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Copepods (Zooplankton) of Muriganga Estuary, at West Bengal Coast, India

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Abstract

Estuarine plankton are often influenced by seasonal change and abiotic variability. The copepod community of India’s Muriganga estuary was hypothesized to be affected by seasonal and abiotic (e.g., salinity, water temperature and pH) changes; therefore, seasonal sampling of the copepod assemblages and those abiotic parameters was conducted between February 2019 and October 2020 from three sites of the estuary. It was found that the salinity of premonsoon was significantly different than monsoon and postmonsoon. Further, salinity showed a significant negative relationship with the diversity indices and the total abundance of the copepod community. Seasonal ordination of the copepod assemblages was significantly different. Dissimilarities observed in the abundances of species such as Bestiolina similis, Acartiella tortaniformis, Acartia spinicauda and Paracalanus parvus could be a possible reason of that. Bestiolina similis was the most abundant and dominant population of the copepod community. Species such as Acartiella tortaniformis, Acartia spinicauda, Paracalanus parvus were also highly abundant. Occasionally, along with Bestiolina similis those species co-dominated the copepod community of the Muriganga estuary. The results overall indicate the resilience of the copepod community to the abiotic and seasonal changes of the tropical estuarine environment.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Authors thank Mr. Soumik Ghosh, Mr. Hirak Dey, Ms. Bhattacharya, Mr. Biswajit Paramannu, Mr. Palash Samanta for their help in the field works on different occasions. Authors appreciate their discussions with Prof. Srimanta. K. Raut and Dr. Keith Probert which improved the manuscript. Dr. Bhattacharya extend his gratitude to the Estuarine and Coastal Studies Foundation for financial assistance received during the course of the study. Dr. Paul thanks the Department of Science & Technology INSPIRE Faculty Award [Sanction no: DST/INSPIRE/04/2016/0000036] of the Govt. of India for his fellowship and funding most of the sampling costs related to the study. Dr. Paul further extends his gratitude to the Core Research Grant sanctioned by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) [Sanction: EMR/2017/001111 dated 24 July 2018] of the Government of India which met the partial research costs of this study and the fellowship of Mr. Karan. Thanks to the Head of the Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta and the Director of the Estuarine and Coastal Studies Foundation for providing facilities related to this research.

Funding

Department of Science & Technology INSPIRE Faculty Award [Sanction no: DST/INSPIRE/04/2016/0000036]. Core Research Grant sanctioned by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) [Sanction: EMR/2017/001111 dated 24 July 2018] of the Government of India.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Sourav Paul & Samya Karan

  2. Estuarine and Coastal Studies Foundation, Howrah, West Bengal, India

    Sourav Paul & Bhaskar Deb Bhattacharya

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Conceptualization: SP; Methodology: BDB, SK, SP; Formal analysis and investigation: SP, BDB, Writing—SP; Writing—review and editing: SP, BDB, SK; Funding acquisition: SP; Resources: SP; Supervision: SP.

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Correspondence to Sourav Paul.

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Paul, S., Karan, S. & Bhattacharya, B.D. Copepods (Zooplankton) of Muriganga Estuary, at West Bengal Coast, India. Proc Zool Soc 77, 126–135 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12595-024-00515-7

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