Journal of Environmental Treatment Techniques 2017, Volume 5, Issue 1, Pages: 38-50 38 Assessment of Physico-Chemical and Zooplankton Assemblages in Some Ponds within Wilberforce Island, Nigeria Emmanuel N. Ogamba* 1 , Nwabueze Ebere 2 and Mercy T. Ekuere 1 1 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. 2 Department of Animal and Environmental Biology, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Nkpolu, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Received: 21/02/2017 Accepted: 05/01/2017 Published: 30/03/2017 Abstract This study investigated the physicochemical and zooplankton assemblages in some selected ponds within Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa state, Nigeria. The study was carried out in August 2015 covering five selected ponds following standard procedure. Results of the physiochemical parameters were in the range of 6.45 – 6.68 (pH), 15.1 – 21.57NTU (turbidity), 9.19 – 10.60mg/l (biological oxygen demand), 0.00 – 0.10mg/l (salinity), 53.33 – 217.00μS/cm (conductivity), 32.67 -114.67mg/l (total dissolved solid), 2.04 – 5.83mg/l (total suspended solid), 6.21 – 6.87mg/l (dissolved oxygen), 85.13 – 143.10mg/l (chloride), 0.02 – 0.02mg/l (manganese) and 0.19 – 0.26mg/l (iron). Analysis of variance showed that there was significance variation (P<0.05) among the various locations for most of the physicochemical parameters. A total of 89 zooplankton species were identified and were classified into 13 taxonomic groups namely; Nematoda (17), Protozoa (19), Rotifera (27), Annelida (8), copepoda (1), Chordata (3), Chaetognatha (1), Gastropoda (3), Cladocera (2), Bryozoan (1), Crustaceans (2) and Porifera (3). In the study several zooplankton species that serve as indicator organisms were identified. Keywords: Species Diversity, Physico-chemical Characteristics, Ponds, Wilberforce Island, Zooplankton 1- Introduction 1 Water is one of the Fundamental resources required by human and other living things for existence and socio economic development [1-7]. Water resources exist as rain water, ground and surface water. Among the surface water resources, estuarine/brackish, fresh and marine water are found predominantly in the Niger Delta region. Irrespective of the water source, they harbor several aquatic biodiversity including plankton (phytoplankton, zooplankton and algae), fishes, aquatic mammals, sea birds etc [4]. Water resources can also be classified based on the size such as creeklets, rivulets, creeks, pond, lakes, stream, and rivers among others. Each of the water bodies is found in Niger Delta Nigeria especially in Bayelsa state. Some of this fresh water bodies within Bayelsa state include Kolo creek [5, 8 – 10], Sagbama creek [11, 12], Epie creek [13, 14], Ikoli creek [6, 15], River Nun [1, 7], Igbedi creek [16, 17], Efi lake [18], Lake Adigbe among others. Several ponds also exist in Bayelsa state. Majority of them hardly dry up during the dry season. Furthermore, during the wet season (especially during August to October) some of the ponds appear like a creek. During the Corresponding Author: Emmanuel N. Ogamba, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. E-mail: emmaogamba@gmail.com. period (September to October) most of the water bodies i.e. rivers have over flown their banks. Water from rivers such as River Nun at Amassoma axis also flow into farm lands submerging food crops such as sugarcane and cassava, depositing aquatic plants such as water hyacinth at the banks of the water, which get dried up at the onset of dry season (November) at the river banks. Specifically, Wilberforce Island is located in Southern Ijaw local government area of Bayelsa State, and is one of the gazetted Nun River forest reserves in Niger Delta, Nigeria [19]. The topography of the area is basically flat with several depressions [19]. Some of this depressions are ponds and contain fisheries (especially fin fishes) and other plankton communities. Some of the ponds typically dry up during the dry season. Basically, plankton play essential role in the biogeochemical cycles of many important elements such as the carbon cycle and as such involved in nitrification, denitrification, remineralization and methanogenesis processes [20]. According to Ogbuagu and Ayoade [20], Abdul et al. [21], the various processes bring about primary production and recycling. The plankton communities are mostly phytoplankton and zooplankton. In addition to cycling, they contribute to the energy flow, food chain and food web [21-25]. Specifically, Zooplankton act as a link between the phytoplankton and whole food chain of the aquatic environment [26]. Zooplankton have been noted to function as intermediaries between fish and lower trophic Journal web link: http://www.jett.dormaj.com J. Environ. Treat. Tech. ISSN: 2309-1185