Ecological Health Assessment of River Sip, a Tributary of Central Indian River Narmada by Using Habitat Assessment
1Parul Gurjar*, 1Kuldeep Lakhera, and 2Vipin Vyas
1Department of Environment Science and Limnology, Barkatullah University, Bhopal-462026 (India) 2Department of Bioscience, Barkatullah University, Bhopal-462026 (India) *Corresponding Author: - parul.gurjar120591@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Habitat study is one of the most important tool for assessment of fish survival as it defines their health and abundance. The objective of this study is to assess the impairment of river ecosystem by the anthropogenic activities. For evaluating the aquatic health, physical habitat condition was taken as a tool. Sip River is a Tributary of River Narmada which is a Central Indian River, joining Narmada at right bank just upstream of Indira Sagar Reservoir. Seven sites were selected from the sip river. In the present study, the physical habitat condition was assessed by using Rapid Bioassessment Protocol (RBP’s) in terms of visual assessment. It is found in the study that the two sites are Optimal, two sites are suboptimal and three sites are Marginal. The change in land use pattern and increasing developmental activities near the banks is affecting the habitat of the organisms residing in the aquatic ecosystem.