Ecological studies of aquatic hyphomycetes in a canal and its connecting irrigation channels

Abstract

Ecological studies of the aquatic hyphomycetes were carried out at the Lahore Branch of the BRB Bombanwali Ravi Badian Canal and its associated irrigation water channels at Quaid-e-Azam Campus, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. A comparison was made between the canal and its connecting irrigation channels for the physcio-chemical properties and the spora of the aquatic hyphomycetes. Two water channels, WC-1 and WC-2 were selected for this purpose. The canal and the irrigation water channels differed from each other in their riparian vegetation and the water chemistry. The comparison revealed a greater similarity in aquatic hyphomycete communities of the irrigation water channels as compared to that of canal. A total of nineteen aquatic hyphomycete species were detected from the canal, nineteen from WC-1 and fifteen from WC-2 by using three techniques, leaf pack baiting technique, random sampling of submerged plant materials and membrane filtration of water. The absence of some hyphomycete species and the presence of some unidentified species in irrigation channels showed the absence of a favorable stimulus for survival and presence of some inhibiting factor in these channels. This could be due to the presence of a new set of environmental conditions and also the different riparian vegetation along the channels

Keywords

• Aquatic hyphomycetes,BRB canal,irrigation channels,environmental factors

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