This document provides an overview of the biodiversity found along the Ganga River, including fungi, algae, plants, invertebrates, fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals. It notes the river's ecological importance but also the threats it faces from pollution, dams, unsustainable water usage, and lack of enforcement of conservation programs. Past efforts like the Ganga Action Plan and current initiatives like the Namami Gange Programme aim to restore water quality and protect species.

1. PRESENTED BY- Har Govind
M.Sc.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF ALLAHABAD

2.  Introduction
 Biodiversity
 Fungal flora of the Ganga
 Algal flora of the Ganga
 Macrophytes of the Ganga
 Invertebrates of the Ganga
 Vertebrates of the Ganga
 Status of aquacultre of Ganga river
 Reptiles of the Ganga river
 Avifauna of the Ganga river
 Mammals of the Ganga river
 Threats to the Ganga river
 Conclusion
 Conservation implications

3.  The Ganga River was declared the “National River” on 4
November 2008.The Ganga River basin is spread across 11
states and covers 26.3% of India’s total geographical area.
 The River Ganga originates under the name of River
Bhagirathi from Gangotri Glacier system.
 After flowing for about 200 km, the Bhagirathi meets with
the River Alaknanda at Dev Prayag where the river attains
the name Ganga.
 The Alaknanda originates from Satopanth and Bhagirath-
Kharak Glaciers above Badrinath shrine.
 The Ganga flows for about 64 km before reaching Rishikesh
at the foothill of the Himalaya;further 24km to reach at
Haridwar.

4.  From origin at Gomukh to its mouth at Ganga Sagar where
it discharges into the Bay of Bengal, the Ganga traverses
through vast alluvial plains of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, passing through big
cities like Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna and Kolkata,
covering a total distance of over 2715 km.
 The Ganga basin also harbours a wide variety of relict
species including the Ganges river dolphin, shark Ganges
soft-shell turtle, gharials and several species of endemic
freshwater crabs. The Ganga is home to 265 fish species.
 The River Ganga is facing challenges of maintaining its
ecological integrity due to declining flow and degrading
water quality due to pollution and construction of dams and
barrages mainly to divert the river water for irrigation in
unsustainable manner.

5.  The ecosystem services of a river are not confined to
providing water but probably the most important
service lies in the assimilation of wastes from their
catchments including those from anthropogenic
sources.
 Practically all components of biodiversity contribute to
this waste processing function, and thereby result in
maintaining high water quality and productivity.
 The Ganga River harbours a unique assemblage of
biodiversity due to its passage through 3 distinct
biogeographic zones, namely the Himalaya, the
Gangetic Plain and the Coastal Zone.
 The Ganga River falls under the West Himalaya
province and comprises five forest types in which
Juniperus sp., Pinus gerardiana, Cedrus deodara etc.

6.  The middle stretch and most of the lower stretch of the
Ganga River wind through the Gangetic Plain, which is one
of the most fertile areas in the world, and most of the
original vegetation has been converted into cropland. This
biogeographic zone is divided into the Upper Gangetic
Plain and the Lower Gangetic Plain provinces.
 The region harbours two major forest types, Tropical Dry
deciduous forest (Dalbergia sissoo, Acacia nilotica,
Madhuca indica) and Tropical Moist deciduous forest
(Shorea robusta, Tectona grandis, Terminalia arjuna)
 Terrestrial species of this zone include the chital and
sambar and among the representative aquatic species are
the Gangetic river dolphin, smooth-coated otter, gharial
and marsh crocodile. Examples of birds from these
stretches of the Ganga River are Sarus crane and Indian
skimmer.

7.  The fungi are good decomposers and can degrade
most complex substances including some pesticides.
 The fungi (Aspergillus flavus , Aspergillus niger ) enter
into the river system along with decaying twigs and
leaves and finally become a part of the sediment.
 The fungal flora were studied by Patna University in
the Buxar - Barh stretch of the Ganga in Bihar; 51
species of fungi in water and 54 species in sediment
were isolated in 2011-12 in Bihar.
 A total of 102 species of fungi were isolated from
Ganga in Munger- Farakka stretch.

