Assessment of Functional Feeding Groups of Benthic Macroinvertebrates to Evaluate River Ecosystem Functioning in the Bhagirathi River, Indian Himalaya
Jitendra
Benthic Ecology Lab, Department of Zoology, Nehru Gram Bharati (Deemed to be University), Prayagraj-221505, U.P., India.
Asheesh Shivam Mishra
*
Benthic Ecology Lab, Department of Zoology, Nehru Gram Bharati (Deemed to be University), Prayagraj-221505, U.P., India.
Vijay Prakash Semwal
Department of Zoology, Govt. Post Graduate College, New Tehri, Uttarakhand, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The present study was focused to determine the distributional patterns of the functional feeding groups (FFG) benthic macroinvertebrate in assessment of river health of the river Bhagirathi. The benthic macroinvertebrate samples were collected bi-monthly at seven stations (S1–S7) during November 2023 to October 2024. Scrappers (31%) were most dominant group at S1, while gathering collectors (37%), filtering collectors (36%), predators (30%) and shredders (13%) at S7, S6, S3 and S4, respectively. Longitudinally, scrapers declined from S1 to S7, while gathering collectors increased from S1 to S7. However, no definite patterns were observed for filtering collectors, predators and shredders. Shredders, scrappers, gathering collectors, filtering collectors and predators were found significantly different among the stations. Longitudinally, scraper decreased while filtering collector increased from headwater to mouth, shredder, gathering collector and predator did not exhibit any pattern. The functional state of the river exhibited two groups; shredder-scraper and collector-predator.
Keywords: Bhagirathi river, functional feeding group, scrapper, gathering collector, RCC