RESEARCH ARTICLE

FLUCTUATIONS IN WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS AND DIVERSITY OF FISH IN SOME SELECTED COASTAL AND INLAND VILLUS IN WILPATTU NATIONAL PARK

Abstract

Wilpattu National Park is situated in the North-Western part of Sri Lanka, bounded to the Indian ocean of its western boundary in the dry zone of the island. The large number of saucer shaped lakes or villus is the unique feature of this park. Among these villus some villus are fresh water villus and others are brackish water. The villu wetland system was declared as “ Wilpattu Ramsar Cluster” because of the international importance of its wetland characters.

While comparing the salinity levels, fresh water villus and brackish water villus are recorded close-by locations. Some saline water villus are about 16 km far away from the Indian Ocean; Eg. Kokkariyavillu. Some fresh water villus are recorded very close to the Indian Ocean. The study shows that about 60 per cent of total villu area is reduced during the dry season. During the study period, in the peak drought in September, almost all the villus had some remaining water. It was also noted that the water level fluctuations of most of villus have a similar pattern.

Keywords: Water quality parameters, Fish Diversity, Villu

How to Cite: Wilson,A.S.C, (2014). FLUCTUATIONS IN WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS AND DIVERSITY OF FISH IN SOME SELECTED COASTAL AND INLAND VILLUS IN WILPATTU NATIONAL PARK.WILDLANKA, 2(1):Pages 133-141

Published On:2014-12-31

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