INTRODUCTION

Increasing population, rapid urbanization and more anthropogenic activities have

given effect on water quality. The rivers play an important role in assimilating municipal and
industrial effluent as well as runoff from agricultural land and the surrounding area in a
watershed. The runoff carries rocks and sedimentation will deposit in the river. From time to
time, the river will become shallow and wider as the deposition keep increasing. The
degraded water quality that results from all these urban inputs caused the loss of the
submergent plant species that are vital habitat for fish and other biota (Chow-Fraser &
Lougheed 1998)

The aquatic living is the indication for the health of river since its determine the
nutrients content. They are affected by the changes in the water quality and the pollutants.
Differences in the quantity of phytoplankton in water bodies have contributed to their use as
indicators of water quality and level of anthropogenic status due to their sensitivity to
environmental changes (Elliott et al. 2006). Hence, the composition, density, seasonal
changes, and the ecological conditions like physical and chemical factors should be known
for this reason.

Pergau River, Kelantan is one of the important water reservoir and resources for the
local people. On the upper stream of the river, there was a construction of hydroelectric
power station which formed the Pergau Lake (Nasarudin, & Bahar 2013). The development
near Pergau River including ecotourism could be threatened for aquatic organisms. A study
was conducted there to make the assessment of biological diversity for baseline data or for
ecological assessment due to some environmental changes associated with development.
Thus, this study comprise two main objectives:
1. To determine abundance and diversity of phytoplankton at Pergau River, Kelantan.
2. To determine the physical factors that affect abundance and diversity of the
phytoplankton.




MATERIALS AND METHODS


The study site was done in Pergau River, Kelantan. Located at the west of the state,
which near the border of Perak-Kelantan state, in the district of Jeli, it stretch from western
side of the Jeli district, flow into Galas river and lastly joined together with the main
Kelantans river. There were five sampling site were selected randomly along the river line
from upstream to the downstream or transect. The sampling sites were mark with st.1 for
location 1 and so on until st.5 for location five. The physical data of the sampling site also
were taken. The physical data that were taken are depth of the river (m), width of the river
(m) and the water current for each sampling site (m/s). There are no data at location St 5 in
raw data sheet. Plankton net was used to collect the phytoplankton at Pergau River. The
phytoplankton was preserved in the formalin solution to prevent them from damage. Sample
was bringing back to laboratory for identification processes. The identification of
phytoplankton based on morphological.

GPS Depth
(m)
Width
(m)
Current
(m/s)
General conditions
St 1 05
o
34.337N
101
o
41.621E
1.5 5.2 0.75 - Coarse sediments, cobbles, pebbles,
gravel.
- Rock and boulders on each side of
banks
St 2 05
o
34.409N
101
o
41.649E
1.2 3.0 2.16 - Coarse sediments, cobbles, pebbles,
gravel.
- Rock and boulders on each side of
banks
St 3 05
o
34.543N
101
o
41.609E
0.7 10 1.94 - Coarse sediments, cobbles, pebbles,
gravel.
- Mud on each side of banks
St 4 05
o
34.706N
101
o
41.677E
0.5 12 2.43 - Coarse sediments, cobbles, pebbles,
gravel.
- Mud on each side of banks
St 5 -
Table 1 Localities and background of Sungai Pergau Sampling Stations (St)

Diversity Index Analysis

Shanon Diversity Index used to analyze species diversity. The Shanon Diversity Index
formula is:

H' = -s i=1 (Pi log. Pi)
= - (ni/N) log (ni/N)
Where
Pi = Number of individuals of a species
s = Total number of individuals in the sample

Simpson Index has been used to determine the domination of each species i in one
community. Simpson index values are ranges from 0 to 1. The diversity of the species was
indicated by the inverse of index (1/D).

