Observations on Zooplankton Composition,Abundance and Periodicity in two Flood-plain Lakes of the Kashmir Himalayan Valley

In the two eutrophic shallow lakes there were detected 51 taxa in the zooplankton: 27 rotifers, 14 cladocerans, 6 cyclopoids, 3 calanoids and 1 harpacticoid. In the lake Trigamsar, rotifers prevail at a higher electrolytic content, higher nutrient concentrations and higher primary production and at a transparency depth of 0.4 m, whereas cladocerans prevail in the less eutrophicated lake Naranbagh. In the annual variation, in both lakes rotifers show pronounced spring and autumn maxima, the same applying to copepods, whereas cladocerans have a pronounced summer maximum. In general, at the water surface the zooplankton density is higher than near the bottom.