Characterization and Diversity of Macroinvertebrates of the Bouhamdane Stream (Northeast of Algeria)

Zoology and Ecology, 2021, Volume 31, Number 1 Online ISSN: 2165-8013 https://doi.org/10.35513/21658005.2021.1.8 CHARACTERIZATION AND DIVERSITY OF MACROINVERTEBRATES OF THE BOUHAMDANE STREAM (NORTHEAST OF ALGERIA) Abdelhakim Rouibia, Affef Baaloudja*, Faycal Chahrourb, Ahmed Kerfoufc, Hadia Rizid, Rafik Berdjae, Wi- dad Belkhiria, Sara Chaiba and Meriem Gharbia aLaboratoire Biologie, Eau et Environnement (LBEE), Faculté SNV-STU, Université 8 Mai 1945 Guelma. BP. 401 24000 Guelma, Algérie; bLaboratoire Réseau de Surveillance Environnementale (LRSE), Université Ahmed Ben Bella, Oran1, Algeria; cLaboratory of Eco-development of Spaces, University of Djillali Liabes, Sidi Bel Abbes, 22000, Algeria; dUniversity Chadli Bendjedid d’ElTarf, 36000, Algeria; eLaboratory of Improvement of the Phytosanitary Protection Techniques in Mountainous Agrosystems, Agronomy Department (LATPPAM), ISVSA, Batna 1 University, Batna 05000, Algeria *Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]; [email protected] Article history Abstract. Freshwaters are among the most threatened ecosystems, particularly in North Africa Received: 15 December 2020; where urbanization and climate change are exerting an important pressure on aquatic fauna. Long- accepted 9 April 2021 term investigation of macroinvertebrates is one of the best ways of tracking and understanding the influence of environmental and anthropogenic pressures on community dynamics. In this study, we Keywords: focus on determining the community structure and diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates as well Macroinvertebrates; as the state of aquatic physicochemical parameters in the Bouhamdane Stream, near the outlet of biodiversity; aquatic Bouhamdane dam, Seybouse watershed, north-eastern Algeria. We carried out a bi-monthly sampling environment; Bouhamdane of macroinvertebrates and nine water physicochemical parameters from September 2017 to July Stream; northeast Algeria 2018 at three sites. Results show that the collected macroinvertebrates (6756 individuals) belong to 15 families and 12 orders. The abundance of the macrofauna consisted of 88.19% crustaceans, 7.74% insects, 3.7% molluscs and 0.16% annelids. Physicochemical analyzes (depth, turbidity, pH, dissolved O2, temperature, salinity, and conductivity) showed variability among sites. The families of Gammaridae and Baetidae were the most frequent and the most abundant on all the stations. The results indicate that aquatic macroinvertebrates constitute good indicators of the biological quality of water. This study shows that even with the occurrence of regular dam water discharge, the macroinvertebrate community is still able to persist either through adaptation to high water velocity or high colonization rate. INTRODUCTION industry, sewage). This pollution affects various abiotic and biotic factors of the aquatic habitat and ultimately Since the 19th century, watercourses, particularly in changes the population dynamics and community struc- industrialized countries, have been seriously affected ture of fauna and flora (Ramade et al. 1994; Ferguani by different types of pollution (industrial, urban and and Arab 2013; Alhou et al. 2014). Invertebrates are agricultural). In several countries, programmes for the dominant organisms in aquatic ecosystems in terms monitoring the biological integrity of watercourses have of biomass, playing a crucial role of predator and prey been used to assess the quality of surface water and the in the foodweb (Véronique 2014). They are excellent bioindicators of the ecological integrity of natural health condition of aquatic ecosystems (Giudicelli et al. habitats due to their great diversity and sensitivity 1985; Dajoz 2006). These programmes primarily use to pollution and habitat degradation (Bournaud et al. benthic macroinvertebrate communities as biological 1980; Chessman 1995; Barbour et al. 1999; Sanogo indicators. Besides pollution, climate change has af- et al. 2014). Consequently, anthropogenic activities, fected aquatic communities globally, particularly in hot including laundry, dishes, agriculture and deforesta- and dry environments (Dudgeon et al. 2006; Boix et al. tion observed in the sampling sites make it possible 2010; García et al. 2010). to differentiate the richness and abundance of aquatic Mediterranean rivers are characterized by irregular macroinvertebrates depending on the site (Chessman hydrological flows and sudden fluctuations (Engelhardt 1995; Camargo et al. 2004; Armellin 2010). Thus, their 1998; Fustec and Lefeuvre 2000). In North Africa, fresh- monitoring is essential to understand the ecological state water is relatively scarce and most rivers are restricted of the freshwater ecosystem and manage biodiversity to the littoral region (Fleurant 