8.  Algae are an ecologically important group of organisms in
most aquatic ecosystems but often ignored as indicators
of disturbance and conditions of aquatic ecosystem.
Because of their nutritional needs and their position at the
base of food chain, algal indicators provides relatively
unique information concerning ecosystem conditions in
comparison to commonly used animals and bacterial
indicators. Algae, in general, and phytoplankton as
specific group, respond rapidly and predictably to a wide
range of pollutants and thus provide potentially early
signal of the deteriorating condition of waters and
possible causes. Algal assemblage provides one of the few
benchmarks or establishing the required water quality
conditions and for characterizing the minimally impacted
biological conditions of many disturbing ecosystem.
 A total of 44 species were recorded in this stretch.24 In the first
decade of 21st Century a total of 523 species of algae has been
recorded from the lower stretch of the Ganga in West Bengal.

9.  The abundance of pollution indicator species such as
Ankistrodesmus, Coelastrum, Pediastrum, Scenedesmus,
Actinastrum (Chlrophyceae), Cymbella, Cyclotella, Fragilaria
(Bacillariphyceae) and Anabaena, Lyngbya, Merismopedia and
Spirulina (Cyanophyceae) decreased in the Ganga during 1995-
96 pointing towards improvement in water quality.
 In the estuarine zone there was a general increase in plankton
density, probably due to increased flushing.

10.  Macrophytes comprised aquatic and semi-aquatic
marginal vegetation growing on the bank of rivers,
some of which are ecologically and economically very
important.
 Some of the good soil binders are Saccharum
spontaneum, S. arundaceum, Ipomea carnea, Imperata
cylindrica, Cynodon dactylon, Cyperus rotundus,
Tamarix and Dichanthium annulatum.
 Many of the macrophytes are used as fuel, fodder, for
making thatches and mats. Besides they provide
shelter to breeding fish, insects and other animals.

11.  Based on two continuous rapid surveys from
Haridwar to Farakka 87 species of zooplankton, 68
species of benthic macro invertebrates, 83 species of
fishes and 2 mammals were recorded.
 The dominance of molluscan fauna in the middle reach
is due to more calcium carbonate in the river water,
whereas 85% insects in the lower reaches is due to
very low gradient making the river sluggish, and more
clay in the sediments where the immature insects can
take shelter.

12.  Some new species were recorded from the river Ganga
: Stenothyra ornata, a gastropod known only from the
marine/estuarine zones, was collected about 750 km
upstream from the sea.
 Physa mexicana, a native of North and Central
American freshwater and new genus to the Indian
sub-continent, was collected from the River Yamuna at
Allahabad and the Ganga at Patna, and also from the
Yamuna at Delhi. It invaded Indian rivers probably
through the aquarium trades.

13.  The first ever scientific document on Ganga recorded
268 fish species from the Ganga and its branches in
1822. The Ganges dolphin was reported in 1801for
the first time from the river Hooghly near Calcutta.
 A detailed account of distribution and biology of the
Gangetic dolphin was published in 1879.
 Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) recorded 375 species
of fish, 11 species of amphibians, 27 of reptiles, 177
of birds and 11 of mammals from the Ganga.
Remarkably, amphibians are the least known group
among vertebrates of the Ganga.

14.  The Ganga River supports about 375 fish species, of which 34
including Indian Major Carps (IMC) (Labeo rohita, Catla catla,
Cirrhinus mrigala, and Labeo calbasu), large catfishes ( Wallago
attu, Bagarius bagarius), featherbacks (Notopterus notopterus, N.
chittala) and murrels (Channa marulius, C. punctatus) are of
commercial value.

16.  Endemic species like Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus), a fish eating
crocodile, of the Ganga basin have been heavily exploited for its
hide resulting in near extinction of the species.
 Twenty Five gharial including 22 adults, one hatchling and two
sub-adults were sighted in the Gandak in December 2012 and 3-
4 babies and one adult in Ganga at Patna in 2007.
 The Ganges system supports 18 species of turtle fauna.In the
stretch between Haridwar and Kanpur, 12 species of turtles were
reported from the Ganga.
 Plenty of hard shell and soft shell turtles in the Ganga between
Bijnor and Narora barrages soft shell turtles are collected from
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to send the same to markets in West
Bengal.
 In the last ten years, on many occasions every year hundreds of
such turtles have been confiscated in Bihar.

