Fish community and habitat diversity profiling of Luni, an ephemeral saline river from Thar Desert of India for conserva
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Fish community and habitat diversity profiling of Luni, an ephemeral saline river from Thar Desert of India for conservation and management Ajey Kumar Pathak1 · G. Kantharajan1 · V. P. Saini2 · Ravi Kumar1 · Rajesh Dayal1 · Vindhya Mohindra1 · Kuldeep K. Lal1 Received: 25 June 2020 / Accepted: 12 November 2020 © Akadémiai Kiadó Zrt. 2020
Abstract ‘Luni’ is an ecologically fragile and ephemeral saline river of socio-economic significance for indigenous peoples of the Thar Desert, India. The present study aims for mapping the ichthyofaunal diversity of an unexplored river Luni and its relationship with habitat parameters based on field surveys conducted from October, 2018 to November, 2019. The diverse habitats of river Luni support 27 fish species and the highest diversity was recorded from midstream segment (19 species) followed by downstream (14 species). The index of diversity (H’ = 2.35) and dominance (D = 0.133) indicated rich fish diversity and even distribution. The relational analysis of habitat variables with abundance of cyprinids revealed, altitude and oxidation reduction potential as the key drivers for its distribution in the upstream segment of the river. This study provides an evidence for establishment of invasive species especially Oreochromis mossambicus and its impact on the fish assemblage structure of arid river Luni. The major anthropogenic factors threatening biodiversity and pristine habitats are mining, release of effluents and excess canal water, unplanned developmental activities in the riparian corridor and establishment of non-native species. The baseline information generated on fish assemblage pattern and habitat status of the river Luni can assist in formulating strategies for the conservation and management of this riverine ecosystem to support the livelihood of local communities. Keywords Ephemeral river · Fish diversity · Invasive species · Luni River · River habitat · Rajasthan
Introduction Luni River is the only integrated river in the Thar region, the great desert of the Indian subcontinent and receives drainage from the west of Aravalli ranges (Laity 2009). The river flows restricted and is mostly dry, except the rainy season (Banyal and Kumar 2014). Occasionally the river has caused catastrophic floods as in 1979, widening from 40–500 to Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s42974-020-00033-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * G. Kantharajan [email protected] 1
ICAR - National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226 002, India
Aquaculture Research Unit, Directorate of Research, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur, Rajasthan 313 001, India
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500–1360 m (Dhir et al. 1982). The river derives its name from word ‘Lun’ meaning salt and therefore termed as ‘Salt River’. Irrespective of high salinity, this river serves as a primary source of irrigation for cultivable and culturable command areas
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