Impact of human-altered hydrographical setting on the Copepod community structure in an extensive tropical estuary along the southwest coast of India

•Distribution of copepods in the Kochi backwaters has been impacted heavily by the saltwater barrage•Demarcated the copepod indicator species in the different hydrographical settings•Comparison with historic data showed a major compositional shift in copepods due to barrage•Propose copepods as an easy and efficient tool to assess man-made hydrological changes