Diversity and Abundance of the Macroinvetebrate Community of River Ngadda, North-Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

The diversity and abundance of macro invertebrates of River Ngadda, in northeastern Nigeria was studied between May, 2013 and January 2014. One station each at both the upstream and the downstream portion of the river were selected and sampled monthly and investigated for their macro-invertebrates community using basic statistical measurement of abundance and diversity indices. The species diversity in the river was high and quite evenly distributed between the two stations sampled. A total of 5912 individuals in 40 species, from 7 classes and 21 taxonomic families were encountered. The dominant class was the Insecta (38.9%) with the Nematomorpha (0.7%) being the least occurring class. The macro invertebrate community of River Ngadda demonstrated species distribution that is in synchrony with the perturbation level of the station, with pollution tolerating species being more abundant in station 2 which had more anthropogenic perturbations. The study recommends that the State environmental protection agency in synergy with other regulatory bodies should control unacceptable land-use and development plans on riparian land.