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This review article summarizes the state of knowledge on the potential of phytoplankton and zooplankton as indicators of an aquatic body health as well as the most recent developments in research on freshwater aquatic ecosystems employing plankton as a biological indicator. The majority of research that has been published found that the abiotic parameters of the aquatic environment—temperature, pH, TDS, DO, BOD, nitrate, phosphate, hardness, and alkalinity—were closely associated with the diversity and abundance of phytoplankton and zooplankton. Some species were impacted by pollution, while others were discovered to be tolerant to the harsh abiotic conditions present in contaminated bodies and acting as possible biological markers in studies of water quality monitoring.

To know present research status about correlation between pollution sensitive phytoplankton and zooplankton species.

Viability Indicators of Aquatic Ecosystem
The key primary producers of any ecosystem are phytoplankton.  The biological production of any aquatic body can be utilized as a gauge of its trophic status and potential for biological resources. There is a positive correlation between nitrate and phosphate concentration in the water body and algal density (Levine and Schindler, 1999). Distribution of Algal families correlated with physicochemical parameters, such that the distribution of Cyclopidae positively correlated with depth and negatively correlated with Turbidity, Fe, Zn, Ca, and Colour (De Cabo, et al., 2003). According to Jeppesen, et al., (2005), there is a correlation between acidified lake water and plankton, macroinvertebrates, and fish diversity. According to Padmanabha, and Belagali (2008) when the lake's water was highly polluted at that time few species of Ostracods flourish highly in that lake water. The reason was that these species of Ostracods were more adapted and competition from other species was absent. Few species of Ostracods can tolerate and flourish in highly polluted lakes due to better adaptability and decreased competition from other species (Padmanabha and Belagali, 2008). Phytoplanktons can be used as bioindicators of water body environment as trophic status composed of creatures with high environmental sensitivity (Arora, et al., 2009). The trophic status of lakes can be determined by the community size of a few key zooplankton species, and this information can also be used to understand trophic state changes (Ferdous and Muktadir, 2009).  Reduction in acidity and metal concentration increases zooplankton communities in the water body (Valois et al., 2010). The key component of the food webs of the water body is phytoplankton and according to the availability of producers in food webs, primary and secondary consumers' composition change (Gharib, et al., (2011).
According to Offem, et al., (2011) from May to August, the physicochemical parameters’ value was the lowest while during the dry season (February to March) the values were high and correlated with the quantity and diversity of planktons. Recently, plankton has been used as a bio-indicator to assess the integrity of water (Poniewozik et al., 2011). According to Karuthapandi, et al., (2013) Rotifera were more abundant than other zooplankton groups, especially during the winter season. Zooplankton plays a key role in lake ecosystem processes by enabling energy transfer from primary producers to higher trophic levels (Zhou, et al., 2014). At two marked sites where higher concentration of phytoplankton, when the tested physicochemical status of water found a higher concentration of pollutants (Matta, et al., 2015).
Temperature is one of the main factors regulating the biogeochemical activities in the aquatic environment. Seasonal variation of productivity is related to variation in temperature and photic conditions (Rasconi, et al., 2015). Chlorophyll-a and pH are two important factors regulating zooplankton diversity of lake Gala (Turkey) during the months of November to December (Apaydın, et al., 2016). Algal communities are very sensitive to the physicochemical status of water. Algal communities shift from being a diverse community of species to a monotonous community (Gokce, et al., 2016). Zooplanktons are one of the most acceptable bioindicators of water body pollution as they can easily collect, and identified and they also respond quickly to stressful conditions including acidification (Valois, et al., 2010) and fish densities (Yu, et al., 2016).
Members of the zooplankton community are widely used as bioindicators of environmental pollution as they can easily be collected (Paturej, et al., 2017), identified, and also respond quickly to stressful conditions including nutrient loading (Pace, 1986). Edoreh, et al., (2021) found a positive correlation between zooplankton and potassium, total hardness, and iron. The distribution pattern of zooplankton is highly influenced by environmental parameters like temperature, Dissolved Oxygen, and Chlorophyll-a (Saravanakumar, et al., 2021). The significant impact of season, turbidity, Phosphate, Nitrate, and Dissolved Oxygen were shown on the distribution of zooplanktons (Oparaku, et al., 2022).

If water natural composition of any water body change, acidic pH, BOD increases.  

All these research analyses revealed that there is a strong correlation between physicochemical status and the abiotic component of freshwater bodies. The analysis further revealed that the presence or absence of specific species of phytoplankton and zooplankton depends upon the health status of the water body. Some species resist the extreme abiotic environments and survive well in the polluted environment indicating an extreme tolerance level, while some sensitive species were absent when the physicochemical status of the water body changed which means these species were more sensitive to the surrounding environment. It means these are bioindicators for the water ecosystem. Thus, the use of this phytoplankton and zooplankton can further be enhanced in water quality monitoring studies.

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