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Effects of cyclone Fani on the copepod community of the Ganges River estuary of India

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Abstract

A cyclone temporarily disrupts copepod community structure of an estuary, and during the community rebuilding process, omnivorous copepods dominate. This hypothesis was tested after cyclone Fani affected the Ganges River estuary of India on 5 May 2019. Copepod assemblages and environmental parameters were collected before (25 February 2019), after (24 August 2019) and immediately after (daily between 8 and 14 May 2019) cyclone Fani from three sites of the estuary. Immediately after cyclone Fani, spatial heterogeneity of the estuarine environment was washed away, salinity and temperature levels of the estuary increased, pH level declined, while the total dissolve solids remained constant at high levels of concentration. Copepod diversity and abundance were drastically reduced by cyclone Fani with the exception of the omnivorous Bestiolina similis, which tolerated a wide variability of the environment and dominated the community. Led by small and medium-sized copepods, within days, the community recovered from its initial disruption. Immediately after cyclone Fani, medium-sized omnivorous copepod Acartiella tortaniformis became the second most abundant species replacing the small-sized herbivorous Paracalanus parvus. Changes in species composition and abundance hierarchy observed immediately after cyclone Fani lasted for a few months. The intensity of cyclones is increasing in the Indian Sundarban; therefore, following a cyclone, more severe and prolong disruptions of the copepod community are likely. Institutionalized monitoring of the cyclone-mediated ecological changes of the Ganges River estuary is therefore strongly recommended.

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Acknowledgements

Dr. Keith Probert (University of Otago, New Zealand) and Dr. Anurag Danda (Observer Research Foundation, India) and two anonymous reviewers are thanked for constructive comments on the manuscript. Dr. Paul thanks the DST INSPIRE Faculty Award [Sanction no: DST/INSPIRE/04/2016/0000036] for his fellowship and funding the partial research costs of the study. Dr. Paul extends his gratitude to the Core Research Grant sanctioned by the Science and Engineering Research Board [Sanction no and date: EMR/2017/001111 dated 24 July 2018] of the Government of India which met most of the research costs and the fellowships of the project personnel. Thanks to the Head of the Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta, for proving facilities related to this research.

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  1. Coastal and Quantitative Ecology Research Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta, 35 Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata, 700019, India

    Sourav Paul, Samya Karan & Bhaskar Deb Bhattacharaya

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Copepods were collected in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of Calcutta, India.

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Paul, S., Karan, S. & Bhattacharaya, B.D. Effects of cyclone Fani on the copepod community of the Ganges River estuary of India. Environ Monit Assess 192, 763 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08732-1

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