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Altitudinal and seasonal distribution of benthic macroinvertebrates in River Tons — a tributary of Yamuna River, Uttarakhand, India

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Abstract

The main tributary of the Yamuna, the Tons River, exhibits altitudinal changes in its macroinvertebrate community’s diversity, abundance, and composition. Between May 2019 and April 2021, the study was conducted in the upper section of the river. A total of 48 numbers of taxa from 34 families and ten orders were recorded during the investigation. At this elevation of 1150 to 1287 m, the two most predominant orders are Ephemeroptera (32.9%) and Trichoptera (29.5%). During the premonsoon season, they had the lowest macroinvertebrate density (250–290 individuals/m2), and the post-monsoon season had the highest density (600–640 individuals/m2). During the post-monsoon season, the maximum larval forms (60%) of various insect orders were predominant. The findings indicated that lower altitudes (1150–1232 m) have higher macroinvertebrate abundance than higher ones. The diversity of dominance is shallow at site-I (0.0738) and strong at the site-IV during the premonsoon season (0.03837). Taxa richness, as measured by the Margalef index (D), peaked in the spring season (January to March) at 6.9 and reached its lowest point (5.74) in the premonsoon season (April to May). Only 16 taxa were discovered in site-I and site-II, but 39 taxa were discovered at low altitudes (site-IV, 1100 m) (1277–1287 m). The Tons River contains a total of 12 and 13 genera, respectively, that belong to the orders Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera, according to qualitative study of the macroinvertebrates. The current study supports the use of macroinvertebrates as bioindicator species for monitoring biodiversity and assessing the health of ecosystems.

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Data availability

All the data have been submitted to the Institute Research Committee of ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the director, CIFRI, for the facilities, and the SJVNL for financial assistance and providing lodging facilities. Lastly, our sincere thanks go to the whole team members.

Funding

The authors are grateful to SJVN (Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd.) for financial support and ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research) for laboratory and other infrastructural support and carry out the research work under the external funded project ‘Study on viable and feasible alternatives on the blocked migratory movement of fish species due to construction of Naitwar, Mori HE “Project”’.

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  1. ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700120, India

    Basanta Kumar Das, Arghya Kunui, Saurav Kumar Nandy, Amiya Kumar Sahoo, Dharmendra Kumar Meena, Samir Kumar Paul, Uttam Kumar Sarkar & Kausik Mondal

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Basanta Kumar Das, Arghya Kunui, Saurav Kumar Nandy, Amiya Kumar Sahoo, Dharmendra Kumar Meena, and Uttam Kumar Sarkar: concept, manuscript preparation, statistical analysis, and interpretation of data; Amiya Kumar Sahoo, Arghya Kunui, Saurav Kumar Nandy, Samir Kumar Pal, and Koushik Mondal: sample collection, laboratory analysis and data representation, GIS mapping, and figure preparation.

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Correspondence to Basanta Kumar Das.

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Das, B.K., Kunui, A., Nandy, S.K. et al. Altitudinal and seasonal distribution of benthic macroinvertebrates in River Tons — a tributary of Yamuna River, Uttarakhand, India. Environ Monit Assess 195, 902 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11488-z

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