and Study Area 60
1.8        Objectives 60
1.9        Study Area 61
    1.9.1     Chamarajasagar reservoir 61
    1.9.2     Madiwala Lake 64
Materials and Methods 67
1.10      Physico – Chemical analysis 67
    1.10.1        Temperature 67
    1.10.2        Total dissolved solids 67
    1.10.3        Transparency 68
    1.10.4        pH 68
    1.10.5        Specific conductivity 68
    1.10.6        Dissolved oxygen 69
    1.10.7        Alkalinity 70
    1.10.8        Total hardness, Calcium hardness & Magnesium hardness 71
    1.10.9        Nitrates 72
    1.10.10      Phosphates 73
    1.10.11      Sodium 74
    1.10.12      Potassium 76
    1.10.13      COD 76
1.11      Plankton analysis 78
Results and discussion 81
1.12      Physico-chemical analysis 82
    1.12.1        Chamarajasagar reservoir 82
    1.12.2        Madiwala Lake 83
1.13      Phytoplankton analysis 85
    1.13.1        Chamarajasagar reservoir 85
    1.13.2        Madiwala Lake 88
1.14      Zooplankton 91
1.15      Fish 92
1.16      Birds 92
Conclusion and Scope for future research 93
1.17     Conclusion 93
APPENDIX A: : Phytoplankton – Observed during the study 95
APPENDIX B: : Zoooplankton – Observed during the study 96
Acknowledgement 98
References 98


List of Tables Page No.
Table 1.1: Distribution of world’s water resources 11
Table 1.2: The major groups of organisms in freshwater (UNEP ) 19
Table 1.3: Influences of decreasing pH on several groups of aquatic organism (Modified from Jeffries M., and Mills D, 1990) 24
Table 1.4: Area Estimates of Wetlands of India (in million ha) (Table source: Directory of Asian Wetlands, IUCN, 1989) 36
Table 1.5: Distribution of wetlands in India Table source: (Ramachandra T.V., Kiran R., and Ahalya N, 2002 21) 37
Table 1.6: Growth of Bangalore urban agglomeration(Table source – Indian Express, October 30, 2005) 38
Table 1.7: Dissolved oxygen level and water quality 44
Table 3.1: Chamarajasagar reservoir factfile 61
Table 3.2: Madiwala lakefactfile 64
Table 5.1: Standardisation of sampling volume for phytoplankton analysis 81
Table 5.2: Chamarajasagar reservoir – physico chemical analysis 82
Table 5.3: Madiwala lake– physico chemical analysis 84
Table 5.4: Chamarajasagar reservoir and Madiwala Lake – physico chemical analysis 84
Table 5.5: Chamarajasagar reservoir – phytoplankton counts at five sampling sites 86
Table 5.6: Chamarajasagar reservoir – summary of phytoplankton counts and composition 87
Table 5.7: Madiwala Lake – phytoplankton counts at six sampling site 88
Table 5.8: Madiwala Lake  – summary of phytoplankton counts and composition 89
Table 5.9:  Species of phytoplankton common to Madiwala Lake and Chamarajasagar reservoir 90
Table 5.10:  Species unique to Chamarajasagar reservoir 91
Table 5.11: Species unique to Madiwala Lake 91
Table 5.12: Fish observed at the study areas 92
Table 5.13: Birds observed at the study areas 92


List of Figures Page No.
Figure 1.1: Hydrological Cycle 9
Figure 1.2: Distribution of world water resources (Ramachandra .T.V, 2002) 10
Figure 1.3: Sketch showing major zones of lake 16
Figure 1.4: A simple aquatic food chain 18
Figure 3.1: Location of the study areas 62
Figure 3.2:  Chamarajasagar reservoir with sampling sites 63
Figure 3.3:  Madiwala Lake sampling sites 66
Figure 5.1: Graph showing relation between species and volume of sample filtered 82
Figure 5.2: Graph indicating phytoplankton composition of Chamarajasagar reservoir 87
Figure 5.3: Graph indicating phytoplankton composition of Madiwala Lake 90
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