Zooplankton of Surat Metro Rail Phase I

Study Extent

Plankton samples will be collected from the main study area located between Sardar and Pt. Din Dayaal bridges, along the Tapi river. Additionally, samples will also be collected from other aquatic areas in or adjacent to Surat where flocks of Lesser Flamingos have been spotted feeding. It was reported in the literature that Lesser Flamingos primarily feed on plankton.

Sampling

The GEER Foundation's RS-GIS unit assisted in locating all the habitats and completing a detailed inventory of each one.

Method steps

1. A plankton net with a mesh size of 65 microns was used to filter 25 liters of estuarine water. The solid residue, which was not filtered out, was collected in 50 ml centrifuge bottles as a plankton sample. This unfiltered mass, along with around 50 ml of water, was collected and called a plankton sample. Later, the sample was supplemented with 1-2 ml of 4% formaldehyde for preservation. A sample of the estuarine water was collected from the Tapi River estuary area and was mixed with formaldehyde for preservation. The preserved sample was then sent to the Environment Research Monitoring Laboratory at the GEER Foundation in Gandhinagar for further analysis.

Zooplankton

1. Tintinnidiidae
   rank: family
2. Rotaliida
   rank: order
3. Arthropoda
   rank: phylum
4. Ammoniidae 
   rank: family
5. Globothalamea 
   rank: class
6. Ciliophora 
   rank: phylum
7. Hydrachnidia
   rank: family
8. Amoebozoa
   rank: phylum
9. Calanoida
   rank: order
10. Oligotrichea
    rank: class
11. Chromista
    rank: kingdom
12. Copepoda
    rank: class
13. Foraminifera 
    rank: phylum
14. Ammodiscidae 
    rank: family
15. Arcellinida 
    rank: order
16. Rotifera
    rank: phylum
17. Globothalamea
    rank: class
18. Ploima
    rank: order
19. Choreotrichida 
    rank: order
20. Animalia
    rank: kingdom
21. Cyclopidae
    rank: family
22. Calanidae 
    rank: family
23. Tubothalamea
    rank: class
24. Arcellidae
    rank: family
25. Centropyxidae
    rank: family
26. Spirillinida
    rank: order
27. Textulariida
    rank: order
28. Protozoa
    rank: kingdom
29. Difflugiidae
    rank: family
30. Textulariidae 
    rank: family
31. Cyclopoida
    rank: order
32. Trombidiformes
    rank: order
33. Tubulinea
    rank: class
34. Branchiopoda
    rank: class
35. Nematoda
    rank: phylum
36. Anomopoda
    rank: order
37. Brachionidae 
    rank: family
38. Moinidae
    rank: family
39. Eurotatoria 
    rank: class
40. Arachnida
    rank: class

Surat city is located in Southern part of Gujarat at bank of Tapi River. As per the Biogeographical classification of India, Surat city falls in 4B- Semi Arid zone of India.