The Relative Abundance, Distribution and Species Diversity of Phytoplanktons in Kanye Dam in Kano, North western- Nigeria

The abundance and distribution of phytoplankton algae of Kanye Reservoir was studied from Five (5) sampling sites for the period of five (5) Months and analysed for Physico chemical attributes such as Temperature, pH, Dissolved Oxygen, Biological Oxygen Demand; Nitrogen-Nitrate, Phosphorus-Phosphate and Electrical Conductivity using standard methods. Results showed that the physicochemical characteristics recorded was that of a typical tropical region. The highest cell count(8.8×10 4 )cells/ml was recorded in Site ‘E’, followed by site ‘A’ (6.4×10 4 cells/ml), the least was recorded in site ‘C’ (8.3×10 3 cells/ml) Physico-chemical attribute did not vary significantly among the sites. Four (4) Classes of Algae were identified which was dominated by Chlorophyta 23(46%), followed by Baccilariophyta 20,(40%), Cyanophyceae 5,(10%) with poor representation of the Harmful types by three (3) species namely: Microcystis aeruginosa, Oscillatoria princeps and Anabaena circinalis with a total cell count (9.6×10 3 cells/ml) less than 2×10 4 Cells/ml, there was generally high number of algal cells observed during the wet season than in the dry season. However, Oscillatoria princeps was identified with the highest number of occurrence in both site ‘B’ and ‘’E’ (4.9×10 3 cells/ml) followed by Microcystis aeruginosa and Anabaena cercinalis identified at site ‘E’ and ‘A’ (1.6×10 3 cells/ml and the class with the least number of species was Euglenopyta 2, (4%). L. there was a positive significant correlation between algae and physicochemical attributes of the reservoir. The study showed that the reservoir is not polluted and the water is safe for domestic use since the number of harmful algal cells recorded is relatively low which is within the WHO standard for safe water