| Abstract: | The Chambal river, subjected to industrial and sewage pollution, was studied with reference to the benthic fauna. Twenty seven taxa of benthic fauna of four main groups were observed at the stretch of the river: Oligochaeta, Diptera, Mollusca and Insecta (“others”). It was noted that the pollution input zone shows less fauna. The analysis of various physicochemical parameters showed an increase in pollution where domestic and industrial effluent were added. Changes in the benthic community have been explained with the help of the Diversity Index. The species diversity values showed a decrease from the prepollution point to the effluent discharge channel with an increase at the posteffluent point, indicating it to be a recovery zone. The coefficient of correlation was assessed between different physicochemical and different groups of benthic fauna. |
