Abundance of Birds and Variations in Physico-Chemical Characteristics of Freshwater Reservoir

Abstract

The study illustrates physical and chemical characteristics of water in Chashma Barrage reservoir. Water sampled from 3 different locations in the reservoir during April, June and July 2015 was tested in situ and brought in laboratory for ionic estimation. The study findings showed that the reservoir water has warm water Temperature between 21 – 380C, low to high pH i.e., 4.9 – 10, Dissolved Oxygen between 4.4 - 10.54 ppm, Total Dissolved Solids between 18 - 405 ppm, Electrical Conductivity between 21 – 396 µS, Turbidity ranging from 0 – 1000 FTU with varying Carbon dioxide concentrations in range of 1.76 – 35.8 ppm, Specific Conductance between 0 – 2.82 ms/cm, Nitrates between 0.001 – 3.32 ppm, Nitrites between 0.001 – 5.219 ppm and Phosphates between 0.001 – 11.99 ppm. The highest concentrations of nitrates and phosphates in stagnant water of sites 3 and 1 depict productive water chemistry. Sample collection, identification and laboratory population count of the aquatic flora and fauna revealed their increased production in wetland ecosystem.