Water Quality and Biology of Hot Springs of Mahapelessa, Sri Lanka

Hot springs are the wonderful heritage of the nature. Nearly ten hot springs have been recognized in Sri Lanka. Although, the people make believe bath of natural hot springs water it may cause to harmful effects as irritation, skin damages and rarely in orally due to harmful algal toxins (Microcystin). Mahapelessa is one of the famous hot springs in southern Sri Lanka and has been developed as a place for ecotourism. Therefore, this study was carried out as a baseline of water quality and biological aspects and it was reported as the first study on biology of hot springs in Sri Lanka. The manuscript explains physico-chemical and biological condition of Mahapelessa hot spring during the period of August to November in 2013. Several phytoplankton species (i.e. Spirogyra sp., Gloecapsa sp., Scenedesmus sp.) and zooplankton sp. (Keratella sp., Moina sp.) were identified and can be considered as indicator species of the water temperature above 40 ˚C. The results of the research will be helpful to biologists and future researches who are interested in the quality of hot springs water for introducing better management practices on the use of nature for economical development.