Water quality assessment in relation to fish assemblage using multivariate analysis in Manasbal Lake, Kashmir

Abstract

ABSTRACTWater is necessary for the survival of any living being on this planet and in today’s world, it has become a limiting resource because of anthropogenic pressures like pollution, climate change, overexploitation etc. To maintain the water bodies in a proper condition from time to time, analysis of the water quality is highly recommended. So an attempt was made to have a detailed analysis of the surface water quality of the deepest freshwater lake in India, the Manasbal Lake, and to know the impact of these parameters on the distribution of fish fauna in the lake. The different physicochemical aspects of the lake were analyzed spatially and seasonally for a period of two years. The results from the principal component analysis revealed that the main parameters affecting the water quality in Manasbal Lake include total dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, total phosphorus, nitrates, pH, free carbon dioxide, dissolved oxygen and alkalinity. The study also reported a similarity in physicochemical aspects as well as the type of fish fauna from Sites-I and Site-III. Overall the physicochemical aspects were seen to impact the distribution of different fish species in the lake as reported from the canonical correspondence and cluster analysis. pH and nitrates were found to impact the distribution of fish species like Cyprinus carpio, Carassius carassius, Schizothorax niger and S. curvifrons whereas the main parameters affecting the distribution of Pethia conchonius, Crossocheilus diplochilus and Gambusia holbrooki were dissolved oxygen, free carbon dioxide and water temperature. The overall water quality of the lake is good for the proper growth and survival of the fish species and also for domestic purposes. This study will be very helpful to form baseline information for future research, as very scanty information is available related to such work.

Keywords

• Canonical correspondence analysis
• habitat preferences
• physicochemical parameters
• principal component analysis
• freshwater