Species Composition and Seasonal Fluctuations of Ciliates (Olygohymenophorea) from Nath Sagar Paithan District: Aurangabad (M.S.)

Abstract

The present study is stretched over a period of one year, so as to record the species composition of ciliates. It is an attempt to correlate the seasonal fluctuations in population density of ciliates with some selected physic-chemical parameter’s. The parameters studied were temperature atmospheric and water, humidity, rainfall, pH, D.O., acidity, alkalinity, hardness, nitrogen, sulphate, chloride, phosphate and solids. The different species recorded from this major group of ciliates, olygohymenophorea were Glaucoma cintillans, Paramaecium caudatum and Vorticella campanula. The seasonal fluctuations in population density are discussed in relation to the physico-chemical parameters studied.