Macroinvertebrate Community Index (MCI) and Quantitative Macroinvertebrate Community Index (QMCI) Analysis: A Comparative Study between Le Afe and Mulivaifagatoloa Rivers, Upolu Island, Samoa

The diversity of Samoa’s freshwater macroinvertebrates remains largely unexplored, with past studies focusing on specific species without comprehensive cataloguing. This research evaluated the health of Upolu Island’s rural rivers through macroinvertebrate analysis, particularly in the Le Afe and Mulivaifagatoloa Rivers. Collaborating with Samoa’s Water Resources Division in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE), three sites along each river were sampled, representing a gradient from pristine to anthropogenically impacted areas. A total of 2953 macroinvertebrates were collected and classified into five categories using established identification keys. The Macroinvertebrate Community Index (MCI) and Quantitative Macroinvertebrate Community Index (QMCI) were applied for analysis. The results showed no clear pattern of pollutant-sensitive species prevalence or decline in less disturbed rivers. High MCI scores with low QMCI values indicated numerous low-scoring species, while the opposite suggested a richness of high-scoring taxa. Although MCI and QMCI are tools for monitoring freshwater health, this study lays the groundwork for future research to categorize Samoan macroinvertebrates and assign tolerance scores based on their presence in varying river conditions. .

Recovery time of macroinvertebrate community from Cd pollution in Longjiang River,Guangxi,China

Estimating recovery times from pollution incident is an important issue of targeted biomonitoring programs.In the present study,the impact and recovery of macroinvertebrate communities from a cadmium wastewater discharge in the Longjiang River,Guangxi,China,in early January 2012 were studied based on 83 samples collected in fi ve surveys within 20 months after the incident.The pollution aff ected seriously the local aquatic biota,and consequently,the invertebrate abundance and species richness were reduced considerably.Twelve months later,the taxonomic number of macroinvertebrates began to increase.However,sensitive taxa remained rare.Twenty months later,the taxon richness and abundance of macroinvertebrates increased signifi cantly compared to those in the previous four time points.To explore the possible time-scale over which pre-disturbance conditions might occur,we chose four diff erent typical metrics of taxa richness(total taxa number,cumulative taxa number,taxa number per samples,and the Shannon-Wiener diversity index)and extrapolated modeled recovery trajectories.Target values for the four metrics were set at average values for sites from the nearby Lijiang River,which were used as a reference.Assuming a continued linear trajectory,the recovery times were estimated to be 52,39,39,and 31 months,respectively,which was roughly 3-5 years.This is consistent with results from recovery times from other studies of acute pollution cases,but contrasted strongly to the much longer recovery times associated with chronic pollution from groundwater contamination and mine-tailing runoff.

Structure and Composition of Macroinvertebrates during Flood Period of the Nokoue Lake, Benin

The Nokoue Lake is the largest lake of Benin Republic and it is also considered as one of the most productive lagoon ecosystems in West Africa. This productivity is decreasing and thus raises productivity issue for a better management and conservation. Macroinvertebrate can be useful for this purpose. A study was conducted to assess the spatial variation of macroinvertebrates during high flood period. A total of 3892 macroinvertebrates of fresh and brackish water were sampled during the survey. Structural analysis of the macroinvertebrate community revealed that it was made up of 16 orders, 48 families and 66 genera dominated by Insecta compared to Mollusca, Crustacea and the Annelida. Insects were dominated by Diptera (Chironomus sp. and Tanytarsus sp.), Coleoptera (Dystiscidae) and accounted for 57.1% of the sampled population. Mollusca, Crustacea, Annelida and Arachnida were the following most abundant and represented 23.9%, 10.7%, 8.1% and 0.2% of the total population, respectively. The Evenness index of Pielou was higher on the Station 8 (0.91 - 0.97), close to Oueme River. However, no significant difference (p > 0.05) was observed neither between station nor between month on the Shannon-Wiener index (2.06 - 4.31), Simpson index (0.04 - 0.40) and the taxa number (10 - 27). Macroinvertebrate assemblages and composition were primarily due to changes in water quality dependent on hydroclimatic changes and probably to anthropogenic actions. This suggests the need for real investigation of the macroinvertebrate biological capacity when formulating conservation strategies for the Nokoue Lake.

Spatial variations of macrozoobenthos and sediment nutrients in Lake Yangcheng: Emphasis on effect of pen culture of Chinese mitten crab

We determined the effect of Chinese mitten crab（CMC） pen culture on the quantified spatial distribution of the macrozoobenthic community and sediment nutrients in Lake Yangcheng.Redundancy analysis indicated that water temperature, macrophyte occurrence, sediment type, and crab culture were the main environmental factors that influence the spatiotemporal macrozoobenthic distribution. Macrozoobenthic assemblages in the lake were characterized by eutrophic indicator species. In the most polluted estuaries, the abundance and diversity indices of the whole community and abundance of chironomids and oligochaetes were significantly depressed, and sediment carbon（C） and phosphorus（P） were significantly enhanced compared with those in the western, middle（MB）, and eastern basin（EB）. Crab culture in this lake had significant effects on the species composition of the macrozoobenthic community in one of three CMC culture pens（CP）, and generally depressed the abundance of most chironomid and oligochaete species. Significantly increased diversity, evenness, sediment carbon and nitrogen content, and sediment C：P ratio in the CP were found compared with those in the three basins.However, no conspicuous difference in sediment P content between the CP and the two basins of MB and EB was detected. Our results showed that the enhanced diversity and evenness of macrozoobenthos might be associated with the joint effect of macrophyte planting and crab predation, and macrophyte planting may modify the effects of CMC culture by leading to disproportional accumulation of C and N in the sediment relative to P in the CP of the lake.