COPEPODS IN AYIRAMTHENGU MANGROVE; KOLLAM

Abstract

Mangrove ecosystems are considered to be the most productive and complex wetlands. Ayiramthengu is situated about 6 km west of Oachira town on the bank of the Kayamkulam estuary, its an important part of this estuary. Present study is aimed to analyse the copepod diversity and water quality parameters in this region. Because copepods are one of the important group in zooplankton , they are important food for fishes and its relation with water quality parameters is very important. Copepods were collected monthly using plankton net (60µ). During the whole study period (september 15 to august16) total 15 species of copepods are en counted belong in 3 order .6 species of cyclopoida,7 species calanoida and 2 species of Herpacticoida .Standard procedure are adopted for determination of physico-chemical parameters of water viz: , salinity, Temperature, DO, BOD, pH, are found that
influence the copepod diversity.