PHYSICOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS AND MACROINVERTEBRATE FUNCTIONAL FEEDING GROUPS IN RIVER CHANCHAGA, MINNA, NIGER STATE
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Background to the Study
Water is necessary for human survival. This well-recognized fact is the basis for the emerging view of basic human water needs as a human right to water (Glieck, 1998; Cunha, 2009). Rivers are among the most-threatened ecological systems of the globe (Arimoro and Keke, 2016; Edegbene et al., 2020). Freshwater bodies in the tropics are recognised as important resources for global biodiversity preservation and protection (Arimoro et al., 2015; Tonkin et al., 2016). The inadequate water quality monitoring to address the complex and emerging environmental and sustainability issues currently is impacting the society (Wet and Odume 2019). Hence, there is the need to recognize the conservation of macroinvertebrates biodiversity as an effective tool in planning and supporting management processes towards sustainability of water resources. In generally, the quality of water may be monitored by observing the composition of freshwater macroinvertebrates of a given “test” community with that of an actual or hypothetical community in a waterway known to be relatively unpolluted. Furthermore, macroinvertebrates can be used to determine aquatic life stressors, set pollutant load reductions, and indicate possible remediation successes (Nieto et al., 2017; Zabbey and Arimoro 2017). The functionality of streams can be affected in different ways through the loss of biodiversity. The efficiency of stream communities to capturing essential resources, 2 producing biomass, decomposing, and recycling essential nutrients is affected by biodiversity loss (Nieto et al., 2017). The preservation and protection of good water quality, both sanitary and environmental, is paramount, since it depends largely on the conservation of biodiversity (Fernandez-Díaz et al., 2008; Ishaku et al., 2011; Arimoro and Keke, 2016). River Chanchaga is a lotic freshwater body situated in Chanchaga Local Government Area of Niger State. It serves many important purposes and has many tributaries. The river cut across many riparian communities and serves as sources of consumable water and for other domestic activities as well as agricultural purposes. The water is faced with serious anthropogenic activities which in turn affect the usability of the water body. Anthropogenic activities resulting in accelerated pollution and eutrophication of rivers and streams are an increasing concern worldwide (Mason, 2003; Azrina et al., 2006; Arimoro and Ikomi, 2008; Beyene et al., 2009). The interactions of both the physical and chemical properties of water play a significant role in composition, distribution, abundance, movements and diversity of aquatic organisms (Mustapha and Omotosho, 2005; Sangpal et al., 2011; Murungan and Prabaharn, 2012; Deepak and Singh, 2014). Physicochemical factors such as temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, water transparency and current among others, and their regular or irregular fluctuations, have been identified as determinants in riverine ecology (Boyd, 1998; Whitfield 1998; Ali, 1999; Albaret, 1999; Blaber, 2000; Thirumala et al., 2011; Mushahida-Al-Noor and Kamruzzaman, 2013). The chemistry of the water of an aquatic environment can be determined by disturbance from the local surroundings, land use patterns and other human activities in their various reaches of the water body (Sundermann et al., 2013). In view of this, to sustain and protect 3 the aquatic resources, it is important to know the factor having negative impact on the resources and proffer management measures Arimoro et al., (2015). Macroinvertebrates are a diverse array of animals without backbones operationally defined as those that are retained by a sieve or mesh with pore size of 0.2 to 0.5 mm, as used most frequently in stream sampling devices. Stream macroinvertebrates include various groups of worms (flatworms, eelworms and segmented round-worms), molluscs (snails and bivalves), crustaceans (shrimps, crayfish and other shrimp-like groups), mites, and above all insects. A study on the biodiversity distribution patterns of macroinvertebrate traits in relation to seasonality is pertinent to gain insight into how seasonal environmental changes may confer adaptation traits to macroinvertebrates. This is particularly important given that tropical streams are extremely dynamic in nature, with strong seasonality assuming a vital component in community structuring (Tonkin et al., 2016). Aquatic macroinvertebrates are often utilized in studying the biological responses of the system because they clearly reflect changes in food resource availability in relation to stream size (Vannote et al., 1980). Most invertebrates are important components of stream ecosystems. They graze periphyton (and may prevent blooms in some areas), assist in the breakdown of organic matter and cycling of nutrients and, in turn, may become food for predators (Hynes, 1970; Jimoh et al., 2011; Uwem et al., 2011). In a recent study in the neotropics, scientists have demonstrated that the detrimental effects of environmental change on macroinvertebrate biodiversity can be drastically reduced by protecting riparian vegetation around streams (Dala-Corte et al., 2020). Aquatic macroinvertebrates are often used as bio-indicators because they are affected by changes in environmental factors arising from natural human activity on aquatic 4 ecosystem and thus provide information on habitat and water quality changes (Woodcock and Huryn, 2007; Arimoro and Ikomi, 2008). Functional feeding group classification is useful in examining ecological relevant community-level associations with the physical habitat (Rempel et al., 2000). A number of functional feeding macroinvertebrate groups (a non-taxonomic unit) have been identified as being involved in the processing of organic matter in streams (Rawer-Jost et al., 2000). These functional feeding groups are shredders, collector-filterers, collector-gatherers, scrapers/grazers, and predators (Rempel et al., 2000, Dobson et al., 2002; Miserendino and Pizzolon 2000, 2003). According to Allan and Castillo (2007) distribution of functional feeding groups are determined by mechanisms of food acquisition and changes in food availability which indeed is influenced by stream size, shading and substrate. Considering the importance of the functional feeding group approach in biomonitoring and conservation, the assessment of the functional organization of macroinvertebrate community turns out to be essential.
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