De T. K.¹ , Mukherjee A.¹ , Das S.¹ , Chakraborty Chakraborty S.¹ , De M.² , Maiti T.K.³

1. Department of Marine Science, Calcutta University, 35, B. C. Road, Kolkata-700019, India
2. Manicktala Siksha Bhavan, 304/B/1 Bagmari Road, Kolkata-700054, India
3. Department of Botany, Burdwan University, Rajbati, Burdwan – 713104, India
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2015, Vol. 5, No. 47   doi: 10.5376/ijms.2015.05.0047
Received: 05 May, 2015    Accepted: 15 Jun., 2015    Published: 13 Aug., 2015

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

De T. K., Mukherjee A., Das S., Chakraborty S., De M. and Maiti T.K., 2015, Interrelationship Between Planktonic Diatoms and Selected Governing Physicochemical Parameters of the Hooghly Estuary, Bay of Bengal, International Journal of Marine Science, 5(47): 1-9 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2015.05.0047)

The estuarine ecosystem is generally dynamic and mostly sets the stage for the interplay between phytoplankton such as diatom and the water quality parameters. The study was performed at selected sites of Hooghly estuary to monitor the effect of chosen physicochemical parameters (pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen, nutrients etc.) in relation to seasonal fluctuations in the diatom communities (Chl a and population density). The study encompassed a period of two years (Nov’12 to Oct’14). Seasonal variations in the Redfield ratio (N: P) during the tenure of the study ranged from 5.52 during premonsoon to 14.43 during monsoon.  Low salinity and high inorganic compounds (NO₃, PO₄ and SiO₄) levels in the coastal water could have contributed to the predominance of diatoms over dinoflagellates, as observed during the study. The study also reflected the fact that in the mangrove dominated estuarine ecosystems, diatom species like Skeletonema sp., Thalassionema spp., Synedra sp. etc possess potentials to be used as bioindicators to nutrient enriched ecosystem and therefore, can serve as ecological tools to monitor water quality.

Interrelation; Diatom; Physico-chemical parameter; Mangrove; Estuary; Sagar Island