Study on Distribution and Diversity of Phytoplankton in Relation to Physico-chemical Parameters in Bhavanapadu Creek, Andhra Pradesh, India

The Phytoplankton distribution and diversity was studied with compare to the Physico-chemical parameters in Bhavanapadu Creek. A monthly sampling was carried out from December 2010 to November 2011 at 5 different stations. The four classes of phytoplankton comprises of 39 species and Bacillariophyceae were contributed (0-90%), more percentage of composition fallowed by Chlorophyceae (1-62%), Cyanophyceae (2-46%) and Pyrrophyceae (0-10%). The Phytoplankton population density and diversity depends upon the Physico-chemical parameters and showed significant correlation with the parameters like temperature, pH, ammonia, magnesium, phosphates and dissolved oxygen (D.O.). The Shannon-weavers index (H) was 0.000 to 0.595.