Abstract
An extensive survey of tropical rivers, conducted during 2009–2012 throughout Zambia, collected 151 samples of benthic macroinvertebrates, located on 95 rivers in six of the nine freshwater ecoregions. Associated data for physico-chemistry, human activities and ecosystem stressors were collected. Data were used to develop and test a new Rapid Bioassessment Protocol (the Zambian Invertebrate Scoring System: ZISS) for assessment of water quality and river condition in both wadeable and non-wadeable rivers. ZISS, which is based on the South African Scoring System (SASS), includes a total of 85 taxa, of which 79 are shared with SASS. Assignment of sensitivity weightings to new ZISS taxa was based on sensitivity weightings of closely related SASS families; known life-history modes and anatomical adaptations; and correlation of occurrence to impact ratings. The ability of the ZISS to measure impacts was assessed by determining the relationships between ZISS metrics and impacts. ZISS data for the Kafue River demonstrated the efficacy of the ZISS for detecting moderate to high impacts on water quality and river condition. ZISS represents a major step in developing a user-friendly, widely applicable, macroinvertebrate-based biotic index, which can provide easily interpretable assessments of river condition for southern tropical African rivers.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 325-344 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | African Journal of Aquatic Science |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 30 Nov 2018 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2018 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
Acknowledgements — The study was primarily funded by the EC/ ACP Science and Technology Programme (AFS/2009/219013), with additional funding from the UK DfID DelPHE Programme, the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, the Royal Geographical Society, Royal Scottish Geographical Society and the UK DEFRA Darwin Programme. We thank colleagues at North-West University (South Africa), the Kasanka Trust and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) for involvement in fieldwork, other assistance in kind and for helpful discussion. Fieldwork licences were kindly provided by the Zambian Wildlife Authority. Thanks to Philip Frenzel, FRC intern, who assisted with final editing of the manuscript. We also thank two anonymous reviewers who kindly reviewed our manuscript.
Keywords
- Benthic invertebrate
- Biomonitoring
- Ecosystem stressor
- Freshwater ecology
- Kafue River
- River condition
- Zambia
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Aquatic Science
