Department of Botany, Ranchi Women's College, Ranchi-834 001, India, e-mail: sushmadasguru@yahoo.com.
Desmids are integral component of freshwater ecosystem. Their role in nutrient cycle and as pollution indicator is well established. The desmids biodiversity of a freshwater lake of Ranchi has been surveyed. The author has recorded 11 species belonging to two genera of desmids with genus Closterium as predominant. It is concluded that it is pollution tolerant genus of this lake. Thin population of desmids is probably due to the elimination and extinction of many species from this lake which is due to increased pollution.
Freshwater, Desmids, biodiversity
