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Assemblages of Macrobenthic Insect Larvae of the Sankosh River Basin in the Areas Boardering India and Bhutan


Affiliations
1 Institute of Forest Biodiversity, Hyderbabd-500 100 (Andhra Pradesh), India
2 Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore-641 002, India
3 Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Dehradun-248 006, India
     

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A preliminary investigation on macrobenthic insect larvae of the Sankosh River and its permanent headwater streams carried out during the period from 2009 to 2010 has revealed significant results on the assemblages of various ecologically sensitive insect taxa. Beatidae, Simuliidae, Hydropsychidae, Chironomidae and Heptageniidae were the dominant taxa among the total of 37 insect families and Ephemeroptera, Diptera and Trichoptera were the dominant taxa among the total of 9 insect orders. Order Trichoptera was the richly represented taxa with 9 insect families followed by Diptera with 6 families and Hemiptera and Odonata with 5 families each. The abundance (%) of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT) taxa which account for 60.70% than that of all the other taxa was highly significant. A fairly good Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP) Score with an average of 50.31 out of the total 1308 was obtained for the 26 sampling stations, indicating relatively good water quality of the river system. The study, therefore, revealed the importance of aquatic macrobenthic insect diversity and its monitoring for better management of the river ecosystem.

Keywords

Sankosh River, Benthic, Macro-Invertebrates, Insects, Biomonitoring.
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About The Authors

Anish V. Pachu
Institute of Forest Biodiversity, Hyderbabd-500 100 (Andhra Pradesh)
India

C. Kunhikannan
Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore-641 002
India

V. Mohan
Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore-641 002
India

Sudhir Kumar
Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Dehradun-248 006
India

N. Rama Rao
Institute of Forest Biodiversity, Hyderbabd-500 100 (Andhra Pradesh)
India


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  • Assemblages of Macrobenthic Insect Larvae of the Sankosh River Basin in the Areas Boardering India and Bhutan

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Authors

Anish V. Pachu
Institute of Forest Biodiversity, Hyderbabd-500 100 (Andhra Pradesh), India
C. Kunhikannan
Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore-641 002, India
V. Mohan
Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore-641 002, India
Sudhir Kumar
Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Dehradun-248 006, India
N. Rama Rao
Institute of Forest Biodiversity, Hyderbabd-500 100 (Andhra Pradesh), India

Abstract


A preliminary investigation on macrobenthic insect larvae of the Sankosh River and its permanent headwater streams carried out during the period from 2009 to 2010 has revealed significant results on the assemblages of various ecologically sensitive insect taxa. Beatidae, Simuliidae, Hydropsychidae, Chironomidae and Heptageniidae were the dominant taxa among the total of 37 insect families and Ephemeroptera, Diptera and Trichoptera were the dominant taxa among the total of 9 insect orders. Order Trichoptera was the richly represented taxa with 9 insect families followed by Diptera with 6 families and Hemiptera and Odonata with 5 families each. The abundance (%) of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT) taxa which account for 60.70% than that of all the other taxa was highly significant. A fairly good Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP) Score with an average of 50.31 out of the total 1308 was obtained for the 26 sampling stations, indicating relatively good water quality of the river system. The study, therefore, revealed the importance of aquatic macrobenthic insect diversity and its monitoring for better management of the river ecosystem.

Keywords


Sankosh River, Benthic, Macro-Invertebrates, Insects, Biomonitoring.

References