ASSESSMENT OF ZOOPLANKTON COMMUNITY STRUCTURE, PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND WATER QUALITY OF OBAZUWA LAKE, EDO STATE, NIGERIA.

Lentic water bodies in Nigeria are often neglected in favour of flowing systems making them prone to pollution, nutrient enrichment and ecological degradation. This study assessed the zooplankton community structure, physical and chemical characteristics, and water quality of Obazuwa Lake, Edo State, Nigeria.Water and zooplankton samples were collected monthly from May to November, 2024 at three sampling stations. Temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen (DO) were measured in situ, while other physicochemical parameters were analyzed in the laboratory using standard procedures. Zooplankton specimens were identified using recognized taxonomic keys. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, one-way Analysis of variance (ANOVA) to test for spatial variation and Pearson’s correlation to assess relationships between biotic and abiotic components. Water quality index (WQI) was computed to classify lake water quality. Multivariate analysis such as Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA), Principal component analysis (PCA) and Redundancy Analysis (RDA) was also used to identify community patterns.