Idol immersion and its adverse impact on water quality and plankton community in Hooghly (Ganges) River Estuary, India: Implications for conservation management

Abstract

Deterioration of water quality due to high turbidity (11.87±1.13 NTU) and biochemical oxygen demand (1.66±0.38 mg l^-1) coupled with low chlorophyll (chl <em>a</em>) (0.94±0.15 mgm^-3) during immersion has been recorded. Decreasing trend of numerical density for loricate ciliate tintinnid (microzooplankton) [post-immersion (224±52 cells l^-1) > pre-immersion (144±36 cells l^-1) > immersion (85±30 cells l^-1)] and phytoplankton [post-immersion (2745±912 cells l^-1) > pre-immersion (2337±441 cells l^-1) > immersion (1660±334 cells l^-1)] was evident.