A study on seasonal variations in the environmental parameters of Karwar waters, Karnataka, India- A Hydrographical Profile
1Gulnaz Qureshi and 2J.L. Rathod
Department of Studies in Marine Biology, Karnatak University, Post Graduate Centre, Kodibag, Karwar-581303 (India) *Author for correspondence afreensyed115@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
In the present study the environmental parameters like air and water temperature, hydrogen ion concentration (pH), salinity (ppt), dissolved oxygen (mg/l) and nutrients (μmol) were studied at Muduga,Majali and Tilmati. Knowledge of nutrients availability, their fluctuation with seasons at different sites relating to their contributory sources, utilization levels will be of great value to assess the productivity potential of marine ecosystem. Seasonally mean air temperatures varied from (28.0°C to 29.5°C ), mean water temperatures varied from (26.4 °C to 27.7 °C.), mean salinity values varied from (28.5 ppt. to 34.2 ppt.) and pH ranged from (7.1 to 7.5), variation in dissolved oxygen content was from (4.6 mg/l to 5.39 mg/l), the range of inorganic nutrients viz. nitrites, nitrates, ammonium, phosphates and iron content were (3.57 μmol to 5.94 μmol), (9.47 μmol to 11.11 μmol), 12.63μmol to18.4 μmol), (0.60 μmol to 1.46 μmol), (0.20 μmol to 0.35 μmol) respectively. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to represents the maximum amount of variations in the environmental parameters