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E Lubbe Orcid.Org 0000-0002-6693-5760 Aquatic invertebrate assessment of the Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve E Lubbe orcid.org 0000-0002-6693-5760 Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science in Environmental Sciences at the North-West University Supervisor: Dr CW Malherbe Co-supervisor: Prof V Wepener Graduation May 2018 23441852 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv SUMMARY v LIST OF FIGURES vii LIST OF TABLES xii ABBREVIATIONS xiv CHAPTER 1: GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1 1.1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1.1. Wetlands 1 1.1.2. Wetland Importance, Functions and Values 2 1.1.3. The Ramsar Convention 3 1.1.4. Wetlands in South Africa 5 1.1.5. Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve 6 1.1.6. Water quality 7 1.1.7. Sediment quality 8 1.1.8. Aquatic invertebrates 9 1.2. PROBLEM STATEMENT 9 1.3. HYPOTHESIS 10 1.4. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 10 1.5. CHAPTER BREAKDOWN 10 CHAPTER 2: SEEKOEIVLEI NATURE RESERVE AND SITE SELECTION 12 2.1. BACKGROUND 12 2.1.1. Rainfall and climate 12 2.1.2. Geology and soils 13 2.1.3. Hydrology 13 i 2.1.4. Terrestrial vegetation 14 2.1.5. Wetland classification 14 2.1.6. Fauna 15 2.1.7. Anthropogenic activities 16 2.2. SITE SELECTION 17 CHAPTER 3: WATER AND SEDIMENT ANALYSIS 40 3.1. INTRODUCTION 40 3.1.1. Water quality 40 3.1.2. Sediment quality 41 3.1.3. Aim and objective for this chapter 42 3.2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 42 3.2.1. Water quality methods 42 3.2.1.1. Water sampling protocol 42 3.2.1.2. Laboratory analyses 42 3.2.2. Sediment quality methods 43 3.2.2.1. Sediment sampling protocol 43 3.2.2.2. Laboratory analyses 43 3.3. STATISTICAL ANALYSES 44 3.4. RESULTS 45 3.4.1. Water quality 45 3.4.2. Sediment quality 55 3.5. DISCUSSION 62 3.5.1. Water quality 62 3.5.2. Sediment quality 64 3.6. CONCLUSION 65 ii CHAPTER 4: ZOOPLANKTON DIVERSITY 66 4.1. INTRODUCTION 66 4.1.1. Aim and objective for this chapter 67 4.2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 67 4.2.1. Sampling protocol 67 4.2.2. Statistical analyses 68 4.3. RESULTS 69 4.4. DISCUSSION 79 4.5. CONCLUSION 81 CHAPTER 5: MACROINVERTEBRATE DIVERSITY 83 5.1. INTRODUCTION 83 5.1.1. Aim and objective for this chapter 84 5.2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 84 5.2.1. Sampling protocol 84 5.2.2. Statistical analyses 85 5.3. RESULTS 85 5.4. DISCUSSION 101 5.5. CONCLUSION 104 CHAPTER 6: GENERAL CONCLUSION 105 CHAPTER 7: REFERENCES 109 APPENDICES 121 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge and extend my sincere gratitude to the following people and organisations who assisted me in various ways: Firstly, I would like to thank my Heavenly Father for His love, grace and mercy throughout this study. My supervisor, Dr. Wynand Malherbe for granting me with this opportunity and for helping me in the field and laboratory and always having an open door, valuable insight and guidance. My co-supervisor, Prof Victor Wepener for always making time to respond to any questions and to read through my dissertation when there was no time. Ms. Anja Greyling, my friend who helped so much with fieldwork, assisted with creating the study area maps and assisted in formatting and support. Mr. Hannes Erasmus, my friend for his assistance with sampling and identification of aquatic macroinvertebrates. Ms. Jana Klem, for her assistance with sampling and unconditional support. Ms. Lizaan de Necker, for her help with the identification of zooplankton specimens and assistance in proofreading and formatting. Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve for allowing us to sample within the reserve. The North-West University for use of laboratory equipment. The financial assistance of the Water Research Commission. Mr. Jonathan Joubert for his assistance in formatting and proofreading and for his unconditional support, understanding and patience. My parents, Pieter and Ria Lubbe, I thank both of them for their unconditional love and support. iv SUMMARY The maintenance of wetlands is greatly encouraged because of their importance in the hydrological cycle and the habitat they provide for a variety of organisms. Wetlands are known for their connection between the terrestrial and aquatic environments that leads to a habitat of which certain organisms depend on for survival. The Ramsar Convention was originally adopted for the preservation of birds, their migratory routes and breeding areas that depends on wetland environments. Later the spectrum was broadened to preserve all aspects of wetlands as well as to encourage the wise use of wetlands. The Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve is one of the 23 wetlands that is designated as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in South Africa. The Seekoeivlei Wetland as a whole cover approximately 12 000 hectares and consists of approximately 220 oxbows formed by the meandering of the Klip River in the Frees State Province. The Seekoeivlei Wetland is considered important because of the Klip River, being an important tributary of the Vaal River. The Vaal River supplies the majority of water to the main industrial areas in Gauteng Province. However, very little is known