Assessment of Benthic Macro-invertebrate Communities in Relation to Water Quality in Teltele Stream, Ambo West Showa, Ethiopia

DOI: 10.15580/GJEMPS.2018.3.070318092 The assessment of benthic macro-invertebrates were studied in Teltele stream based on total of 6 orders and 11 families collected through December-May, 2015. Microsoft Excel and PAST software were employed to investigate the abundance and diversity of macro-invertebrates. Ephemeroptera was dominated 137(40.53%) followed by Coleoptera 112(33.14%) in the Teletele stream. However, other groups had less distribution. Based on the study sites, Ephemeroptera, Coleoptera and Diptera were the most widely distributed organisms accounted for 69(60%) at site 1, 28(17.1%) at site 2 and 40(67.8%) at site 3 for Ephemeroptera. Coleoptera comprised 22(19.1%) at site 1 and 90(54.87%) at site 2 and Diptera consisted 34(20.7%) at site 2 and 15(25.4%) at site 3. The distributions and compositions of the benthic macro-invertebrates were unequal at the sampling sites and statistically not significant (one way ANOVA, P>0.05). The Shannon diversity indexes were different among the sampling sites and the distribution of benthic organisms strongly associated with water quality parameters. The overall Shannon diversity index was (1.37) it revealed that the abundance and diversity of macro-invertebrate communities were low and therefore showed that poor water quality. At the study sites, several human induced associated impact problems like the existence of exotic Eucalyptus trees, Agricultural lands, waste material disposal and Ambo University’s oxidation pond were identified that resulted less distribution of macro-invertebrates in Teltele stream. The stream is vital for socioeconomic purposes such as drinking (cattle watering), sanitation, recreation, irrigation and others of the communities around the catchment and therefore, watershed management throughout the catchment is vital for proper utilization of the Teltele stream. Submitted: 03/07/2018 Accepted: 24/07/2018 Published: 01/08/2018