Keibul Lamjao National Park
The Keibul Lamjao National Park (KLNP) is located in Northeast India, at the south-western corner of Loktak Lake. The KLNP is made up of a contiguous 40-square-kilometer section of Phumdis, A floating island with lush flora. A mature Phumdis is 1 to 2 meters thick, sturdy, and strong enough to support the weight of thatched buildings built on it. KLNP’s survival is predicated on the regular ecological occurrence of sinking during the dry season, collecting nutrients from the ground, and remaining afloat during the rainy season. The main reasons for the harm to KLNP are management actions related to the Loktak Hydroelectric Project and declining water quality. The purpose of this research is to apply a water balance model to frame a management plan for KLNP that takes into account the volatility of water levels suited for Sangai deer.
Flora and Fauna
The Park lies near Loktak Lake’s southwestern corner. The brow-antlered deer (Sangai), Manipur’s dancing deer, has its final natural habitat here. The only floating park on the planet is Keibul Lamjao National Park. Any wildlife enthusiast should try to catch a sight of the deer in this unique wetland ecosystem. Other species that can be seen include hog deer, otter, a variety of waterfowls, and migrating birds, the latter of which are most commonly seen from November to March. The park has two guard towers and two rest rooms maintained by the Manipur Forest Department. There is no shooting game allowed. The PCA revealed that seasonal fluctuation in water parameters was caused by the wet and dry cycle of seasons, with stations characterized by transparency and turbidity. Copepods were the most abundant zooplankton species, followed by cladocerans. In zooplankton, S6 was found to be the most numerous of the other stations in terms of spatial distribution.
The main components of zooplankton were copepodites and nauplii larvae. Among the three zooplankton categories, Rotifera was the least abundant. During the study period, Brachionus was the most abundant Rotifera zooplankton at all of the locations. Macrothrix was present in all four seasons in the Cladocera, but Pleuroxus, Oxyurella, Kurzia, and Diaphanosoma were uncommon. Temperature and rainfall accounted for the most temporal fluctuation in zooplankton abundance, according to the CCA. There was no statistically significant difference in mean zooplankton abundance between seasons, however, there was a statistically significant difference between locations, according to ANOVA.
In aquatic environments, zooplankton is the principal structural link between primary producers and higher trophic levels. Biological as well as abiotic elements such as temperature (Edmondson, 1965), salinity (Egborge, 1994), pH (Sprules, 1975), and electrical conductivity affect their community structure-like composition and densities (Pinto-Coelho et al., 1998). Various researchers in India have studied zooplankton communities in various environment types.
The Keibul Lamjao National Park (KLNP) is a section of Loktak Lake (Ramsar site), Northeast India’s largest freshwater lake. Due to the construction of the Loktak Multipurpose project for hydropower generation and irrigation, the lake’s water quality has slowly deteriorated and its hydrological regimes have changed—from a natural wetland with annually fluctuating water levels to a reservoir with less fluctuating water levels (Singh and Singh, 1994). Water quality in this park is relatively acceptable, according to the authors. Various researchers have looked into this lake’s zooplankton community. However, research on the zooplankton community structure in KLNP’s aquatic ecosystem is sparse. As a result, the current communication will aid in filling the gaps in scientific understanding of the community structure of this unique ecosystem.
The only floating national park in the world, Keibul Lamjao National Park (KLNP), is home to Manipur’s brow-antlered deer, known as Sangai. The current work uses a water balance model to frame a management plan for KLNP that takes into account variations in water levels that are suitable for Sangai deer.
Management strategy
The management strategy was devised by modeling a water balance model while maintaining abstractions for irrigation and hydropower generation.
1. The Loktak Lift Irrigation and Imphal Barrage projects have met the requirement to irrigate 46, 000 ha with a demand of 61.3 10 6 m3 as predicted.
2. When the water level in any month exceeds the flood level, the barrage will open (FL). During the lean season, it is also opened if the minimum drawdown level is maintained. During the simulation, KLNP grounded between December and March is about 15, 29, 85, and 29%, which will aid in nutrient absorption from the ground.
3. This method will aid in the management of KLNP, ultimately boosting Sangai deer habitat. In addition, the strategy will avoid flooding in the surrounding area without jeopardizing the lake’s hydropower or ecological state.