Seasonal variation in physicochemical parameters and its relationship with zooplankton abundance in river asu, Nigeria Joshua Nwinyimagu Amaechi*, Idumah Okogwu Okechukwu, Nkwuda Nwonumara Godwin, Chijioke Ani Department of Biological Sciences, Ebonyi State University, PMB 053, Abakliliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria *E-mail: amaechijn@gmail.com
Online published on 30 March, 2022. Abstract Seasonal variation in physicochemical parameters and its relationship with zooplankton abundance in River Asu, Nigeria was investigated monthly from October, 2013 to June, 2014 across wet and dry seasons. The study was aimed at investigating the seasonal variation in physicochemical parameters and its relationship with zooplankton abundance, diversity and biomass in the river. The relationship between the physiochemical parameters and zooplankton abundance in the two seasons was analyzed using Stepwise, Linear Regression. CCA showed that DO (3.0–8.5 mg/L), water temperature (23.85–32.85 0C), TDS (27.00–53.50 mg/L), phosphate (0.02–0.15 mg/L) and nitrate (0.02–0.05 mg/L) were the major environmental parameters that influenced zooplankton composition during the study. Temperature, DO, CO2 and TDS correlated positively with the abundance of all the zooplankton groups in the dry season. Water pH had perfect correlation with copepod in the dry season. CO significantly correlated positively with copepod and cladocera in both seasons but negatively correlation with copepod in the wet season. Only water temperature negatively correlated significantly with rotifer is the wet season (p < 0.05). Rotifera were most dominant all through the study period. The result showed that water quality parameters exhibited great seasonal variation and controlled the structure of zooplankton community in the river. Top Keywords Akpoha, Physicochemical parameters, Relationship, River Asu, Seasonal variation, Zooplankton. Top |