Simpsons index (D) =

2
i
) (p
Simpson Index Diversity (1-D) =

2
i
) (p 1
Simpsons reciprocal index (1/D) =

2
) (
1
i p

1 D = Simpson Diversity Index
pi = proportion individual number of i-th

Both Shannon and Simpson Index were analysed by using Multi-Variate Statistical Package
(MVSP) software.

Richness Index

Margalef Richness Index was also been used to assess the level of species richness. This can
be done by using Past software.



d = (S 1) / ln N
d = Margalef Diversity Index
S = Total number of species
N = Total number of individuals

Evenness Index

Evenness states the domination among species in a community. In this study, Evenness Index
are calculated by using Shannon evenness measure and was performed using MVSP. The
formula is as follows:



Where:
Evenness = value (range 0-1)
D = value of diversity index from observation
Dmax = value of maximum diversity index
Dmin = value of minimum diversity index


Clustering Analysis

Overlapping sampling site grouping based on families of phytoplankton were analyzed by
using clustering analysis. This clustering analysis using similarity and distance matrix for
grouping the sampling sites according the composition of phytoplankton. I use Pearson's
correlation coefficient (r) since it is a parametric measurement to determine the strength of
the association between the two variables. If the index is near -1, few species are shared or
least similar but if the index close to 1, the sites shared the most similar species. The
clustering analysis were performed by using MVSP software.



RESULTS AND DISCUSSION


A total of 102 species of phytoplankton representing 4 families were collected at 5
stations along which are Bacillariophyta (17 species), Chlorophyta (22 species), Cyanophyta
(4 species) and Euglenophyta (3 species). Bacillariophyta is the most dominant family with
378 individuals (68.73%), followed by Chlorophyta (124 individuals), Cyanophyta (27
individuals) and Euglenophyta (21 individuals) (Table 2).

Family Nu. of species Nu. of
Individuals
Percentage
(%)
Bacillariophyta 17 378 68.73
Chlorophyta 22 124 22.54
Cyanophyta 4 27 4.91
Euglenophyta 3 21 3.82
Table 2 of phytoplankton

Overall, we can see the highest number of Bacillariophyta dominant over other
families of phytoplankton at each sampling stations (Figure 1). The highest number of
individuals for Bacillariophyta family was recorded in sampling site st.2 wich is 96
individuals while the lowest in st.4 which is 56 individuals recorded. For Chorophyta family,
the highest number of individuals was recorded in st.1 which is 37 individuals and the lowest
at st.3 which is 14 individuals. Same number of individuals of Cyanophyta and Euglenophyta
were recorded at st.1 and st.3 which are 11 individuals and 3 individuals respectively. The
significant different number of individuals for each family is due to Bacillariophyta is the
most common types of phytoplankton a and the genera from Bacillariophyta represented by
the most abundant species at 1.0 m depth (Zam 2007).

General distribution pattern of phytoplankton at sampling site can be describe as
Figure 2. Individual numbers of phytoplankton keep decreasing from st 1 till st 4, meanwhile
the numbers slightly increase at st 5. The gradually declination is due to existent of mud at
river bank that indicate high sedimentation at location st 3 and st 4. The turbidity high as the
sedimentation increasing and this prevent the sunlight to penetrate into the water bodies.
Thus, the photosynthesis process by the phytoplankton will disrupt and the ecosystems are
not favourable for the plankton. In addition, the strong currents also affect the presence of
phytoplankton at st 2.


Figure 1 Distribution family of phytoplankton for each sampling site.



Figure 2 Total number of individual for each sampling site.



