The genus Oscillatoria Vaucher ex Gom. (Cyanoprokaryote) from polluted biotopes of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India

Water is an essential component of life and required for the survival and development of every organism, but globally many countries are facing water pollution problems. Present investigation deals with the diversity and distribution pattern of different species of genus Oscillatoria in five different polluted biotopes of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India. In this study, total twenty eight species of the genus Oscillatoria namely Oscillatoria agardhii, O. annae, O. corakiana, O. curviceps, O. fracta, O. jenensis, O. leavittae, O. leonardii, O. limosa, O. lutea, O. luteola, O. mitrae, O. nigro-viridis, O. princeps, O. proboscidea, O. proteus, O. pseudocurviceps, O. rupicola, O. salina, O. sancta, O. simplicissima, O. subbrevis, O. subsalsa, O. subuliformis, O. tenuis, O. ucrainica, O. vizagapatensis and O. yamadae are reported from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India after a gap of more than last five decades. Present study also revealed that the occurrence of the individual taxa is seriously influenced by various factors and these factors play very significant role in occurrence and distribution pattern of Oscillatoria in different polluted biotopes.