Impact of deforestation on benthic macroinvertebrate communities in tributaries of Lake Tanganyika, East Africa
نویسنده
چکیده
Benthic macroinvertebrate communities of Lake Tanganyika tributaries in pristine, forested, and impacted, deforested, watersheds were examined. Samples were collected using a Surber-sampler, and identified under a dissecting microscope. Family biotic indices (FBI), percent of Ephemeroptera/Plecoptera/Trichoptera (%EPT), relative Chironomid abundance (RCA), and taxa richness of five impacted streams in western Tanzania were compared, using paired t-test and single factor ANOVA, to five pristine streams located within the boundaries of Gombe Stream National Park during the dry season (July 2003). FBI, %EPT, and RCA were found to be significantly different, while taxa richness was not. Watershed deforestation has influenced the composition of benthic macroinvertebrate communities at the impacted sites.
منابع مشابه
Characterization and comparison of benthic macroinvertebrate communities in small streams of forested and deforested catchments bordering Lake Tanganyika
Deforestation is one of the world’s greatest land-use habitat alterations (Scarsbrook and Halliday, 1999). Specifically, tropical environments, where the rate of deforestation is currently increasing and changing not only the landscape, but the quality of water draining it, are the sites for the greatest freshwater biodiversity loss and system simplification (Boyero and Bailey, 2001). For examp...
متن کاملA Comparative Study of Grain Size Distribution and Mineralogy of Sandy Sediments between Kasekera Stream (Forested) and Mtanga Stream (Deforested) as Related to On Shore and Near Shore Environments: Lake Tanganyika, East Africa
Lake Tanganyika is an ancient, tropical, fresh water lake associated with the Great African Rift. Due to active deforestation in many areas surrounding Lake Tanganyika, there is a measurable increase in sediment discharge entering the lake. Certain protected areas (protected from fire and deforestation) allow for comparison of sediment discharge, including grain size distribution and lithologic...
متن کاملEffects of land-use change on aquatic biodiversity: A view from the paleorecord at Lake Tanganyika, East Africa
Population growth and watershed deforestation in northwestern Tanzania threaten the biodiversity of Lake Tanganyika through erosion and habitat degradation. We used cores collected offshore from Gombe Stream National Park and a deforested watershed to reconstruct how land-use changes in the Gombe Stream area since A.D. 1750 have affected lake biodiversity. Paleoenvironmental and paleoecological...
متن کاملEffects of local farming and deforestation on tropical freshwater streams: A comparison of stream geomorphology and fine clastic particle size, distribution, and water column suspension in Kalande Stream (forested) and Ngelwa Stream (deforested), Lake Tanganyika, East Africa
Lake Tanganyika is the oldest and largest of the East African rift lakes and therefore has the potential for recovery of temporally long paleoclimate records vital to our understanding of the climate history of the region (Figure 1). The resources of Lake Tanganyika are central to the viability of East Africa. As regional populations continue to expand, at an annual rate of 1.9-3.0%, demand for...
متن کاملBenthic Macroinvertabrate distribution in Tajan River Using Canonical Correspondence Analysis
The distribution of macroinvertebrate communities from 5 sampling sites of the Tajan River were used to examine the relationship among physiochemical parameters with macroinvertebrate communities and also to assess ecological classification system as a tool for the management and conservation purposes. The amount of variation explained in macroinvertebrate taxa composition is within values r...
متن کامل