Plant Science Research, Vol. 35, 2013

Desmid diversity in Khanajan - a manmade channel linking Deepor beel Ramsar site to Brahmaputra River (India)

For compilation of desmid flora, the authors studied the species diversity of planktonic desmids collected from Khanajan water channel regularly at the interval of one month from November 2011 to December 2012. A total of 22 taxa of desmids have been identified belonging to seven genera, that are Closterium Nitzsch (5 species), Euastrum Ehrenberg (1 species), Micrasterias C.A.Agardh (2 species), Cosmarium Corda ex Ralfs (9 species), Anthrodesmus Ehrenberg (1 species), Staurastrum Meyen (3 species) and Desmidium C.A.Agardh (1 species). All the taxa are taxonomically enlisted. The annual mean values of the total cell density and biomass were 84.02×10² cells /L and 0.048 mg/L respectively. Higher occurrence of desmids with 17 taxa in post-monsoon season had attributed to heavy rainfall and back flow of Brahmaputra water. Cosmarium was the most abundant genus particularly in monsoon and pre-monsoon season.