Bhoj Wetland ,Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
The Bhoj Wetland consisting of two lakes (Upper & Lower lakes) are manmade reservoirs. The Upper lake created in the 11th century by constructing an earthen dam across the Kolans river and the lower lake constructed nearly two centuries ago immediately downstream of the Upper lake, have catchment of 361 and 9.6 sq.km, respectively. Upper lake is surrounded by Van Vihar National Park on the south, human settlements on the east and north, and agriculture fields on the west whereas lower lake is surrounded by human settlements from all sides. Bhoj Wetland has been designated as a Ramsar site in November 2002.
Flora
106 species of Macrophytes (belonging to 87 genera of 46 families), which includes 14 rare species and 208 species of Phytoplankton comprising 106 species of Chlorophyceae, 37 species of Cyano phyceae, 34 species of Euglenophyceae, 27 species of Bacilariophyceae and 4 species of Dinophyceae.
Fauna
105 speices of zooplanktons,which includes (rotifera 41, Protozoa 10, Cladocera 14, Copepoda 5, Ostracoda 9, Coleoptera 11, and Diptera 25). Fish fauna consist of 43 species (natural and cultured spe cies), 27 species of avifauna, 98 species of insects and more than 10 species of Reptiles and Amphibians (including 5 species of tortoise) have been recoreded so far.