J. Mountain Res. P- ISSN: 0974-3030 DOI: https://doi.org/10.51220/jmr.v14i2.7 Vol. 14 (2), (2019), 63-67 Special ©SHARAD 63 http://jmr.sharadpauri.org A REPORT ON DRIFTING BEHAVIOUR OF ODONATA (AQUATIC INSECTS) IN KYUNJA GAD, A SPRING FED TRIBUTARY OF RIVER MANDAKINI, CHAMOLI GARHWAL, UTTARAKHAND Pankaj Bahuguna 1 , H K Joshi 2 and Koshal Kumar 3 1 Bio-diversity Lab, Department of Zoology, A.P.B.Govt.P.G.College Agustyamuni, District Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand-246421, India. 2 Department of Zoology, Government PG College, Chaubattakhal, Distt. Pauri Garhwal 3 Department of Zoology, H N B Garhwal University, (A Central University) BGR Campus, Pauri Garhwal-246001, Uttarakhand Corresponding Author Email id: pankajpaurii@gmail.com Received: 12.10.2019; Revised: 17.11.2019; Accepted: 12.12.2019 ©Society for Himalayan Action Research and Development Abstract: Odonata is an important group of macroinvertebrates which are highly sensitive to environmental changes and pollution. This is the reason why they are mostly studied as change in water quality pattern. The dial study of drifting behavior in such species also indicates towards the feeding behavior of fishes available in that habitat. In the present communication an attempt has been made to view the drifting patterns in a sensitive macro zoobenthic group Odonata in the Kyunja Gad which is a tributary of the snow-fed River Mandakani. Keywords: Odonata, Drifting, Kyunja gad, Mandakini, Rudraprayag Introduction Benthic invertebrates are the important components of the food web in aquatic ecosystems. These insects are an important food of fishes, hence are important component of the aquatic food chain. Odonata larvae depend on the quality of the aquatic habitat, and hence they are sensitive to changes in the environmental settings. Therefore, they have been widely used as bioindicators for environmental health and integrity. In aquatic environments, habitat integrity is an important factor structuring the aquatic communities of insects including Odonata (Souza et al., 2015; Martin and Maynou, 2016). The stream macrozoobenthos have been studied by various workers under specific fields like: ecology and distribution (Zettler and Darius, 2007), substratum relationships (Hynes, 1974; Tuvikene et. al., 2004), Diel migration and drift (Rader and Ward, 1990; Dudgeon, 1990) etc. Studies on the hill stream macrozoobenthos of Garhwal Himalayan region are made by Dobriyal and Singh (1988), Dobriyal et. al., (1992), Balodi and Koshal, (2015), Koshal et. al. (2017), and Bahuguna and Negi (2018). The drifting macrozoobenthos are studied by various researchers under specific fields like drifting patterns and colonization (Smock, 1996), drift dynamics and Seasonal fluctuations (Dudgeon, 1990,) drifting benthos as indicators of water quality (Kremen, 1992) and drifting of macroinvertebrates in Garhwal Himalaya (Kumar et al., 2006). The present studies was undertaken with the objective to analyse the macrozoobenthos drifting behaviour of Odonata and riparian vegetation in the Kyunja Gad 1 st order spring-fed hill stream of the river Mandakani.