Water Quality and Ecological Assessment of Natural Wetlands in Southwest Ethiopia
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Water Quality and Ecological Assessment of Natural Wetlands in Southwest Ethiopia Seid Tiku Mereta Promoters Prof. dr. ir P. Goethals Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology and Aquatic Ecology, Ghent University Department of Applied Ecology and Environmental Biology Prof. dr. Luc De Meester Laboratory of Aquatic Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, University of Leuven Dean Prof. dr. ir. G. Van Huylenbroeck Rector Prof. dr. P. Van Cauwenberge MSc. Seid Tiku Mereta Water Quality and Ecological Assessment of Natural Wetlands in Southwest Ethiopia Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor (PhD) in Applied Biological Sciences Dutch translation of the title: Water kwaliteit en ecologische beoordeling van natuurlijke wetlands in Zuidwest Ethiopië Please refer to this work as follows: Mereta S.T., 2013. Water quality and ecological assessment of natural wetlands in Southwest Ethiopia. PhD thesis, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium. ISBN-number: 978-90-5989-633-8 The author and the promoter give the authorisation to consult and copy parts of this work for personal use only. Every other use is subject to the copyright laws. Permission to reproduce any material contained in this work should be obtained from the author. Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank my promoters, Prof. Peter Goethals and Prof. Luc De Meester for allowing me to be their research team member and to give me the necessary advice and guidance during the whole course of my work. I particularly benefited a lot from their immense experience during their visit to the field sites. I extend my sincere appreciation to Dr. Pieter Boets for his kind assistance and significant contribution throughout this research. He has unsparingly and generously shared his time and knowledge during field data collection, data analysis and during the correction of articles and the draft PhD thesis. His constructive criticism and optimism have been the source of inspiration for me. I am also grateful to the Aquatic Ecology research team members: Dries, Koen, Elina, Gert, Ine, Nancy, Gisèle, Tan, Viet, Tien, and Sigrid for their immense support in various administrative and technical issues. I am very much indebted to Jimma University for giving me study leave and the provision of laboratory facilities. I also would like to thank the Ethiopian Ministry of Water and Energy for providing me land use data and the Ethiopian Meteorological Agency Jimma branch for providing me climate data. My special thanks go to Jimma University aquatic ecology research team members: Zewdu, Asgdom, Addissu, Seyoum, Menberu, Hailu, Argaw and Mulugeta for their valuable input during field data collection and laboratory analysis. I also would like to thank Abdulhakim Ahmed for his devoted support for making Digital Elevation Models for the study area. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the VLIR-UOS for financing this study. I am also grateful to IUC-JU programme coordinators and project leaders: Mr. Kora Tushunie, Prof. Luc Duchateu, Prof. Luc lens, Prof. Olivier Honnay, Hans, Jemal, Boka, Kassahun, Helke, Annik and Mira for managing and coordinating project activities. My thanks and appreciation goes to my mother Ansha Ali, my brother and sister, who helped me all the way through my academic career. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my beloved wife, Fatuma Mohammed, who unsparingly encouraged and supported me during my study. It would not have been possible for me to complete my study without her understanding and willingness to take the main responsibility at home. I sincerely appreciate the efforts and the skill she showed in taking care of our children Suhaila, Salahadin and Ismah. i To all I am not able to mention your contributions are never undervalued and thus thank you very much. ii Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ i List of Figures ...................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... viii List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................ ix Chapter 1: General introduction ..............................................................................................1 1.1 Definition of Wetlands ..................................................................................................1 1.2 Classification of wetlands ..............................................................................................1 1.3 Distribution of wetlands ................................................................................................3 1.4 Functions and values of wetlands...................................................................................6 1.5 Threats to Wetlands ..................................................................................................... 10 1.6 Wetland inventory, monitoring and assessment ........................................................... 12 1.7 Wetlands management and conservation...................................................................... 16 1.8 Research gaps and objectives ....................................................................................... 17 1.9 Organization of the chapters ........................................................................................ 18 Chapter 2: Analysis of environmental factors determining the abundance and diversity of macroinvertebrate taxa ......................................................................................................... 21 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 23 2.2 Materials and Methods ................................................................................................ 25 2.2.1 Study area ....................................................................................................... 25 2.2.2 Data collection ................................................................................................ 26 2.2.3 Data analysis ................................................................................................... 28 2.3 Results ........................................................................................................................ 31 2.3.1 Important variables .......................................................................................... 31 2.3.2 Model performance Evaluation ........................................................................ 33 2.3.3 Conditional Analysis ....................................................................................... 34 2.3.4 Multivariate Analysis ...................................................................................... 37 2.4 Discussion ................................................................................................................... 39 iii Chapter 3. Physico-chemical characterization of mosquito larval habitats. ....................... 43 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 45 3.2 Materials and methods ................................................................................................. 48 3.2.1 Study area ....................................................................................................... 48 3.2.2 Data collection ................................................................................................ 49 3.2.3 Data analysis ................................................................................................... 52 3.3 Results ........................................................................................................................ 55 3.3.1 Occurrence and distribution of mosquito larvae ............................................... 55 3.3.2 Influence of Environmental factors on the occurrence of anopheline ............... 58 3.3.3 Influence of Environmental factors on the abundance of anopheline ............... 62 3.3.4 Relatiohship between mosquito predators and competitors and habitat types .. 64 3.4 Discussion ................................................................................................................... 66 Chapter 4: Sediment and nutrient retention efficiencies of riverine wetlands ......................... 71 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 73 4.2 Methods and Materials ................................................................................................ 75 4.2.1 Study area ....................................................................................................... 75 4.2.2 Data collection ................................................................................................ 77 4.2.3 Loading rate and flux calculation .................................................................... 80 4.2.4 Data analysis ................................................................................................... 80 4.3 Results ........................................................................................................................ 81 4.3.1 Patterns of precipitation