Asian Journal of Environment & Ecology

11(4): 1-15, 2019; Article no.AJEE.48685 ISSN: 2456-690X

Floristic Inventory of Invasive Alien Aquatic Found in Some Congolese Rivers, , Democratic Republic of the Congo

Henri Kunzi Mbale1, Michael Tshibangu Mukendi1, Gédéon Ngiala Bongo1, Anthony Batoba Kikufi1 and Félicien Luyeye Lukoki1*

1Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Kinshasa, P.O.Box 190, Kinshasa XI, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Authors’ contributions

This work was carried out in collaboration among all authors. Authors HKM and FLL designed the study and wrote the protocol. Authors MTM, ABK and GNB performed the identification of and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Authors MTM, HKM, ABK and FLL managed the analyses of the study. Author GNB managed the literature searches. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Article Information

DOI: 10.9734/AJEE/2019/v11i430142 Editor(s): (1) Dr. Ravi Kant Chaturvedi, Centre for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P. R. China. Reviewers: (1) Kokou Kouami, University of Lomé, Togo. (2) Taiwo Damilola Mary, Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, Nigeria. (3) Junir Antonio Lutinski, Universidade Comunitária da Região de Chapecó, Brazil. Complete Peer review History: http://www.sdiarticle4.com/review-history/48685

Received 20 November 2019 Accepted 25 January 2020 Original Research Article Published 14 February 2020

ABSTRACT

Aim: To identify invasive aquatic alien species found in the Pool Malebo and some rivers in Kinshasa city, their behavior as well as their socio-economic impacts. Study Design: The study used a combination of purposive sampling and simple random sampling in order to select different sites where samples were collected. Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out in different rivers (Pool Malebo system (Kinkole, Kingabwa), and N'sele, Funa and Lukaya rivers) of Kinshasa city in Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Pool Malebo is located along the . This was conducted between March and October 2013. Methodology: The collection was performed after a direct observation. The location of collection depended on sites, at Kingabwa and Kinkole, we collected invasive species in the middle of the Congo river and to achieve that, we used canoe. While at N’sele, Lukaya and Funa rivers, samples ______

*Corresponding author: E-mail: [email protected];

Mbale et al.; AJEE, 11(4): 1-15, 2019; Article no.AJEE.48685

were collected at the edges. The collection took place in the morning between 7 and 11 am. Recorded species were classified either alien species or invasive alien species according to the status in the study region. The identification of collected species was carried out according to APG III. Seeing the way these species invade the environment and how they disturb the ecology of rivers, the physico-chemical characteristics of waters were measured between 7:00 and 11:00 am with the appropriate electronic probe for each parameter. For each parameter, the comparison between the sites was carried out using the ANOVA test with XLSTAT 2013 software. Results: Out of 151 specimens collected, 35 species have been identified of which 19 species as alien were identified and 4 proved to be invasive alien species, namely: Eichhornia crassipes, pyramidalis, peploides and Pistia stratiotes. These invasive species are used by farmers as livestock feed and also as green manure for different agricultural and farming activities, As to the physico-chemical characteristics, no significant differences were