Macrophyte diversity and trophic status of Sakhya Sagar Lake, Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Aquatic habitats provide suitable environment for supporting survival of a diversity of aquatic life forms. The study was conducted in Sakhya Sagar Lake which is situated inside the Madhav National Park Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh. To assess the status and distribution of macrophytes, frequent trips were conducted in the study area. The plants were classified based on their habit and their presence was visually observed. A total of 16 plant species were recorded, of which 16 species, 5 species were sub-dominant, 6 species were common and 5 species were un-common. Among all the 16 plants 9 species are free floating, 4 species are submerged hydrophytes, 1 species is emergent type hydrophyte and 2 species are marginal hydrophytes. Aquatic macrophytes like Nymphaea nouchali, Nelumbo nucifera, Trapa natans, Ipomoea aquatica, Vallisnaria spiralis, Potamogeton crispus, and Azolla pinnata were recorded as the common plants of this lake. The trophic status and macrophyte diversity of Sakhya Sagar Lake has been discussed in the paper.