A Preliminary Checklists on Planktons Dynamics of Calabar River, Southern Nigeria

Abstract

A preliminary Checklist on plankton's dynamics of Calabar River, Southern Nigeria was investigated from July, 2013 to December, 2013. Three sampling stations (1-3) were chosen along the river course. The choices of sampling stations of the river were based on the ecological settings; vegetation's and human activities in the area. Plankton's species were collected by filtering 60 litres of the water sample through 55μm plankton net at each station. The planktons were immediately fixed in a 5% formalin solution and transported to the Institute of Oceanography laboratory, University of Calabar, Nigeria, for analysis and identification. This study recorded a total of (45) plankton's species, (21) for zooplankton and (24) for phytoplankton belonging to 13 taxonomic groups, (7) for zooplankton and (5) for phytoplankton following the order of dominance; for zooplankton's, Calanoida > Cladocera > Chaetognaths > Copepoda > Decapoda > Protozoan > Rotifera; for Phytoplankton's, Bacillariophyceae > Cyanophyceae > Chlorophyceae > Euglenophyceae > Dinophyceae. These findings indicate the unpolluted nature of the Calabar River and also provide useful information on the checklists and ecology of plankton's species which could be potentially used as bio-indicators for assessing and monitoring the River.