Laboratory Hand Book on Basic Ecology (Soil, Water, Plankton and Feeding Ecology with Special Mention to Periphyton)

SURJYA KUMAR SAIKIA, DEBANGSHU NARAYAN DAS  © by the authors

ISBN: 978-1-940366-08-1
Published Date: May, 2014
Pages: 120
Paperback: $84
Publisher: Science Publishing Group
To purchase hard copies of this book, please email: book@sciencepublishinggroup.com
Book Description

The present book is a synthesis of work to cover most of the methodologies required for ecological studies in laboratory. The book is divided into four sections - Section I, II, III and IV. Section I deals with water analysis methods. This section is further divided into two chapters, viz. Chapter 1.1 for chemical and Chapter 1.2 for physical analysis of water. Section II deals in Soil analysis methods. This section is also divided into two chapters as Chapter 2.1 and Chapter 2.2 for Chemical and physical analysis of soil respectively. The part chemical analysis of water and soil include all principles and chemical reaction related to experiments concerned. This will help to understand the actual mechanisms of the experiment rather blindly following them. The Section III is specially designed for planktonic studies. The Chapter 3.1 includes definition and classification of plankton and periphyton with their sampling, preserving and counting techniques. Chapter 3.2 describes methodologies for productivity studies of plankton and periphyton. The book has mathematical details for plankton and periphyton studies (Section IV). The Section IV has been a special feature to this book where most popular diversity indices and feeding ecology measures are discussed. The Section has two Chapters viz. Chapter 4.1 for Diversity studies and Chapter 4.2 for Feeding ecology studies. The part feeding ecology denotes a unique feature to the book. All these indices are explained with examples and appropriate figures. Few most recent indices have also been included so far.

The experiments mentioned in this book are simple and fit for undergraduate and post graduate classes. In addition, it has been designed to help researchers working in aquatic ecological laboratories. As an alternative to voluminous methodological books which are hardly ‘all in one’ in the laboratory, the proposed book would be handy, simple, explanatory and informative for beginners in all fields of ecological research.

Author Introduction

DR. SURJYA KUMAR SAIKIA, Department of Zoology, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal, India.
DR. DEBANGSHU NARAYAN DAS, Department of Zoology, Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India.

Table of Contents
  • The Whole Book

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  • Front Matter

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  • Section I Water Analysis

  • Chapter 1 Chemical Analysis of Water

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    1. 1.1 pH
    2. 1.2 Electrical Conductivity
    3. 1.3 Total Alkalinity
    4. 1.4 Total Hardness
    5. 1.5 Calcium Hardness
    6. 1.6 Magnesium Hardness
    7. 1.7 Free Carbon Dioxide (Titrimetric Method with Na2CO3)
    8. 1.8 Dissloved Oxygen (Winkler’s Method)
    9. 1.9 Dissolved Phosphorus (Soluble Orthophosphate)
    10. 1.10 Total Phosphate
    11. 1.11 Dissolved Nitrate (Brucine Sulphonic Acid Method)
    12. 1.12 Sulphate Estimation
  • Chapter 2 Physical Analysis of Water

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    1. 2.1 Potability of Water
    2. 2.2 Turbidity
    3. 2.3 Temperature
    4. 2.4 Dissolved Solids
  • Section II Soil Analysis

  • Chapter 3 Chemical Analysis of Soil

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    1. 3.1 Available Nitrogen (Alkali KMnO4 Method)
    2. 3.2 Organic Carbon and Organic Matter (Walky and Black, 1934)
    3. 3.2.1 Titrimetric Method
    4. 3.2.2 Colorimetric Method
    5. 3.3 Available Phosphorous (Olsens et al., 1954)
    6. 3.4 Available Potassium
    7. 3.5 Soil pH
    8. 3.6 Electrical Conductivity of Soil
  • Chapter 4 Physical Analysis of Soil

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    1. 4.1 Collection and Preservation of Soil
    2. 4.2 Moisture Content of Soil (Gravimetric Method)
    3. 4.3 Bulk density of Soil (Core Tube Method)
    4. 4.4 Particle or Real Density of Soil
    5. 4.5 Pore Space or Porosity of Soil
  • Section III Plankton and Periphyton Studies

  • Chapter 5 Collection, Preservation and Quantification (Plankton)

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    1. 5.1 What are Plankton
    2. 5.2 Foreworks of Plankton Sampling
    3. 5.3 Preservation of Plankton
    4. 5.4 Plankton Sampling
    5. 5.4.1 Plankton Samplers
    6. 5.4.2 Plankton Sampling Methods from Surface Water
    7. 5.5 Quantitative Analysis of Plankton
    8. 5.5.1 The Sedgwick Rafter (S-R) Cell Counting
    9. 5.5.2 Lacky’s Drop Count Method
  • Chapter 6 Collection, Preservation and Quantification (Periphyton)

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    1. 6.1 What is Periphyton
    2. 6.2 Periphyton Collection and Quantification
    3. 6.2.1 Periphyton Collection from Natural Substrate
    4. 6.2.2 Periphyton Collection from Artificial Substrate
    5. 6.3 Quantitative Analysis of Periphyton
  • Chapter 7 Plankton and Periphyton Productivity

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    1. 7.1 What is Productivity
    2. 7.2 Measurement of Productivity
    3. 7.2.1 Dark and Light Bottle Method
    4. 7.2.2 Cholorophyll – a
    5. 7.2.3 Biomass (Dry Weight and Ash Free Dry Weight)
  • Section IV Diversity and Feeding Ecological Studies

  • Chapter 8 Diversity Studies

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    1. 8.1 What is Diversity
    2. 8.2 Indices for Diversity Measures
    3. 8.2.1 Species Richness (s)
    4. 8.2.2 Relative Comparison Index (Saikia and Das 2012)
    5. 8.2.4 Simpson’s Diversity Index (D) (1964)
    6. 8.2.5 Margalef’s Diversity Index, 1968
    7. 8.2.6 McIntosh Diversity Index
    8. 8.3 Indices for Evenness Studies
    9. 8.3.1 Shannon-Weaver Evenness Measure (J) (Pielou, 1966)
    10. 8.3.2 Simpsons’ Evenness Measure (E)
    11. 8.4 Dominance Index
    12. 8.4.1 Concentration of Dominance (C)
    13. 8.4.2 Berger-Perker Index (d) (1970)
    14. 8.5 Variety Index (V)
    15. 8.6 Similarity and Dissimilarity Indices
    16. 8.6.1 Similarity Index
    17. 8.6.2 Index of Dissimilarity (DI)
  • Chapter 9 Feeding Ecological Studies

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    1. 9.1 What is Feeding Ecology
    2. 9.2 Simple Indices for Gut Analysis
    3. 9.2.1 Fullness and Fullness of Gut
    4. 9.2.3 Stomach Index
    5. 9.2.4 Percent Composition of Food Items in the Gut
    6. 9.3 Dietary Breadth
    7. 9.3.1 Levin’s Diet Breadth
    8. 9.3.2 Hulbert’s Diet Breadth
    9. 9.3.3 Smith’s Diet Breadth
    10. 9.3.4 Saikia’s Diet Breadth or DB (χ2) (Saikia, 2012)
    11. 9.3.5 Czekanowski’s Proportion of Similarity Index
    12. 9.4 Dietary Overlap
    13. 9.4.1 Schoener’s (α) Index
    14. 9.4.2 Clumping of Gut and Possible Diet Overlap
    15. 9.5 Feeding Strategy Study
  • Back Matter

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