about the aquatic biodiversity of the Seekoeivlei Wetland. Therefore, the aim of this research project was to establish the diversity, community structure and the distribution of the zooplankton and aquatic macroinvertebrates of the Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve. Water and sediment samples were collected from 21 selected sites located throughout the Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve and just outside of the reserve. Zooplankton and aquatic macroinvertebrate samples were collected from 17 of the 21 selected sites whereas the remaining sites only water and sediment samples were collected. All samples were collected during three seasonal surveys in July 2016 (winter), December 2016 (summer) and March 2017 (autumn). Water and sediment samples were collected in situ and transported back to the laboratory for further analyses. Water samples were analysed to determine nutrient and metal concentrations. Sediment analyses were conducted to determine particle size, percentage organic and metal concentrations. Water and sediment samples showed natural levels of nutrients and sediment present in the Seekoeivlei Wetland. Zooplankton and aquatic macroinvertebrates were sampled using accepted techniques followed by the identification to the lowest taxonomic level possible. Zooplankton biodiversity showed a total of 17 taxa from eight families and four orders that were identified during this study. Seasonality originally was hypothesised to have an impact v SUMMARY on the distribution of the zooplankton, but statistical analyses showed no significant differences between the various seasons. Wetland type were also hypothesised to have an impact on the zooplankton distribution and communities, and it was found that the majority zooplankton taxa were rather present in the oxbow and pan sites than in the river. A total of 87 macroinvertebrate taxa from 51 families and 14 orders were identified during this study. The zooplankton and macroinvertebrate diversity are potentially greater as many of the invertebrates could not be identified to species level due to inadequate keys. Functional feeding groups within the macroinvertebrate communities showed that the most abundant groups were the predators and grazers. This study was successful in identifying and describing the diversity of zooplankton and aquatic macroinvertebrates present in the Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve. This project provided updated information regarding the aquatic invertebrate diversity that could potentially feed into the management plan as well as increasing the understanding of this dynamic ecosystem. Keywords: Ramsar, Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve, floodplain wetland, water quality, sediment quality, zooplankton, aquatic macroinvertebrates. vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Map of South Africa with the 23 designated Ramsar sites. Figure 1.2: Regional setting of the town Memel in the Free State. Figure 2.1: Rainfall data of the Free State from 2012 - 2016 (www.dwa.gov.za/Hydrology/Provincial rain/Default.aspx) Figure 2.2: Conceptual overview of the classification system for wetland ecosystems (Ollis et al., 2015). Figure 2.3: Different land uses present in the study area of the Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve and Klip River during sampling surveys. Figure 2.4: Map of the Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve with the selected sitesduring this study. Figure 3.1: Physico-chemical water quality variables measured at the Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve for sampling surveys from 2016 – 2017 using spatial samples as replicates. Bars and error bars represent mean and standard error from each site (n=3). Figure 3.2: Physico-chemical water quality variables measured at the Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve for sampling surveys from 2016 – 2017 using temporal samples as replicates. Bars and error bars represent mean and standard error from each site (n=21). Figure 3.3: Water nutrient variables from selected sites in the Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve during winter (July, 2016), summer (December, 2016) and autumn (March, 2017). Bars indicate mean concentrations using temporal samples as replicates, whereas the error bars indicate the standard error (n=3). Figure 3.4: Dissolved metal concentrations (µg/l) in water samples of the Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve. Bars and error bars represent the mean and standard error of the concentrations from 2016 to 2017. Figure 3.5: PCA bi-plot of the combined water quality variables for the 2016-2017 surveys. This bi-plot explains 34.48% of water quality variables vii LIST OF FIGURES variance on the first axis and a further 19.21% of variance on the second axis. (DO – dissolved oxygen; EC – electrical conductivity). Figure 3.6: Sediment grain size distributions (percentages) of the Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve for winter (July 2016), summer (December 2016) and autumn (March 2017) sampling surveys. Sites with no bars present is the sites where no samples were collected. Bars and error bars represent the mean and standard error of the of the mean percentages.
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