Journal of Pollution Effects & Control
Open Access

Abstract

Impact of different Harvesting Techniques on the Population of Macrophyte-associated-Invertebrate Community in an Urban Lake

Shazia Habib and Yousuf AR

From past few decades the water quality of Dal Lake has decreased considerably. The excessive nutrient input from catchment area has led to nuisance growth of macrophytes which impede the services provided by the ecosystem. In order to control the excessive macrophytic growth the state government initiated a weed harvesting programme which includes manual- and mechanical- deweeding. This paper evaluates the influence of weed removal technique on the density of invertebrates that are associated with macrophytes. It was found that maximum number of invertebrates were removed via mechanical harvester (49.4%) followed by truxors (26.6%) and manual deweeding (23.9%). The average density of removed invertebrates was highest for Arthropoda (43 ind.Kg-1), followed by Mollusca (31 ind.Kg-1) and Annelida (11 ind.Kg-1). Manual deweeding involves selective harvesting and complete removal of macrophytes as against harvesters which trim the vegetation. Thus, the former emerged as a better method of controlling growth of nuisance macrophytes and restoring the health of the ecosystem than the latter.