Understanding enviro-climatological impact on fish biodiversity of the tropical floodplain wetlands for their sustainable management

Inland open water fisheries around the world are threatened due to growing anthropogenic pressures, climate change and overexploitation of the germplasm resources. Understanding how the floodplain wetland fish diversity responds to these unprecedented challenges is critical for developing alternative management and mitigation strategies in vulnerable wetland ecosystems. This communication elucidates the changing pattern of fish diversity in three moderately impacted tropical floodplain wetlands namely Bhomra, Mathura and Chandania in the lower Ganges basin during the year 2017–2019. Experimental fishing using gill net, drag net and cast net was carried out monthly to assess the fish diversity pattern in the three wetlands. Enviro-climatological parameters were assessed, and the important parameters influencing fish diversity were identified. Most of the critical environment parameters including pH, DO, water temperature were in the favourable range for fish. ANOVA indicated that pH, TDS, conductivity, salinity, transparency, depth and hardness showed significant difference ( p