www.sciencejournal.in Vol. 1 No. 3 (2012) ISSN: 2319–474X (Print); 2319–4758 (Online) © 2012 DAMA International. All rights reserved. 33 MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF WATER QUALITY AND MOLLUSCAN BIODIVERSITY FROM CHAMBAL RIVER AT NAGDA, UJJAIN.M.P. INDIA Reddy P.B. and Deepali Amb* P.G. Department of Zoology, Government Arts and Science College, Ratlam. M.P., India. *P.G. Department of Zoology, Swami Vivekananda College, Nimach, M.P., India. ABSTRACT The molluscans are the one of the most important groups of invertebrates in an ecosystem with regard to biomass, diversity, spatial or trophic relationships. The present investigation was undertaken to study diversity of aquatic animals with reference to molluscans fauna of Chambal River at Nagda, Ujjain. M.P. During period June-2009 to June- 2010 on seasonal basis. Molluscan diversity, seasonal variations and their correlation with the physico- chemical characteristics of Chambal River has been done during June, 2009 to June, 2009. Communities of molluscs on the downstream of Chambal River were sampled in five replicate quadrats. In total 39 molluscan taxa were found and identified to species level. The total abundance and number of taxa of molluscs were recorded to be reduced in polluted sites in comparison to control sites. Stepwise multiple regression analyses showed that the structure of the molluscan assemblages differed between polluted and control sites. The values of coefficient of correlation (r) indicate that there is a moderate positive correlation between the gastropods and electrical conductivity, pH, DO, and BOD. High sampling saturation was achieved at upstream study habitats with minimal sampling effort, suggesting that the utilization of molluscs as bioindicators can accelerate freshwater conservation initiatives. KEYWORDS: Biodiversity, Chambal River, Conservation, .Molluscs. INTRODUCTION Biological diversity is important because of the way relationships between species and habitats combine to provide yet more variation in the living world. Any human activity that diminishes this 'biodiversity' could therefore deprive our own quality of life, reduce the resources available to us and ultimately make vulnerable the survival of our descendants. Biodiversity provides numerous ecosystem services that are crucial to human well-being at present and in the future .Good biodiversity data are fundamental to biodiversity research, natural resource management and conservation policy making Assessment of global biodiversity, as well as of biodiversity of particular groups and territories is the high priority task in these days. Most of the biosphere is poorly known, thus species richness is often the only available measure of biodiversity in extended areas and for most taxa. The loss of biodiversity worldwide has been well documented for decades, and while much of the attention of the media and scientific community has been focused on terrestrial ecosystems, other biomes such as freshwater lakes and streams have received less consideration (Myers et al., 2000). Freshwater molluscans are declining in both species richness and abundance, which can reduce their influence on ecosystem functioning and have multiple negative impacts on the ecosystem as a whole. However, Vaughn (2010) reported that both common and rare species are in decline. It has been shown that some mussel species and other molluscans are more effective in carrying out the ecosystem functions. It is likely, therefore, that the ecological functions performed by freshwater mussels will continue to decline along with mussel populations, which can significantly impact the overall ecological functioning of freshwater systems (Vaughn, 2010). There are many causes for the decline in freshwater mussel biodiversity (Strayer et al., 2004; Downing et al., 2010). Dudgeon et al. (2006) described that over-exploitation, pollution; flow modification, exotic species invasion, and habitat degradation are major contributors to the loss of freshwater biodiversity. The molluscans are the one of the most important groups of invertebrates in an ecosystem with regard to biomass, diversity, spatial or trophic relationships. They inhabit virtually in every habitat and niche. Molluscs are a powerful tool to describe biodiversity in ecosystems on a wide scale and to indicate community composition and structure’ Moreover the protection of molluscs is in line with the principles of the World Conservation Strategy (UNEP, 1980). Though, the studies on aquatic macro-organisms and their fluctuations in relation the chemical and physical characteristics of the freshwater environment in Madhya Pradesh have been taken up by several authors (Ganapati, 1956; Sharma et al., 1978; Das and Bhist, 1979, Kaushik et al., 1991; Saksena and Kaushik, 1994; Prasad and Singh, 2003, Anitha et al., 2004; Jindal and Singh, 2005; Gorai et al., 2005) but nothing has been done on the hydrological and macro benthic faunal aspects though there are many large and small freshwater bodies and impoundments in western Madhya Pradesh especially from Chambal River at Nagda. Therefore,in the present paper, some of the basic observations on the molluscan diversity with relation to water quality of Chambal River, at Nagda, Madhya Pradesh have been presented. The present investigation definitely provides a stimulus to assemble records and provide a quantitative and temporal data of molluscans of Chambal River.