Aa. Khan et Sk. Kulshrestha, BENTHIC FAUNA IN RELATION TO POLLUTION - A CASE-STUDY AT RIVER CHAMBAL NEAR KOTA IN CENTRAL INDIA, Environment international, 19(6), 1993, pp. 597-610
The Chambal river, subjected to industrial and sewage pollution, was s
tudied with reference to the benthic fauna. Twenty seven taxa of benth
ic fauna of four main groups were observed at the stretch of the river
: Oligochaeta, Diptera, Mollusca and Insecta (''others''). It was note
d that the pollution input zone shows less fauna. The analysis of vari
ous physicochemical parameters showed an increase in pollution where d
omestic and industrial effluent were added. Changes in the benthic com
munity have been explained with the help of the Diversity Index. The s
pecies diversity values showed a decrease from the prepollution point
to the effluent discharge channel with an increase at the posteffluent
point, indicating it to be a recovery zone. The coefficient of correl
ation was assessed between different physicochemical and different gro
ups of benthic fauna.