Authors : A. Sindama and E. Okrikata
Abstract: The phytoplankton and physico-chemical characteristics of Shadawanka river Nigeria were monitored to determine the impact of change of some parameters on the distribution, species richness, relative abundance and diversity of phytoplankton composition. Water was sampled and analysed for both Biological and physico-chemical characteristics of the river. Three major components were identified that influence the physico-chemistry of the water, namely: rainfall, dissolved, oxygen and ionic composition. However, the result revealed that, the Bacillariophyceae (pinnate diatoms) had the highest abundance in all the stations, seasons and communities followed by Chlorophyceae which tended to decline with increase in flow and with reduction in nutrients and few species of Euglenophyceae dominated the total algal biomass. Correlation analysis showed that, harmful algal biomass increased with increase in total algal biomass. Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and pH were generally high during the dry season. pH increases with increase in electrical conductivity and rainfall. DO increases with increase in rainfall and BOD.
A. Sindama and E. Okrikata, 2019. Relative Abundance, Distribution and Species Diversity of Phytoplantonic Algae of a Lotic Freshwater, North-Eastern Nigeria. Environmental Research Journal, 13: 51-57.