Abstract:
Climate change has led to an unprecedented rate of sea-level rise (SLR) over the past few years.
With hundreds of rivers flowing through the region, Bangladesh is a deltaic plain. Most of them
end their journey by accumulating in the Bay of Bengal (BoB). The rising sea level tends to
increase river salinity due to the changing climate, which directly affects the associated ecosystems and vegetation coverage.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the monsoon season, this research was conducted. The study
evaluates the current plant diversity and river salinity status of Cox's Bazaar's Bakkhali River,
which concluded in a hypothesis on how the local plant-diversity is affected by the river salinity.
On site, the water salinity level was measured. The estimated plant diversity status was measured
using the diversity index for both Simpson (D) and Shannon (H). Statistical analysis was carried
out on the results of the impact of river salinity on the plant diversity of the
riverside. From the water samples collected from the sampling locations, total dissolved solids (T
DS) and electrical conductivity (EC) were measured.
From all the statistical research it was found that when salinity increases, the plant diversity
decreases. There were less human footprints because of the pandemic. Also the salinity level was
lower than expected due to the monsoon season. Via physical observation, it was shown that
pollution had less effects.
