Taxonomic diversity in sewage nematodes of Aligarh, North India

Abstract

A checklist is given of about 50 species of aquatic and semi-aquatic species of nematodes collected from sewage drains of Aligarh and adjoining districts, Uttar Pradesh, India.. The total nematode density as well as the species diversity varied in samples from the different localities. The relative counts of the different trophic groups revealed the abundance of the colonizer bacteriophagous species indicating decomposition to be the main energy channel in the perturbed and contaminated environment. The species diversity and the maturity index were markedly low in sewage waters compared to irrigation canal waters.