Ecological Research Gaps in Limnological Studies: A Case Study on City of Lakes, Udaipur

Freshwater ecosystems have been critical to sustaining life and establishing civilizations throughout history. The worlds freshwater lakes are increasingly threatened by new pressures and the interaction among these new and old stressors. In the rapidly changing environment, the paper emphasises the need to evaluate the state of art of limnological researches. In the present study the City of Lakes, Udaipur is taken as a case study to understand the present status of researches being carried out in relation to fresh water lakes. Most of the limnological researches being carried out are related to physico- chemical analysis, eutrophication and pollution. Much data is available on algal nutrient, sedimentation, phytoplankton etc. But most of the other topics like eco-modelling, lake restoration, growth of invasive species, cumulative impact assessment on land use changes, aquatic -terrestrial habitat relationship are still untouched or are more or less constrained to single lake. Competition for water among different users arising from population increase is certainly limiting the ability of lakes to survive at present and in the near future, particularly in the face of the harsher environmental conditions that climate change is triggering. Thus the present paper aims to identify the research gaps and define criteria to be used to distinguish research able to produce relevant results and predictive model, which are essential for efficient management of fresh water lakes.