Impact of deforestation on the aquatic macroinvertebrate community and the ecological quality of Mé River (South-East, Côte d’Ivoire)
Paper Details
Impact of deforestation on the aquatic macroinvertebrate community and the ecological quality of Mé River (South-East, Côte d’Ivoire)
Abstract
Forests have become one of the most altered biomes. This study aimed to assess the impact of deforestation on the ecological quality of Mé River. Macroinvertebrate were collected at 9 sites in Mé watershed using a hand net and a Van Veen grab, after measuring abiotic parameters. QGIS software was used to determine the proprotion of different land use class. Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) has grouped the sites into groups. To assess the diversity of macroinvertebrates in these groups, Piélou’s evenness, Shannon-Weaver index and Rarefied richness were used. Water quality index (WQI), EPT and Chironomidae indices were used to describe the ecological quality. Deforestation and the ecological quality have been linked by using Focused Principal Component Analysis. S1, S6, S7, S8 and S9 characterized by a high proportion of bare ground had been classified in group 1 (GI) by the HCA. S2, S3, S4 and S5 with high proportion of wooded crops had been classified in group 2(GII). Phosphorus, pH, nitrites, and ammonium varied significantly between GI and GII. High nutrient, nitrates (22.7 mg/L), ammonium (1.92 mg/L), phosphorus (0.55 mg/L) were recorded in GII. Water from S2 and S5 turned out to be of poor quality. WQI was strongly correlated with the dense forest Class. A total of 187 macroinvertebrate taxa gathered in the sites. GII was most diversified. Deforestation has led to decline species diversity. Mé River has an acceptable ecological quality.
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