Sustainable Water Resource Management: Issues, Challenges & Solutions

Hidenkompat Lake is a shallow freshwater wetland located in the Bishnupur district of Manipur, Northeast India. It has a rich diversity of plants growing within its waters. Therefore, it serves many different ecological roles. This study reports on the number of types (species) of plants and quantity of each of those types of plant found at this site over a period of two years, from September 2006 to August 2008. Monthly sampling was conducted at four locations within the lake to determine frequency (%), density and abundance of each species. A total of 41 different types of macrophytes belonging to 38 genera and 24 families were collected and documented. The most dominant family was the Poaceae; this indicates that a high number of emergent & marsh grasses and herbs are growing at the Hidenkompat Lake. The variability observed among frequency values across the surveyed sites ranged from a low of 5% for Mikania micrantha at Site 1 to a high of 85% for Echinochloa stagnina at Site 1, with many species being missing at certain sites. However, there were several other species that showed high frequency occurrences (Echinochloa stagnina, Alternanthera philoxeroides, Ludwigia adscendens & Ipomoea aquatica) in multiple locations, indicating a very broad distribution of those species across all sampled sites. Density value distributions also demonstrated a wide range of densities, with Oryza rufipogon showing the lowest density (0.81 plants m⁻²) at Site 4 and Mikania micrantha the highest (218.4 plants m⁻²) at Site 2. The abundance ranged between 32 (Mikania micrantha at Site 1, Gynura bicolor at Site 2 and Site 3) and 586 (Salvinia cucullata at Site 1). The results of our study will be helpful for monitoring and management of aquatic macrophyte populations to assist in their conservation efforts.