Pertubation of Road Construction and Inorganic Sedimentation on the Macroinvetebrate Fauna in the Midstream Segment of Qua Iboe River, Nigeria

Abstract

The massive road construction projects in the drainage basin of Qua Iboe River (Nigeria) seriously affect the environment with elevated levels of some physico-chemical variables in perturbed segments of the river. The road construction resulted in elevated levels of the three pollution parameters (turbidity, bed load and suspended load which also had significant effect on the macroinvertebrate species richness and diversity in the perturbed zone, Biotic scores and biomass of macroinvertebrates were lower at perturbed than unperturbed zones. The three zones of the midstream segment of the stream were heterotrophic (P/R < 1.0) due to high turbidity, high silt load and suspended organic matter occasioned by the massive road development and maintenance across the drainage basin in the study area.