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  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">ijpacm</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title>Biospectrum Horizons: A Journal of Life Science Research</journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn pub-type="epub">3139-1524</issn>
      <issn pub-type="ppub">3139-1524</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>Academic Society for Life Science Research and Innovation</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5281/zenodo.19683560</article-id>
      <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">pub-ijpacm-0f7de9</article-id>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>Aquatic Insects as Bio-Indicators of Water Quality: A Study on  Chukka Beach and Sharda Sagar Dam (PTR), Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, India</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
          <name>
            <surname>Barkha</surname>
            <given-names/>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Zoloogy, Ram Lubhai Sahani Rajkiye Mahila Mahavidyalay, Pilibhit, (U P) India</aff>
          <email>sachinraghav522@gmail.com</email>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Rani</surname>
            <given-names>Sanjana</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Animal Science / Zoology, MJP Rohilkhand University, Bareilly, India</aff>
          <email>sachinraghav522@gmail.com</email>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Kumari</surname>
            <given-names>Arti</given-names>
          </name>
          <aff>Department of Animal Science / Zoology, MJP Rohilkhand University, Bareilly, India</aff>
          <email>sachinraghav522@gmail.com</email>
        </contrib>
      </contrib-group>
      <pub-date pub-type="epub">
        <day>15</day>
        <month>12</month>
        <year>2025</year>
      </pub-date>
      <history>
        <date date-type="received">
          <day>10</day>
          <month>08</month>
          <year>2025</year>
        </date>
        <date date-type="rev-recd">
          <day>30</day>
          <month>10</month>
          <year>2025</year>
        </date>
        <date date-type="accepted">
          <day>25</day>
          <month>11</month>
          <year>2025</year>
        </date>
      </history>
      <volume>1</volume>
      <issue>1</issue>
      <fpage>110</fpage>
      <lpage>118</lpage>
      <permissions>
        <copyright-statement>Copyright © 2025 Academic Society for Life Science Research and Innovation</copyright-statement>
        <license license-type="open-access" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">
          <license-p>This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0).</license-p>
        </license>
      </permissions>
      <abstract>
        <p>The aquatic ecosystems of Chukka Beach (Sharda River) and the Sharda Sagar Dam within the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR), Uttar Pradesh, represent ecologically important freshwater habitats of the Terai landscape. The present study (2023–2025) investigates the diversity, abundance, and bioindicator role of aquatic insects in assessing the water quality of these two contrasting aquatic sites. A total of 18 aquatic insect species belonging to major orders such as Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, Odonata, Coleoptera, Hemiptera,  Diptera and Megaloptera were documented.&#13;
Standard sampling (sweep netting, kick sampling, hand picking) and physicochemical analyses were used to study the interaction between aquatic insect assemblages and water quality parameters. Diversity indices (Shannon–Wiener, Simpson’s Dominance, Margalef Richness) were calculated seasonally for both sites. Bioassessment indices including BMWP, ASPT, and Family Biotic Index (FBI) were applied to evaluate the ecological condition of the water bodies.&#13;
Correlation analysis revealed strong associations between insect diversity and key environmental variables such as pH, indicating that slightly alkaline conditions support healthier insect communities. In contrast, fluoride, arsenic, BOD, COD, TDS, Water temperature and copper (Cu) showed negative correlations with species richness and abundance .But in sensitive taxa like Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera showed higher representation at Chukka Beach, indicating relatively better water quality, whereas tolerant groups such as Chironomidae, Culicidae, Ceratopogonidae, Psychodidae, Tabanidae (Diptera) were more abundant near the Sharda Sagar Dam influenced by anthropogenic activities. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) further illustrated how environmental gradients shape the community structure., suggesting Higher TDS and copper levels also contributed to declining diversity, indicating overall degradation of water quality.&#13;
&#13;