2016). As a result, the (Dudgeon et al. 2006). majority of human population lives in this area, which The study of the macrobenthic fauna of rivers in Algeria increases the anthropogenic pollution (e.g. agriculture, has been undertaken in recent decades in order to draw 46 Rouibi A., Baaloudj A., Chahrour F., Kerfouf A., Rizi H., Berdja R., Belkhir W., Chaib S., Gharbi M. up an inventory as exhaustive as possible and to have Mediterranean with a long hot and dry season (8 months) knowledge of their systematics, ecology, and biogeogra- and a short wet season (4 months). phy (Haouchine 2011). In northeast Algeria, studies on macroinvertebrates peaked in the last decade (Zerguine and Rossaro 2010; Zebsa et al. 2014 a, b; Khelifa et al. Measurements and sampling 2016; Khelifa 2019; Baaloudj et al. 2020), revealing an Samples were taken at each site twice per month from important biodiversity and endemism. The objective of September 2017 to July 2018, resulting in a total of this study is to characterize the structure and diversity 22 samples per site (from 2 September 2017 until 18 of benthic macroinvertebrates of an understudied water- July 2018). The physicochemical parameters such as course, Bouhamdane Stream in northeast Algeria. We temperature, conductivity, O2, pH, salinity were meas- specifically studied their distribution, abundance and ured in situ between 8 and 12 in the morning using a diversity using field monitoring in three sites between multi-parameter (Multi 197i WTW) and a depth gauge September 2017 and July 2018. prior to the macroinvertebrate sampling to avoid any disturbance of the environment that could bias the results. Depth was measured at the centre of the bed at the sampling location with a gridded stick. From upstream MATERIALS AND METHODS to downstream, three sites were chosen for the study, depending on the permanence of water and accessibil- Description of the study site ity in all seasons (Table 1). The sites were adjacent and The Bouhamdane Stream is one of the two most im- the distance between one site and another was 500 m. portant tributaries of the Seybouse River located in the We standardized the effort of sampling by limiting the northeast Algeria (36° 27’46 “N, 7 ° 6’40” E) (Figure 1). time spent (3 h) in each site and the number of water The length of the river is 37.5 km and the elevation sweeps. Macroinvertebrates were sampled in the banks varies from ~250 to 550 m. This stream emerges from using 100 μm mesh dip nets by carrying out ten sweeps the confluence of Sabath and Zenati streams (Table 1). following the protocol of the IBGN standard (Archaim- Vegetation mainly includes: Juncus sp., Typha sp., bault and Dumont 2010). The collected samples were Phragmites australis, Tamarix sp., Nerium oleander, poured onto a 500 μm sieve of mesh for pre-sorting by and Lemna minor. The regional climate is typically separating various materials and collecting the speci- mens using an entomological forceps (Afnor 2010). The Table 1. Geographical coordinates of sites and sampling collected organisms were fixed in formaldehyde (10%) dates. in labelled jars (by date and site name) and transported Sites Geographical coordinates to the laboratory for final analyses. In the laboratory, 1 36°27.032' N, 7°6.084' E samples were rinsed thoroughly on a series of sieves 2 36°27.318' N, 7°6.334' E of decreasing size (5 to 0.2 µm) in order to eliminate 3 36°28.148' N, 7°7.225' E as much as possible the remaining fine substrate and Figure 1. Study area. Characterization and diversity of macroinvertebrates of the Bouhamdane Stream (northeast of Algeria) 47 coarse elements (MDDP 2008). Sample identification was carried out using a binocular microscope (Leica DM2500) and various identification keys (Leraut 2007; Tachet 2010, 2013; Moisan 2010). Data analysis All statistical analyzes and the Shannon diversity and equity indices were performed with R 3.5.2 (R Develop- ment Core Team 2019) provided with the FactoMineR package. Data were expressed as mean ± SD. A prob- ability level <0.05 was considered significant. The dif- ference across sites of taxonomic richness, abundance, diversity indices and physicochemical parameters was assessed with the Kruskal-Wallis test at a 5% thresh- old. Figure 2. Community composition of sampled macroinver- The Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) was tebrates. performed using Past software version 3 (Hammer et al. 2001) to explore the relationships that may exist between biotic data and abiotic data obtained during sampling. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Physicochemical quality of water Table 2 shows the average values of six physicochemical parameters of water quality in the study sites. In general, the parameter values were very similar among sites. The Kruskal-Wallis tests did not

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