First checklist of benthic macroinvertebrate communities from Chrea National Park, Blida province, Northern Algeria
Abstract
R. Matallah*, K. Rabhi, M. Boumaaza and R. El-Farroudji
Aquatic macroinvertebrates are an important component of biodiversity in stream Ecosystems. Conserving and enhancing freshwater biodiversity is important for maintaining ecosystem integrity and sustainability. This requires understanding how the composition of biological communities is influenced by environmental factors at different scales. Factors such as water chemistry, temperature, flow, and land use can all affect the distribution and abundance of different species in freshwater ecosystems. The North of Algeria has a complex hydrographic network, but the inventory of aquatic macroinvertebrates community remains incomplete.
This study aimed at compiling an inventory of the macroinvertebrate inhabiting the aquatic ecosystems of each stations in Chréa National Park (province of Blida, Algeria). The results were used to answer two questions: (i) macroinvertebrate composition and richness in these protected ecosystems? (ii) Which taxon or group of taxa is the most dominant?.
Different sampling methods (Surber, kick samplers and artificial substrate) were used depending on the characteristics of the sites chosen.
The sampling was carried out during three months (February to April, 2021). It was analyzed and identified 1345 organisms belonging to 41 macroinvertebrate families. The system showed high richness and diversity of organisms in response to water quality. The presence of Leptophlebiidae, Baetidae, Heptageniidae and Chironomidae with high abundance of the families showed the potential as biological indicators of a clean ecosystem.
To collect the samples, It was used a surber sampler 1 mm mesh every week, with six repetitions in each station, from February to April, 2021. After cleaning and removal of debris. we proceeded by a pre-sorting in morpho-species, then a sorting of the different taxa was carried out in the laboratory. the organisms were identified using a stereoscopic microscope and identification keys. The community structure including abundance, richness and composition was statistical different between stations.