Aquatic Insects and Water Quality Study at Kimanis River, Crocker Range National Park, Sabah, Malaysia
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Journal of Tropical Biology and Conservation 15: 223–245, 2018 ISSN 1823-3902 E-ISSN 2550-1909 Research Article Aquatic Insects and Water Quality Study at Kimanis River, Crocker Range National Park, Sabah, Malaysia Chaw Vi Vian1, Sahana Harun1,2, Kueh Boon Hee1, Andrew Wong Bak Hui, Arman Hadi Fikri1,2* 1Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. 2Water Research Unit, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. *Corresponding author: [email protected] Abstract A survey on the aquatic insect communities was conducted in Kimanis River, Ulu Kimanis, Crocker Range Park (CRP), Sabah with the objectives to study (i) the composition of stream insect communities, (ii) stream water quality and (iii) the relationships between aquatic insects and freshwater quality parameters in Kimanis River, Ulu Kimanis, CRP. The sampling was carried out using surber net in October 2015 and January 2016. A total of 1,801 individuals from nine orders of 28 families were collected from Kimanis River. Trichopterans fauna was found to be the prominent taxa in this study. Shannon-Wiener Index of upstream strata was recorded slightly higher than downstream strata with H’= 1.97 and H’= 1.85 respectively. Water integrity of Kimanis River could be considered as excellent with minimal pollution. Both water quality parameters and biotic indices indicated that the aquatic insect population was affected by the water quality in their surroundings. This proved the use of aquatic insect communities as bioindicator for rapid assessment of water quality in CRP. Keywords: aquatic insect communities, trichopterans fauna, Shannon-Wiener Index, physico-chemical parameters, biotic indices, water integrity Introduction Aquatic macroinvertebrates are the key inhabitant of the freshwater ecosystem and serve an important role in keeping the ecosystem intact. Among the macroinvertebrates, insects are by far the most speciose and abundant macroinvertebrates established in freshwater ecosystems (Macadam & Stockan, 2015). Aquatic insects possess a vast array of morphological, physiological, and behavioural adaptations enabling inhabitation of virtually all bodies of water Received 17 July 2018 Reviewed 07 August 2018 Accepted 24 August 2018 Published 15 October 2018 224 Chaw et al. (Ward, 1992). Aquatic insect communities have the capacity to exploit most types of aquatic habitats and occur in a diverse group (Barman & Gupta, 2015). They are very wealthy inhabitants of freshwater environments that are in enormous number of broad distribution. As one of the most widespread groups of organisms used to evaluate the health of the aquatic ecosystem (Rosenberg & Resh, 1993; Sharma & Rawat, 2009), benthic macroinvertebrates are ideal as bioindicator. Since macroinvertebrates constitute a heterogenous assemblage of animal phyla, consequently some members respond well to whatever stresses are placed upon them (Hellawell, 2012). Among macroinvertebrates, aquatic insects are often chosen for biomonitoring since aquatic insects are considered as good indicators of environmental condition. Aquatic insects are good indicators as they fulfil these few criteria: (i) abundant and sufficiently diverse in their habits and habitats; (ii) sensitive and predictable in their response to changes in environmental conditions, (iii) relatively easily sampled and identifiable to meaningful taxonomic resolutions, and (iv) bioaccumulate chemicals such that the pathways of toxins in the environment can be traced (Macadam & Stockan, 2015). Since aquatic macroinvertebrates are feasible indicators of water quality, macroinvertebrates and water quality are interrelated (Sharma & Rawat, 2009). Therefore, the study of composition and structure of aquatic macroinvertebrates will be able to help in monitoring changes in water quality and the ecological integrity of streams and rivers (Arimoro & Ikomi, 2009). There is a considerable increase in the number of publications regarding biological monitoring using indicator species. This implies widespread and continuous growth in the use of indicator species in environmental monitoring and management (Siddig et al., 2015). In Malaysia, studies on aquatic insects and water quality have been carried out in Peninsular Malaysia (Che Salmah et al., 1999); Sarawak (Mercer et al., 2014) and Sabah (Fikri et al., 2013; Harun et al., 2015; Wong & Fikri, 2016; Shafie et al., 2017). Crocker Range National Park (CRP) is located at the southern section of the Crocker Range in Northwest Borneo, Sabah, Malaysia (Zaini et al., 2012). CRP consists of about 139,919 ha, stretched from south of Kundasang in the north to Tenom in the south, approximately between latitudes 50 and 60 N and longitudes 1150 and 1190 E (Rahim et al., 2002). The CRP is bordered by the floodplain of the Pegalan/Padas River to the east and by the coastal plain of the west coast of Sabah (Rahim et al., 2002). CRP has been chosen as the study area since the site is less influenced by anthropogenic activities and hence