17.  India is one of the global hotspots for birds, with over 1340 bird
species (13% of the world’s species) recorded from the country.
Falling within the Central Asian Flyway, the area is utilized by 307
species of migratory water birds, most of them coming from
Central and North Asia, at the beginning of the winter season. Of
the 307 migratory species, two are Critically Endangered, five are
Endangered and 13 species are Vulnerable. Out of the remaining
287 species, 10 species are Near Threatened and 277 species are
Least Concern as per the IUCN Red List. Of the 1340 bird species.
 Poaching of birds, and vanishing wetlands in the Ganga basin are
the biggest threats to avian fauna in the rivers and the adjoining
wetlands. Besides, heavy use of pesticides and loss of riparian
vegetation are other important threats.

18.  One of the most rare, endemic, endangered and charismatic
mammals of the Ganga basin is the Gangetic dolphin. It is found
in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river systems in India, Nepal
and Bangladesh.
 An estimated population of over 3600 individuals has been
reported in the Ganga-Brahmaputra river systems including about
460 in Bangladesh and about 50 in Nepal.
 About 1500 dolphins are surviving in the main stem of the Ganga
and its tributaries in Bihar. No information is available from the
rivers of Bhutan which are part of the Ganga-Brahmaputra basin.
 Between Bijnor barrage and Narora barrage a small population of
about 35 individuals were surviving 55 which has increased to 56
by 2010.

19.  The Ganga River, along with the Brahmaputra River,
forms one of the largest and most diverse river systems
of the world, spanning 10 biomes. The varied
geomorphological features along the Ganga River,
coupled with climatic variations, results in a continuous
gradient of habitats for various life forms, right from the
headwaters to the mouth.
 This continuous yet varied gradient of habitats and life
forms, results in differential availability of resources,
which has been critical in shaping the local economy
along the river.
 The Ganga River basin also hosts a dense population of
diverse stakeholders having varied resource uses and
linked culturally, religiously, socially and economically to
the river.

20.  The differential resource use by different stakeholders
has resulted in varied impacts and threats along the
length of the Ganga River.
 Therefore, for successful ecological restoration of the
river, identification of site-specific threats and ways of
minimizing or eliminating them is a prerequisite.

21.  The River Ganga has been not only the cradle of the Indian
civilization, but is the life line for the people of this part of the world.
The river created vast plains of fertile land which attracted people
from Central Asia to settle. Over the time several urban settlements
came on the banks of the river. The river basin is one of the most
thickly populated areas of the world. It remained source of pure
freshwater and that of economic, spiritual and cultural activities since
time immemorial. It sustains thousands of aquatic species of flora
and fauna including many endemic and charismatic mega-fauna like
the Ganges dolphin, Gavialis etc.
 The concentration of nitrate in natural rivers is typically low (<1
mg/L). The preliminary assessment of the water quality of the Ganga
River reveals that the wastewater inflow has altered the water qaulity
at specific locations and elevated the nitrate and BOD concentrations
above critical levels. An excess organic load, especially nitrate, can
rapidly deplete the dissolved oxygen concentration and can become
toxic to aquatic organisms, mainly fishes, at >10 mg/L or a higher
level. Hence, the critical locations identified with respect to
detoriated water quality should be the focus of intervention efforts.

22.  The Ganga River is a repository of various life forms, resulting
from the variations in its geomorphological and fluvial
processes. This diversity of species or life forms is crucial for
reducing the risk of ecological collapse and maintaining
ecosystem services, which are essential for societal well-being.
 The river conservation programme was initiated with
theGanga Action Plan (GAP) in the year 1985.The Authority has
decided that under 'Mission Clean Ganga', it will be ensured
that by the year 2020, no untreated municipal sewage and
industrial effluents flow into Ganga.
 National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) is a centrally
funded scheme launched in 1995 aimed at preventing the
pollution of rivers. It provoide information of each state
on amount sanctioned under NRCP to which city and for
what purpose.

23.  'Namami Gange Programme', is an Integrated
Conservation Mission, approved as 'Flagship
Programme' by the Union Government in June 2014
with budget outlay of Rs.20,000 Crore to accomplish
the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution,
conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga.
 But the river has remained dirty. So (NGP) Namami
Gange Programme is an ambitious integrated Ganga
Conservation Mission that was launched by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi in May 2015
 National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) had
organised Ganga Vriksharopan Abhiyan in five main
Ganga basin states – Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,
Jharkhand and West Bengal. The drive was launched
on 9th July 2018 for a week upto 15 July 2018 which
was observed as 'Shubharambh Saptah'.