0
20
40
60
80
100
120
st1 st2 st3 st4 st5
F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y

Station
Phytoplankton Family vs Stations
Bacillariophyta
Chlorophyta
Cyanophyta
Euglenophyta
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
St 1 St 2 St 3 St 4 St 5
N
u
m
b
e
r

o
f

i
n
d
i
v
i
d
u
a
l
s

Station
Number individuals vs Stations
Cumulative analysis is used to depict the true species diversity and richness of the study area.
The cumulative Shannon-Weiner diversity index (H) for the first station was 2.596 , and for
the second station was slightly increased to 2.662, then keep decreasing till the fourth station
(Table 3). However, the differences were not statistically significant (p>0.05). This could be
due to the same species being recaptured. The diversity index for five species is considered
high because of the value range in between 1.5 and 3.5. Moreover, Simpson Index also gives
high value at all sampling stations range from 0.867 to 0.910. Eventhough the numbers
decreased from st 1 to st 4, and slightly increase at st 5, there are no significant differences
between all stations (p>0.005). This index approximately close to 1 and it prove that Pergau
River have high diversity of phytoplankton.

The Margalef Index shows different pattern from Shannon Index and Simpson Index.
Margalef Index seems to follow general pattern of Bacillariphytas individual number. The
numbers increasing from st 1 to st2, then decreasing till st 4, and lastly slightly increase at st
5 (Table 3). Margalefs Index measure species richness and the higher index values indicate
greater diversity at sampling site. Meanwhile, The Evenness index (E) is almost constant
from the first to the fifth station along Pergau River, ranging from 0.808 to 0.882 (Table 3),
which indicates the lack of any particular dominant species.

High value of diversity indicates that the area is suitable for phytoplankton and shows
the environment of that area has minimal disturbance. The rich amount of sources on that
area help in blooming of the plankton in optimum numbers. From the analysis, we can
conclude that almost of sampling site have minimal disturbance especially st 1 and st 2.


Index St 1 St 2 St 3 St 4 St 5
H 2.596 2.662 2.563 2.336 2.435
E 0.882 0.838 0.829 0.808 0.827
Simpson 0.910 0.905 0.892 0.867 0.886
Margaleff 3.659 4.71 4.531 3.869 3.935
Table 3 Diversity Index, Eveness Index and Richness Index for each sampling site.

The dendogram in Figure 3 show that st 1 is very different from other sampling site.
There are lack of similarity (0.4) of the phytoplankton composition with others location. This
is because st 1 may be at upper stream of the river and do not have any pollutant there, thus it
is suitable for the planktons. The highest similarity between the composition of
phytoplankton and location sampling is st 2 and st 4, 0.75. Meanwhile, 0.70 similarities
between st 3 and st 5. The existent of mud and rocks, different current at each sampling site
could be physical factors that affect composition of the planktons.


Figure 3 Dendogram showed overlapping and the presence of phytoplankton between each
sampling site.











UPGMA
Pearson Coefficient - Data log(e) transformed
st 1
st 2
st 4
st 3
st 5
0.28 0.4 0.52 0.64 0.76 0.88 1
CONCLUSION

This study had successfully collected and recorded 550 individuals from 4 families and 46 species at
five sampling stations along Pergau River. Bacillariophyta had the most number of individuals which
is 378 and the most dominant family for each sampling site. This is due to Bacillariophyta is the most
common algae and suitable at 1.0 m depth. The diversity index for all sampling site show greater
diversity of phytoplankton. The value of Shannon diversity Index (H) showed that Station 2 had the
most diverse phytoplankton species with H=2.662, meanwhile Simpson index show that station 1
has the most diversity of the planktons. The Evenness Index proves that the lack of any particular
dominant species since the index almost constant for every site. Result of cluster analysis
showed that Station 1 have different similarity with other sites. Abiotic factors need to be included
in this research for more details explanation about the distribution and abundance of the
phytoplankton in Pergau River.

