Research Projects

The aims of project work are carried out population dynamics and phylogenetic analysis of calanoid copepods from Ennore, Marina and Kovalam (East coast, Tamilnadu) stations. The diversity of calanoid copepods were studied during October 2018 to September 2019. The highest diversity was recorded at Kovalam followed by Marina and Ennore stations. However, highest density was recorded at Marina stations. In the present study, Tortanus forcipatus reported first time in Chennai coast. Taxonomic description of 32 calanoid copepods has been reported and these characters are used for construction of morphological phylogenetic tree. Apart from this, mtCOI and 18s rRNA gene was amplified and sequenced for construction of molecular phylogenetic tree. 20 and 15 calanoid species were sequenced on mtCOI and 18s rRNA region, respectively. Based on the phylogeny, morphological phylogenetic tree was consistent with molecular phylogeny in the super family level. Topologies of morphology, 18s rRNA and mtCOI showed clusters of discordance between species levels