author(s)
Suman Takar, A Dwivedi, Udai Ram Gurjar, Saritha S, AK Jaiswar and Geetanjali Deshmukhe

abstract
Zooplankton diversity was assessed in the mangrove areas of three stations comprised of two estuaries, viz. Bhayandar and Patalganga and one enclosed mangroves at Lokhandwala, Mumbai. Zooplankton were identified under 11 groups. Overall, tintinnids was most dominant group (ranging from 160 to 2360 cell/l) followed by copepods group of zooplankton from all three stations. Polychaetes larvae were present at Lokhandwala, where found as decapods, gastropods larvae and bivalve larvae were found in Bhayandar and Dharamtar. Relationship based on different environment parameters at Bhayandar show positive correlation of zooplankton with pH. At Lokhandwala and Dharamtar show negative correlation of zooplankton with all environment parameters (except water temperature). Dominance index (D) is maximum with 0.56 in January, 0.69 in March and 0.53 in November at Bhayandar, Lokhandwala and Dharamtar, respectively. High species evenness (J') was recorded at Bhayandar and ranged between 0.43 and 0.79 as compared to Lokhandwala (0.31 and 0.84) and at Dharamtar (0.47 and 0.82). The Shannon-Weiner index (H') ranged from 1.3788 to 2.5219 at Bhayandar, 0.7219 to 1.9688 at Lokhandwala and 1.5538 to 2.7232 at Bhayandar. Simpson Diversity Index (1-λ') is maximum with 0.82 in February, 0.70 in January and 0.83 in December at Bhayandar, Lokhandwala and Dharamtar respectively.