REFERENCES

Chow-Fraser, P. & Lougheed, V. 1998. -term response of the biotic community to fluctuating
water levels and changes in water quality in Cootes Paradise Marsh, a degraded coastal
wetland of Lake Ontario. Wetlands Ecology and 184692(184692): 1942.
Elliott, J. a., Jones, I. D. & Thackeray, S. J. 2006. Testing the Sensitivity of Phytoplankton
Communities to Changes in Water Temperature and Nutrient Load, in a Temperate
Lake. Hydrobiologia 559(1): 401411.
Nasarudin, M. & Bahar, A. 2013. River Tourism: A Potential in Pergau River, Jeli, Kelantan.
Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Sports 1(2009): 117.
Zam, E. 2007. Planktonic Diatom (Bacillariophyta) Composition of Lake Kaz (Pazar,
Tokat). Turkish Journal of Biology 31: 203224.


APPENDIX

Table of the total sampled individual of phytoplankton in five sampling station along Sumgai
Pergau, Kelantan.

St.1 St.2 St.3 St.4 St.5 Total
Family/Species
BACILLARIOPHYTA

Amphora oralis 8 15 15 6 13 57
Asterionella formosa 2 0 0 0 0 2
Cymbella affinis 0 0 1 0 0 1
Cymbella cistula 1 6 3 0 0 10
Fragilaria capucina 0 0 0 1 2 3
Fragilaria crotonesis 14 23 18 16 18 89
Frustulia rhomboides 1 0 2 1 0 4
Mastoglia sp1. 0 4 0 1 0 5
Navicula cuspidata 0 3 3 0 0 6
Navicula minuscula 0 0 2 0 0 2
Navicula rhynocephala 10 18 12 13 12 65
Navicula viridula 23 17 18 18 15 91
Pinnularia biceps 0 1 2 0 2 5
Pinnularia brunii 19 5 3 0 0 27
Pinnularia lata 0 0 0 0 2 2
Pinnularia major 0 4 1 0 0 5
Pinnularia viridis 0 0 2 0 2 4
Subtotal No. Individuals 78 96 82 56 66 378
Subtotal No. Species 8 10 13 7 8 46

CHLOROPHYTA

Botrycocus protuberans 10 0 0 0 1 11
Closterium acerosum 0 1 0 0 0 1
Closterium eboracense 0 5 0 2 0 7
Closterium ehrenbergii 1 2 5 1 4 13
Closterium idioporum 0 1 0 1 0 2
Closterium incurvum 0 1 0 2 0 3
Closterium leibeinii 0 0 6 0 12 18
Closterium moniliferum 0 9 0 6 0 15
Closterium parvulum 0 0 1 0 0 1
Docidium undulatum 0 2 0 0 0 2
Gonatozygon aculeatum 5 0 0 0 0 5
Hyalotheca dissiliens 0 1 0 1 0 2
Oocystis elliptica 6 0 0 0 2 8
Spondylosium ellipticum 7 0 0 0 0 7
Spirogyra colligata 0 0 1 0 0 1
Staurastrum
topopekaligense
0 0 0 1 0 1
Suriella elegans 0 7 0 5 0 12
Tetraedron tumiludum 0 0 1 0 0 1
Ulothorix cyrindricum 7 0 0 0 0 7
Ulothorix sp1 1 0 0 0 0 1
Zygnema decussata 0 0 0 0 5 5
Zygnema pectinatum 0 0 0 0 1 1
Subtotal No. Individuals 37 29 14 19 25 124
Subtotal No. Species 7 9 5 8 6 35

CYANOPHYTA

Aphanocapsa greville 0 0 0 0 1 1
Lyngbya digeti 11 2 3 2 0 18
Spirulina major 0 1 0 1 1 3
Spirulina subsalsa 0 2 1 0 2 5
Subtotal No. Individuals 11 5 4 3 4 27
Subtotal No. Species 1 3 2 2 3 11

EUGLENOPHYTA

Anabaena 7 1 2 0 1 11
Euglena viridis 1 1 1 0 1 4
Phacus pseudoswirenkoi 3 0 0 3 0 6
Subtotal No. Individuals 11 2 3 3 2 21
Subtotal No. Species 3 2 2 1 2 10


Total spesies 19 24 22 18 19 102
Total individu 137 132 103 81 97 550