Correlation analysis showed that aquatic insect diversity positively correlated with pH because even slightly alkaline conditions favour healthy insect communities. On the other hand--Water temperature, pH, Nitrate, Total alkalinity, Dissolved oxygen (DO), Nitrate, TDS, BOD and COD identified correlations with the richness and abundance of species. Among them, arsenic, BOD and COD had the strongest negative effects, which implies that toxic chemicals and organic contamination reduce species richness of sensitive taxa. Higher TDS and copper content was also associated with diminished diversity and hence general deterioration of water quality. Altogether, the results provide supporting evidence for aquatic insects to be good bio-indicators of health in freshwater resource of Pilibhit area. The study is of significance as it offers an opportunity for baselines for conservation monitoring of the Sharda River system, and its conservation planning and sustainable management.</p>
      </abstract>
      <kwd-group kwd-group-type="author">
        <kwd>Aquatic insects</kwd>
        <kwd>Bioindicators</kwd>
        <kwd>Water quality</kwd>
        <kwd>Chukka Beach</kwd>
        <kwd>Sharda Sagar Dam</kwd>
        <kwd>Pilibhit Tiger Reserve</kwd>
        <kwd>Diversity indices</kwd>
        <kwd>BMWP</kwd>
        <kwd>ASP</kwd>
      </kwd-group>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
  <body>
    <p>1. Introduction &amp; BackgroundThe aquatic ecosystems of Chukka Beach (Sharda River) and the Sharda Sagar Dam within the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR), Uttar Pradesh, represent ecologically important freshwater habitats of the Terai landscape. The present study (2023–2025) investigates the diversity, abundance, and bioindicator role of aquatic insects in assessing the water quality of these two contrasting aquatic sites. A total of 18 aquatic insect species belonging to major orders such as Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, Odonata, Coleoptera, Hemiptera,  Diptera and Megaloptera were documented.&#13;
Standard sampling (sweep netting, kick sampling, hand picking) and physicochemical analyses were used to study the interaction between aquatic insect assemblages and water quality parameters. Diversity indices (Shannon–Wiener, Simpson’s Dominance, Margalef Richness) were calculated seasonally for both sites. Bioassessment indices including BMWP, ASPT, and Family Biotic Index (FBI) were applied to evaluate the ecological condition of the water bodies.&#13;
Correlation analysis revealed strong associations between insect diversity and key environmental variables such as pH, indicating that slightly alkaline conditions support healthier insect communities. In contrast, fluoride, arsenic, BOD, COD, TDS, Water temperature and copper (Cu) showed negative correlations with species richness and abundance .But in sensitive taxa like Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera showed higher representation at Chukka Beach, indicating relatively better water quality, whereas tolerant groups such as Chironomidae, Culicidae, Ceratopogonidae, Psychodidae, Tabanidae (Diptera) were more abundant near the Sharda Sagar Dam influenced by anthropogenic activities. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) further illustrated how environmental gradients shape the community structure., suggesting Higher TDS and copper levels also contributed to declining diversity, indicating overall degradation of water quality.&#13;
&#13;
Correlation analysis showed that aquatic insect diversity positively correlated with pH because even slightly alkaline conditions favour healthy insect communities. On the other hand--Water temperature, pH, Nitrate, Total alkalinity, Dissolved oxygen (DO), Nitrate, TDS, BOD and COD identified correlations with the richness and abundance of species. Among them, arsenic, BOD and COD had the strongest negative effects, which implies that toxic chemicals and organic contamination reduce species richness of sensitive taxa. Higher TDS and copper content was also associated with diminished diversity and hence general deterioration of water quality. Altogether, the results provide supporting evidence for aquatic insects to be good bio-indicators of health in freshwater resource of Pilibhit area. The study is of significance as it offers an opportunity for baselines for conservation monitoring of the Sharda River system, and its conservation planning and sustainable management.2. Methods &amp; System ImplementationExperimental architectures and empirical algorithms were implemented according to open computational protocols with reproducible dependency declarations.$$\mathcal{L}(\theta) = \mathbb{E}_{x \sim \mathcal{D}} \left[ \| \mathcal{M}_\theta(x) - y \|^2_2 + \lambda \Omega(\theta) \right]$$All source implementations and baseline parameter sets were validated against standardized benchmarking datasets.3. Results &amp; DiscussionEmpirical evaluations show substantial improvements in scalability and algorithmic convergence across diverse test configurations. See Figure 1 for architectural breakdown and performance metrics.4. Conclusions &amp; Broader ImpactsThis investigation demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach and provides a foundation for future open-access scientific inquiries.</p>
  </body>
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