Biodiversity Assessment of Algae in Chilika Lake, East Coast of India

Abstract

Chilika is the largest brackish water lagoon in Asia situated in the east coast of India between 19°28′ and 19°54′ N latitude and 85°06′ and 85°35′ E longitude. The lagoon is an estuarine one and supports an unique assemblage of marine, brackish water and freshwater species. Algal flora of Chilika lake has been studied several times during the last century. Most of these works were repetitive in nature and none of the authors have studied the algae of the lagoon in every season covering the entire catchment area in a particular year. Further, there is also no report available containing information about all the algal forms including both macro- and micro-algal species occurring in the Chilika lake during a particular time covering a year, and also no detail taxonomic account of each of the species available. Therefore, the algal forms occurring throughout the lake in different seasons for two consecutive years were surveyed with a view to study the different algal forms occurring in the lake. Macro-algae as well as phytoplankton were collected in several collection trips during 2000–2001, analyzed and an authentic algal distribution map of the lake was prepared.