Ecological Health Monitoring Used for River Ecosystems in Jammu and Kashmir India: Challenges and Prospects

Javid Ahmad Dar

Abstract: This paper discussed on status and prospect of ecological health monitoring used for river ecosystems. In Kashmir, phytoplankton, zooplankton and benthic macroinvertebrates have been used the most common bioindicators in ecological health monitoring, which have been used simultaneously in the environmental monitoring framework of the Jal Shakti (PHE) Department, Jammu and Kashmir and other environmental protection agencies as well. Their importance in the ecosystems and advantages for ecological health monitoring in Kashmir have been described in detail. Common methods used for ecological health monitoring have included diversity, biotic indices, multimeric approaches and Functional Feeding Groups (FFGs). Among these techniques, diversity and biotic indices were most frequently used to evaluate the ecological health of streams and rivers in Kashmir. However, multimeric measures have been increasingly applied in recent years to reflecting ecological integrity and integrated ecological health assessment as well. The review reflected that biomonitoring especially ecological health monitoring on Kashmir river systems is not only challenges but prospects as well.

Keywords: ecological health monitoring, river ecosystems, bioindicators, ecological integrity, review