the result obtained Aquatic insects at Crocker Range National Park 225 from this study provides a benchmark towards the use of aquatic insect communities as biological indicator. Numerous studies on aquatic ecosystems have been carried out in CRP, mostly focused on other freshwater organisms, especially anurans (eg. Ramlah et al., 2001; Rahim et al., 2002; Kueh et al., 2004; Das, 2006; Zaini et al., 2012). However, aquatic insect populations and water quality of the streams have received minimum amount of attention in CRP. The most recent studies regarding the aquatic insect communities and water quality of the CRP streams were by Long et al. (2002) and Manshoor & Fikri (2004) which were carried out in 2002. Thus, in order to provide a more complete understanding towards the conservation effort of the aquatic ecosystems in CRP, it is critical to gain a better understanding on the health and the integrity of the aquatic ecosystem and the changes that have occurred throughout the years. The study of the capability of aquatic insect communities as bioindicators in freshwater streams is also important to improve understanding on the characteristics of aquatic habitats and to also monitor the water quality of freshwater which are needed to sustain the aquatic ecosystem in CRP, Sabah, Malaysia. As there is lack of a recent study in aquatic insect communities study in CRP, Sabah, this study was carried out to produce information on the aquatic insect communities as well as water quality and ecology health of Kimanis River, CRP. The objectives of the present study are therefore: (1) to study the diversity of stream insect communities; (2) to study the stream water quality and (3) to investigate the relationships between stream insect communities and water quality parameters in Kimanis River at Ulu Kimanis, Crocker Range National Park, Sabah, Malaysia. Methodology Study Area Crocker Range Park (CRP) is located in the west coast of Sabah and stretches from Kundasang in the north to Tenom in the south. Ulu Kimanis River is the main river in the park, and consists of primary forest with lowland vegetation at 300 to 600 m asl (Nurhuda & Arman, 2002; Zaini et al., 2011). The average temperature is around 23 to 27C (Zaini et al., 2011). 226 Chaw et al. Sampling Campaign Four stations were chosen from upstream and downstream of the Kimanis River respectively as indicated in Figure 1 and Table 1. Figure 1. Map of Kimanis River, Crocker Range National Park, Sabah, Malaysia Aquatic insects at Crocker Range National Park 227 Table 1. Site description of the sampling areas. Habitat description Sampling Longitude Latitude Elevation October January stations 2015 2016 Moderate Moderate Station flowing and flowing and 050 31’ 44.6’’ N 1160 00’ 13.9’’ E 130 m 1 clear water, clear water, rocky bottom rocky bottom Moderate Moderate Station 0 0 flowing and flowing and Upstream 05 31’ 39.9’’ N 116 00’ 17.9’’ E 162 m 2 clear water, clear water, rocky bottom rocky bottom Swift flowing Moderate and milky flowing and water, sandy clear water, Station 050 31’ 91.9’’ N 1150 59’ 74.8’’ E 116 m bottom, sandy bottom, 3 partially partially covered by covered by forest canopy forest canopy Swift flowing Moderate and milky flowing and Downstream water, sandy clear water, Station 050 31’ 92.3’’ N 1150 59’ 83.8’’ E 122 m bottom sandy bottom, 4 partially partially covered by covered by forest canopy forest canopy Prior to sampling, the surrounding condition of the riparian zone was observed and recorded. Three substations, composed of different habitat types, were selected in each station. The selected sites were about 100 m from each other. Sampling was carried out in three different habitats, pools, riffles and runs for comparisons among the habitats of Kimanis River. Aquatic Insects Aquatic insects were collected over two sampling occasions between October 2015 and January 2016. Samplings for aquatic insects were done during the day using surber sampler, which is commonly used for quantitative sampling aquatic insects. Three substations, composed of three different habitat types, pool, riffle and run were sampled. The device is positioned with the opening facing upstream (Jalil & Mohamed, 2004) and the surroundings were agitated for 2 minutes. Big stones in swift-flowing water were hand-lifted and washed by rubbing on the rock surface to remove the aquatic insects into the net. Aquatic insects were identified to the family level using taxonomic keys of Yule and Yong (2004) and Merritt et al. (2008) and also preserved specimens from BORNEENSIS, ITBC in the laboratory. Four biotic indices specifically EPT Richness, Family Biotic Index (FBI), Biological Monitoring Work Party (BMWP) and Average Score Per Taxon (ASPT) were used to assess the water quality of Kimanis River at CRP. The values attained from the indices helped to determine the current status of 228 Chaw et al. water integrity with the standard description for each range when compared with the standard range of scores. Water Quality Parameters Water samples were collected near the surface of the river and stored in 250 ml high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles.