Research Article Benthic Macroinvertebrates along the ...downloads.hindawi.com/journals/ijz/2014/145430.pdf · species, limited mobility, and relatively long lifespan, and so forth

Research ArticleBenthic Macroinvertebrates along the HarazDownstream in Southern Caspian Sea Basin In Gradient ofthe Physicochemical Parameters

Amir Faraz Ghasemi1 and Morteza Kamali2

1 Department of Marine Biology Faculty of Marine Science and Oceanography Khorramshahr University of Marine Scienceand Technology PO Box 64199-669 Khorramshahr Khozestan Iran

2Department of Fisheries Faculty of Natural Resources and Marine Science Tarbiat Modares University PO Box 46114-356Noor Mazandaran Iran

Correspondence should be addressed to Amir Faraz Ghasemi faraz ghasemiyahoocom

Received 4 June 2014 Accepted 10 September 2014 Published 8 October 2014

Academic Editor Ajai K Srivastav

Copyright copy 2014 A F Ghasemi and M KamaliThis is an open access article distributed under theCreativeCommonsAttributionLicense which permits unrestricted use distribution and reproduction in anymedium provided the originalwork is properly cited

The Haraz River is one of the most important rivers in the Caspian Sea basin In order to investigate changes in the taxa abundancecomposition and feeding groups of the benthic macroinvertebrates twelve-time sampling was carried out at nine stations alongthree different sites (1) before (2) into and (3) after Amol City Results showed impacts of anthropogenic activities caused by theurbanization and development on the occurrence of benthicmacroinvertebrates taxa Families Hydropsychidae andHeptageniidaeat site 1 and Tipulidae at sites 2 and 3 were significantly dominant The feeding groups of gathering collectors and predatorsincreased from site 1 to site 3 while the filtering collectors and scrapers decreased Consequently our data supported the useof the bioindicator concept for Haraz River Some sensitive (Hydropsychidae Heptageniidae Baetidae and Leuctridae) andtolerant families (Tipulidae and NaididaeTubificidae) are introduced as potential bioindicators of clean and disturbed riverrsquos arearespectively

1 Introduction

The benthic macroinvertebrates have long been used asindicators for biological monitoring programs They play akey role in freshwater ecosystems in linking decomposers andproducers food chains with top predators They inhabitedthroughout the length of the river with large number ofspecies limited mobility and relatively long lifespan and soforth [1ndash6] These characters offer a spectrum of responsesto perturbations and thus their relative abundances havebeen used to make inferences about pollution loads suchas organic pollution and nutrient enrichment [1 3 7ndash9] The physicochemical analyses of the water quality arecapable of detecting disturbance directly and only reflect thewater quality at the moment of sampling In contrast thebiological communities provide more faithful reflection ofenvironmental conditions since they are continually exposedto pollutants Therefore the study of biological communities

as a bioindicator can reveal the impacts of intermittent orunrecorded pollution incidents [1ndash3 9] Nonetheless theuse of macrobenthic invertebrates for bioindication purposesseemsnot to be popular orwidespread in theAsian ecoregionHowever this technique provides a cheaper and worthmethod in river classification as they are widely used inthe Northern American and European ecoregions [8 9]In rivers of the southern Caspian Sea basin and especiallyHaraz River information on the spatiotemporal variationsin abundance composition of benthic communities is stillextremely poorThe aims of our study are to (1) investigate thebenthic macroinvertebrate assemblages and their functionalfeeding groups and (2) to analyze significant changes of theiraccounts among different sites along the urbanized part ofHaraz River in relation to environmental conditions Ourresults indicate the potential use of benthic macroinverte-brates for monitoring of Haraz River Since the informationon the benthic macroinvertebrates and their monitoring in

Hindawi Publishing CorporationInternational Journal of ZoologyVolume 2014 Article ID 145430 7 pageshttpdxdoiorg1011552014145430

2 International Journal of Zoology

the southern Caspian Sea basin is too limited the presentstudy in the Haraz River helps to develop further researcheson these invertebrates and their biotope Since the frequentsupervision of the ecosystem integrity represents a prioritytask for water resource assessment these results can help usto monitor and manage this river in the future

2 Materials and Methods

The Haraz River is the second largest river in the southernCaspian Sea which originates from central Alborz mountainsranges and flows northwards through the flat plains in theMazandaran province and discharges into the Caspian SeaTheRiver basin covers an area of 5100 km2 with 185 km lengthand average discharge of 940 times 106m3year The width ofriver ranges from 50 to 500 meter and its slope increasesto 13 at different locations [10] In the upstream mountainpart because of the appropriate water there is an increasingnumber of rainbow trout farms It seems that this regionmoreor less affects by aquaculture effluent and river sand miningactivities In the downstream plain part Haraz River passesthrough the heart of Amol City a rapidly growing and heavilyindustrialized city with a population of over 200000 and anarea of 3185 km2 In this region the water of Haraz River isused as a major source for agriculture activities and is heavilyaffected by untreated agricultural waste and domestic sewage

The predominant substrates of sampling area includegravel and boulder rocks with leaf litter and sand onlypresent in calm areas along the banks The existence of sandmining in the upstream part of river causes the followingwater appears much muddy and its color is brownish atall times At each site tree stations situated in 500 meterdistance from each other Site 1 (36∘2510158405810158401015840N and 52∘2110158400410158401015840E)is situated in the entrance of city in a relatively undevelopedarea characterized by no urbanization houses or residentialcommunities The water flowed faster and appeared muchclearer than at the other sites Although as a control site isnot to be well conserved as it is affected more or less byagricultural river sand mining construction of dike andfish farming activities Site 2 (36∘2710158405010158401015840N and 52∘2110158403010158401015840E)is approximately 5 km from site 1 within Amol City limit inthe city center (Dehkadeh Talaii Park) It is an urbanizedarea as residential communities and houses are present inthe immediate surroundings It often has been channelizedand dredged Site 3 (36∘2910158404010158401015840Nand 52∘2210158401710158401015840E) is located inend of the city limit (Saba Shahr) approximately 5 km fromsite 2 where it is surrounded by agricultural lands There isdirect pumping of the untreated urban sewage to the riverand garbage evacuation in the river bank Water uptake fromthe river for agricultural use decreases the flow volume beforethe effluent discharge enters the river The water is cloudierand smelly and contains a lot of suspended matter due tothe sewage pollution The substrate consists of rocks coatedwith black color of decomposing bacterial There is abundantgarbage and debris was deposited along the banks and withinthe stream and it seems that this site is the most disturbedone

Sampling was carried out at nine stations in three differ-ent sites (three stations at each site) before into and afterthe Amol city along the Haraz River in 12 different timepoints in summer of 2007 2008 and 2009 (Figure 1) Threereplicates were collected using a 40 times 40 cm Surber Sampler(with 0360mm mesh size) from main permanently flowparts and close to the vegetation at each station and werestored in separate plastic containers In the laboratory thecontents from each container were gently sieved by a 05mmmesh and the retained material was fixed in 4 bufferedformalin Then organisms were separated and identified tothe lowest possible level using a stereomicroscope The watersamples were collected at each site from the top 30 cm ofthe water column at the middle of the river by means ofan acid-washed plastic bucket and rinsed with water fromthe site Samples were stored in the bottles (for chemicalanalysis) and sterile glass flasks (for bacteriological analysis)cooled transported to the laboratory and processed within12 hours of collection For each sample water quality param-eters including dissolved oxygen (DO) fecal coliforms (FC)pH temperature (T) 5-day biochemical oxygen demand(BOD

5) nitrate (NO

3) total phosphate (PO

4) turbidity total

solid (TS) and water flow (WF) were measured [11] Thequantification of these environmental variables is importantsince they can significantly influence the distribution andabundance of aquatic organisms in stream ecosystems [6]

Prior to the statistical analysis data were tested for thenormality (using Shapiro-Wilk) and the homogeneity ofvariance (using Levenersquos test) Significance of all tests wasaccepted at 119875 lt 005 Whenever data were normal andhomogeneous one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) wasused to test the differences values Tukeyrsquos test was usedto assess the significant differences among the sites Datafrom the three stations at each site (totaling 108 replicatesamples) were plotted separately and the sites were comparedNonmetric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) ordinationbased on Bray-Curtis similarity of species abundances wasperformed to visualize patterns of community similaritiesThese analyses were carried out using the SPSS version 16 andthe PAST version 209 According to Merritt and Cummins[12] identified macroinvertebrates were grouped into fivedifferent feeding guilds that use the same resources in asimilar morphological andor behavioral fashion includinggathering collectors filtering collectors predators shreddersand scrapers At each site the percentages of the feedingguilds were calculated and shown in the graph

3 Results

A summary description of the water quality parameters ofthe sampling sites is provided in Table 1 One-way ANOVAshowed significant differences in means of dissolved oxygenfecal coliforms 5-day biochemical oxygen demand nitratetotal phosphate and water flow There were no significantdifferences in means of pH temperature turbidity and totalsolid among sites

As a whole of 324 collected replicate samples a totalof 8117 individuals with 11 orders 18 families and at

International Journal of Zoology 3

580000 590000 600000 610000 620000 630000 640000 650000

3960000

3980000

4000000

4020000

4040000

4060000

0 7500 15000 30000(m)

580000 590000 600000 610000 620000 630000 640000 650000

3960000

3980000

4000000

4020000

4040000

4060000

Figure 1 Location of sampling sites in the Haraz River southern Caspian Sea basin

least 20 genera belonging to insects (Coleoptera DipteraEphemeroptera Hemiptera Odonata Plecoptera Proso-branchiata and Trichoptera) crustaceans (Amphipoda)platyhelminthes (Turbellaria) and annelids (Oligochaeta)were identified (Table 2) The benthic macroinvertebratecommunity was dominated by insects throughout the sam-pling sites including the families Hydropsychidae (3799 plusmn2986 indm2) and Chironomidae (3677 plusmn 1042 indm2)but the dominant structure differed among particular sitesThe families Hydropsychidae (6813 plusmn 3239 indm2) andHeptageniidae (4269 plusmn 1631 indm2) at site 1 and Tipulidaeat sites 2 (3501plusmn1444 indm2) and 3 (4565plusmn1911 indm2)were dominant The orders Diptera with four families and

five genera and Ephemeroptera with three families and fourgenera had the highest richness Except Gomphidae Elmi-dae andGammaridaewhich did not collect at site 2 the otherfamilies were present at all sites According Tukey test totalabundancewasmaximumat site 1 (28745plusmn8616 indm2) andminimum at sites 2 (20584 plusmn 1483 indm2) and 3 (20703 plusmn6060 indm2) Abundances of Hydropsychidae Heptageni-idae Baetidae and Leuctridae were significantly decreasedfrom site 1 to site 3 while Tipulidae and NaididaeTubificidaeincreased In Figure 2 nonmetric multidimensional scaling(nMDS) plot reflected the pattern of community structuresimilarities As shown stations were separated clearly basedon the species abundances and physicochemical parameters


Table 1 Mean values (plusmnstandard deviation) of the physicochemical parameters

Site 1 Site 2 Site 3Dissolved oxygen (mgL) 447 plusmn 036a 410 plusmn 048ab 384 plusmn 041b

Fecal coliforms (cfu100mL) 1977 plusmn 1943a 7882 plusmn 4107b 18106 plusmn 8304c

pH 802 plusmn 009a 795 plusmn 010a 782 plusmn 017a

Temperature (∘C) 2269 plusmn 505a 2321 plusmn 784a 2408 plusmn 630a

BOD5 (mgL) 1415 plusmn 722a 3569 plusmn 1901b 5006 plusmn 1713b

Nitrate (mgL) 241 plusmn 096a 359 plusmn 122ab 434 plusmn 107b

Phosphate (mgL) 006 plusmn 002a 012 plusmn 004b 011 plusmn 004b

Turbidity (NTU) 36525 plusmn 11647a 34416 plusmn 9652a 29865 plusmn 15394a

Total solid (mgL) 61440 plusmn 23161a 57826 plusmn 21975a 56476 plusmn 34102a

Water flow (m3s) 782 plusmn 201a 449 plusmn 173b 067 plusmn 219c

Letter case (superscript) variation among sites

Table 2 Taxonomic composition and mean values plusmn standard Deviation of abundance (individualm2) of the benthic macroinvertebrates

Order Family Genus Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 TotalAmphipoda Gammaridae Gammarus 700 plusmn 709a 000 plusmn 000b 655 plusmn 087a 452 plusmn 511

Coleoptera Elmidae Narpus 1460 plusmn 1143a 000 plusmn 000b 1418 plusmn 761a 959 plusmn 1024Dytiscidae Deronectes 889 plusmn 193a 1247 plusmn 953a 918 plusmn 659a 1018 plusmn 665

Diptera

Chironomidae Unknown 3929 plusmn 1021a 2849 plusmn 690a 4253 plusmn 918a 3677 plusmn 1042Simuliidae Unknown 1352 plusmn 1309a 2007 plusmn 1938a 152 plusmn 165a 1170 plusmn 1506Tabanidae Unknown 667 plusmn 680a 147 plusmn 166a 200 plusmn 447a 338 plusmn 514

Tipulidae Dicranota 950 plusmn 1016a 2500 plusmn 2534ab 3685 plusmn 3243b 2378 plusmn 2590Tipula 200 plusmn 283a 1001 plusmn 353b 880 plusmn 598b 694 plusmn 547

Ephemeroptera

Baetidae Unknown 1352 plusmn 1309a 1352 plusmn 1309a 370 plusmn 368b 1025 plusmn 1137Caenidae Caenis 147 plusmn 166a 147 plusmn 166a 147 plusmn 166a 147 plusmn 157

Heptageniidae Ecdyonurus 1918 plusmn 1416a 1401 plusmn 899ab 467 plusmn 485b 1262 plusmn 1137Heptagenia 2351 plusmn 1846a 147 plusmn 166b 280 plusmn 274b 926 plusmn 1457

Hemiptera Gerridae Unknown 433 plusmn 468a 918 plusmn 434a 200 plusmn 447a 517 plusmn 525Odonata Gomphidae Unknown 1547 plusmn 1310a 000 plusmn 000a 333 plusmn 359a 627 plusmn 1009Oligochaeta NaididaeTubificidae Unknown 433 plusmn 616a 867 plusmn 869ab 1335 plusmn 091b 878 plusmn 696Turbellaria Planariidae Phagocata 1100 plusmn 1105a 1667 plusmn 1672a 1547 plusmn 1482a 1438 plusmn 1388Plecoptera Leuctridae Unknown 1352 plusmn 1309a 698 plusmn 680ab 152 plusmn 165b 734 plusmn 956

Prosobranchiata Valvatidae Valvata 700 plusmn 728a 480 plusmn 201a 868 plusmn 416a 683 plusmn 499Viviparidae Unknown 451 plusmn 217a 668 plusmn 678a 747 plusmn 450a 622 plusmn 479

Tricoptera Hydropsychidae Unknown 6813 plusmn 3239a 2489 plusmn 1569ab 2097 plusmn 883b 3799 plusmn 2986Total 28745 plusmn 8616a 20584 plusmn 1483b 20703 plusmn 6060b 23344 plusmn 7019

Letter case (superscript) significant variation among sites

The feeding guilds compositions of themacroinvertebrateassemblages are shown in Figure 3 The gathering and filter-ing collectors were together dominant with about 60 of thetotal individuals at all sites In general the percentages of thegathering collectors and predators increased from site 1 tosite 3 while the filtering collectors and scrapers decreasedThe strong significant differences were observed just inthe percentage means of gathering and filtering collectorsbetween site 1 and 3 There is no difference in percentagemean of shredders among sites

4 Discussion

The results of physicochemical water quality parametersshowed significant differences inmeans of themore causativeorganic pollution dissolved oxygen fecal coliforms 5-daybiochemical oxygen demand and also of the more causativenutrient enrichment nitrate total phosphate and also waterflow These values are reflected by an extensive decrease inwater quality from site 1 to site 3 which are in agreement withresults of Pejman et al [13] and Nasirahmadi et al [14] in the

International Journal of Zoology 5minus0

48

minus04

0

minus03

2

minus02

4

minus01

6

minus00

8

000

008

016

024

Coordinate 1

TS

WFTurb

BODFC

DO

Site 3cSite 3b

Site 3a

Site 2cSite 2b

Site 2a

Site 1cSite 1b

Site 1a

Bray Curtis similarity2D stress value = 0033

PO4

NO3

Figure 2 Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) plot pat-tern of the benthic community structure based on the speciesabundances and physicochemical parameters (a b and c case lettersafter site number show stations of each site)

3204 33174506

2893 22671269

1352 2262 2334

887849 829

1665 1305 1063

0

20

40

60

80

100

Site 1 Site 2 Site 3

ScrapersShreddersPredators

Filtering collectorsGathering collectors

()

Figure 3 Feeding groups composition of the benthic macroinver-tebrate community

same area These results that coupled with results of Khajuieet al [15] Naderi Jolodar et al [16] and Amirkolaie [17] inthe mountain upstream showed that water quality of plaindownstream is much lower than upstream There are severalanthropogenic factors that may directly affect the waterquality of this area According to the high amount of fecalcoliform bacteria at site 3 the most important attributablefactor could be the direct pumping of untreated urban sewageonto this part of river Another important factor seems to bethe discharge of the untreated waste water from agricultural

lands with high amounts of pesticides and chemical fertilizerinto the river In addition water uptakeexploitation foragricultural use garbage evacuation to the river bank damconstruction sand mining and fish farming activities couldhave strong influences on the water quality The impacts ofthese anthropogenic activities on the water quality have beenpreviously documented in the most literature [5 6 8 9 1618] As a result of river sand mining activities located beforeAmol city there were no significant differences in means ofturbidity and total solid between sites

Overall the benthic macroinvertebrates communitieswere dominated by insects especially Hydropsychidae andChironomidae throughout sampling sites The family Chi-ronomidae was dominant or subdominant taxa at all sites(13 at sites 1 and 2 and 20 at site 3) Due to their highdiversity the species of Chironomidae adapted to differenthabitat types from clean to highly disturbed as they arecommon taxa of benthic communities [9 19ndash24] Hydropsy-chidae and Heptageniidae had the highest abundance at site1 and their abundance decreased to site 2 and then to site 3This could be related to the increase in pollutions loads anddisturbances which was suggested before in southern Poland[18] This reduction trend was also observed in abundance ofBaetidae and Leuctridae Generally members of the ordersEphemeroptera Plecoptera and Trichoptera are consideredto be sensitive to environmental stress and their establish-ment signified relatively clean conditions Thus decrease intheir abundance represents the lowerwater quality andhigherdegree of pollution primarily organic pollution [1 3 7 12]Conversely the family Tipulidae increased from site 1 to site3 and had the maximum abundance at this site A similarpattern is obvious in Tubificidae Oligochaeta These wormsare known to be able to tolerate a variety of stressful andunfavorable conditions such as low DO concentrations andhigh organic pollution [25ndash27] caused by sewage outfallIncreasing abundance of gathering collectors Oligochaetawas evident in river stretches affected by anthropogenicorganic pollution [6 8 9 18 27 28] In general it could beinferred that potential bioindicator taxa in undisturbed partsare typically Hydropsychidae Heptageniidae Baetidae andLeuctridae while in the polluted area they are Tipulidae andNaididaeTubificidae

Result of this study showed that there were significantdifferences in the total abundance of the benthic macroin-vertebrates between site 1 and sites 2 and 3 (119875 lt 005) Awide variety of biotic and abiotic factors could affect speciesabundances [3 7] and so total abundance of communityThe above-mentioned anthropogenic factors could be thereasons for the decrease in total abundance at sites 2 and3 In comparison with the upstream mountain part of theHaraz River and the other rivers in the southern Caspianbasin the abundance of benthic community in the studyarea is too low and is about 10 times lower than those areas[23 24 29] It seems that washing Macrofauna as a result ofheavy rainfall and flood events is an important reason forthe lower abundance in our study area As we collected nospecimens in five other samplings carried out in permanentflood conditions of winter spring and autumn


Since feeding groups are sensitive to both natural andanthropogenic changes occurring along rivers the abun-dance of each group is related to the status of environmentalconditions and feeding resources [7 12 30] Specializedfeeders such as scrapers and shredders are themore sensitiveorganisms and are thought to be well represented in healthystreams [7] Filter feeders are also thought to be sensitiveto pollution in low-gradient streams [31] Thus a decreasein the abundance of filtering collectors and scrapers groupsfrom site 1 to site 3 was acceptable But predicted responseof shredders to increasing perturbation was not realizedand there is no difference in percentage mean of shreddersamong sites Many studies demonstrated significantly higherabundance of gathering collectors in river stretches affectedby anthropogenic organic pollution and nutrient enrichment[4 18 28] that is in agreement with results of our study

5 Conclusion

Conclusively the impacts of anthropogenic activities causedby the urbanization and development on the water qualityand occurrence of benthic macroinvertebrates species wereobvious and noticeable in almost clean and heavily pollutedareas Therefore assemblage of certain macrobenthic speciesin unpollutedpolluted parts of Haraz River indicated thatthey could be used as potential pollution bioindicatorsSince the data on the biology ecology taxonomy and lifehistories of the benthic macroinvertebrates in rivers of thesouthern Caspian Sea basin and Haraz River is lacking thepresent study is useful to develop further researches on theseinvertebrates and their biotope This type of researches couldprovide valuable information in assessing and managing theecological status of the rivers Besides more taxonomic workfor the identification of organisms to species level should bedone in order to get better results

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interestsregarding the publication of this paper

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions ofSeyedMahmoudGhasempouri and BehboodMohebby at theTarbiatModares University Special thanks go to Tina FartashBenamar and Rozhin Asghari Moghaddamwho checked andimproved the English

References

[1] J M Hellawell Biological Indicators of Freshwater Pollution andEnvironmentalManagement Elsevier Applied Science LondonUK 1986

[2] J L Metcalfe ldquoBiological water quality assessment of runningwaters based on macroinvertebrate communities history andpresent status in Europerdquo Environmental Pollution vol 60 no1-2 pp 101ndash139 1989

[3] D M Rosenberg and V H Resh Freshwater Biomonitoring andBenthic Macroinvertebrates Chapman and Hall New York NYUSA 1993

[4] J A Camargo A Alonso and M De La Puente ldquoMultimetricassessment of nutrient enrichment in impounded rivers basedon benthic macroinvertebratesrdquo Environmental Monitoring andAssessment vol 96 no 1-3 pp 233ndash249 2004

[5] D A dos Santos C Molineri M C Reynaga and C BasualdoldquoWhich index is the best to assess stream healthrdquo EcologicalIndicators vol 11 no 2 pp 582ndash589 2011

[6] J A Camargo C Gonzalo and A Alonso ldquoAssessing trout farmpollution by biological metrics and indices based on aquaticmacrophytes and benthic macroinvertebrates a case studyrdquoEcological Indicators vol 11 no 3 pp 911ndash917 2011

[7] M T Barbour J Gerritsen B D Snyder and J B StriblingRapid Bioassessment Protocols for Use in Streams and WadeableRivers Periphyton Benthic Macroinvertebrates and Fish Officeof Water US Environmental Protection Agency WashingtonDC USA 2nd edition 1999

[8] M Z Azrina C K Yap A Rahim Ismail A Ismail andS G Tan ldquoAnthropogenic impacts on the distribution andbiodiversity of benthic macroinvertebrates and water qualityof the Langat River Peninsular Malaysiardquo Ecotoxicology andEnvironmental Safety vol 64 no 3 pp 337ndash347 2006

[9] M N Varnosfaderany E Ebrahimi N Mirghaffary and ASafyanian ldquoBiological assessment of the Zayandeh Rud RiverIran using benthic macroinvertebratesrdquo Limnologica vol 40no 3 pp 226ndash232 2010

[10] T Nasrabadi G Nabi Bidhendi A Karbassi and N MehrdadildquoEvaluating the efficiency of sedimentmetal pollution indices ininterpreting the pollution of Haraz River sediments southernCaspian Sea basinrdquo Environmental Monitoring and Assessmentvol 171 no 1ndash4 pp 395ndash410 2010

[11] APHA Standard Methods for the Examination of Water andWaste Water American Public Health Association Washing-ton DC USA 1992

[12] R W Merritt and K W Cummins An Introduction to theAquatic Insects of North America KendallHunt Ames IowaUSA 1978

[13] AH PejmanG RNabi Bidhendi A RKarbassi NMehrdadiand M Esmaeili Bidhendi ldquoEvaluation of spatial and seasonalvariations in surface water quality using multivariate statisticaltechniquesrdquo International Journal of Environmental Science andTechnology vol 6 no 3 pp 467ndash476 2009

[14] K Nasirahmadi Z Yousefi and A Tarassoli ldquoZoning of waterquality on Haraz river bases on national sanitation foundationwater quality indexrdquo Journal of Mazandaran University ofMedical Sciences vol 22 no 92 pp 64ndash71 2012 (Persian)

[15] L K Khajuie A E Sari and S M Ghasempouri ldquoAssessmentof Haraz River pollution from a rainbow trout farmrdquo IranianJournal of Marine Sciences vol 1 no 3 pp 27ndash34 2002(Persian)

[16] M Naderi Jolodar A Esmaeili Sari M R Ahmadi S JSeyfabadi and A Abdoli ldquoThe effects of Trout farm effluentson the water quality parameters of Haraz riverrdquo EnvironmentalScience vol 4 no 2 pp 21ndash36 2007 (Persian)

[17] A K Amirkolaie ldquoEnvironmental impact of nutrient dis-charged by aquaculture waste water on theHaraz Riverrdquo Journalof Fisheries amp Aquatic Science vol 3 no 5 pp 275ndash279 2008

[18] I Czerniawska-Kusza ldquoComparing modified biological moni-toringworking party score system and several biological indices


based on macroinvertebrates for water-quality assessmentrdquoLimnologica vol 35 no 3 pp 169ndash176 2005

[19] C Lindegaard and K P Brodersen ldquoDistribution of Chirono-midae (Diptera) in the river continuumrdquo in Chironomids FromGenes to Ecosystems P Cranston Ed pp 257ndash271 CSIRO EastMelbourne Australia 1994

[20] L S Fore J R Karr and R W Wisseman ldquoAssessing inver-tebrate responses to human activities evaluating alternativeapproachesrdquo Journal of the North American Benthological Soci-ety vol 15 no 2 pp 212ndash231 1996

[21] G Cognetti and F Maltagliati ldquoBiodiversity and adaptivemechanisms in brackishwater faunardquoMarine Pollution Bulletinvol 40 no 1 pp 7ndash14 2000

[22] A M Pires I G Cowx and M M Coelho ldquoBenthic macroin-vertebrate communities of intermittent streams in the middlereaches of the Guadiana Basin (Portugal)rdquo Hydrobiologia vol435 pp 167ndash175 2000

[23] M Kamali and A E Sari ldquoBioassessment of Lasem River(Amol Mazandaran Prov) using macroinvertebrates commu-nity of structurerdquo Journal of Biology Science vol 3 no 1 pp 51ndash61 2009 (Persian)

[24] M Naderi Jolodar A Abdoli M K Mirzakhani and R SharifiJolodar ldquoBenthic macroinvertebrates response in the HarazRiver to the trout farms effluentrdquo Iranian Journal of NaturalResources vol 64 no 2 pp 163ndash175 2011 (Persian)

[25] R O Brinkhurst and C R Kennedy ldquoStudies on the biologyof the tubificidae (Annelida Oligochaeta) in a polluted streamrdquoJournal of the Animal Ecology vol 34 no 2 pp 429ndash443 1965

[26] R O Brinkhurst ldquoThe distribution of aquatic oligochaetes inSaginaw Bay Lake Huronrdquo Limnology and Oceanography vol12 no 1 pp 137ndash143 1967

[27] M T Barbour J Gerritsen G E Griffith et al ldquoA framework forbiological criteria for Florida streams using benthic macroin-vertebratesrdquo Journal of the North American Benthological Soci-ety vol 15 no 2 pp 185ndash211 1996

[28] E Dumnicka ldquoUpper Vistula River response of aquatic com-munities to pollution and impoundment X Oligochaete taxo-censrdquo Polish Journal of Ecology vol 50 no 2 pp 237ndash247 2002

[29] M Sharifinia J Imanpour and A Bozorgi ldquoEcological assess-ment of the Tajan River using feeding groups of benthicmacroinvertebrates and biotic indicesrdquo Iranian Journal ofApplied Ecology vol 1 no 1 pp 80ndash95 2012

[30] R L Vannote G W Minshall K W Cummins J R Sedelland C E Cushing ldquoThe river continuum conceptrdquo CanadianJournal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences vol 37 no 1 pp 130ndash137 1980

[31] J BWallace J RWebster andW RWoodall ldquoThe role of filterfeeders in flowing watersrdquo Archiv fur Hydrobiologie vol 79 pp506ndash532 1977

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the southern Caspian Sea basin is too limited the presentstudy in the Haraz River helps to develop further researcheson these invertebrates and their biotope Since the frequentsupervision of the ecosystem integrity represents a prioritytask for water resource assessment these results can help usto monitor and manage this river in the future

2 Materials and Methods

The Haraz River is the second largest river in the southernCaspian Sea which originates from central Alborz mountainsranges and flows northwards through the flat plains in theMazandaran province and discharges into the Caspian SeaTheRiver basin covers an area of 5100 km2 with 185 km lengthand average discharge of 940 times 106m3year The width ofriver ranges from 50 to 500 meter and its slope increasesto 13 at different locations [10] In the upstream mountainpart because of the appropriate water there is an increasingnumber of rainbow trout farms It seems that this regionmoreor less affects by aquaculture effluent and river sand miningactivities In the downstream plain part Haraz River passesthrough the heart of Amol City a rapidly growing and heavilyindustrialized city with a population of over 200000 and anarea of 3185 km2 In this region the water of Haraz River isused as a major source for agriculture activities and is heavilyaffected by untreated agricultural waste and domestic sewage

The predominant substrates of sampling area includegravel and boulder rocks with leaf litter and sand onlypresent in calm areas along the banks The existence of sandmining in the upstream part of river causes the followingwater appears much muddy and its color is brownish atall times At each site tree stations situated in 500 meterdistance from each other Site 1 (36∘2510158405810158401015840N and 52∘2110158400410158401015840E)is situated in the entrance of city in a relatively undevelopedarea characterized by no urbanization houses or residentialcommunities The water flowed faster and appeared muchclearer than at the other sites Although as a control site isnot to be well conserved as it is affected more or less byagricultural river sand mining construction of dike andfish farming activities Site 2 (36∘2710158405010158401015840N and 52∘2110158403010158401015840E)is approximately 5 km from site 1 within Amol City limit inthe city center (Dehkadeh Talaii Park) It is an urbanizedarea as residential communities and houses are present inthe immediate surroundings It often has been channelizedand dredged Site 3 (36∘2910158404010158401015840Nand 52∘2210158401710158401015840E) is located inend of the city limit (Saba Shahr) approximately 5 km fromsite 2 where it is surrounded by agricultural lands There isdirect pumping of the untreated urban sewage to the riverand garbage evacuation in the river bank Water uptake fromthe river for agricultural use decreases the flow volume beforethe effluent discharge enters the river The water is cloudierand smelly and contains a lot of suspended matter due tothe sewage pollution The substrate consists of rocks coatedwith black color of decomposing bacterial There is abundantgarbage and debris was deposited along the banks and withinthe stream and it seems that this site is the most disturbedone

Sampling was carried out at nine stations in three differ-ent sites (three stations at each site) before into and afterthe Amol city along the Haraz River in 12 different timepoints in summer of 2007 2008 and 2009 (Figure 1) Threereplicates were collected using a 40 times 40 cm Surber Sampler(with 0360mm mesh size) from main permanently flowparts and close to the vegetation at each station and werestored in separate plastic containers In the laboratory thecontents from each container were gently sieved by a 05mmmesh and the retained material was fixed in 4 bufferedformalin Then organisms were separated and identified tothe lowest possible level using a stereomicroscope The watersamples were collected at each site from the top 30 cm ofthe water column at the middle of the river by means ofan acid-washed plastic bucket and rinsed with water fromthe site Samples were stored in the bottles (for chemicalanalysis) and sterile glass flasks (for bacteriological analysis)cooled transported to the laboratory and processed within12 hours of collection For each sample water quality param-eters including dissolved oxygen (DO) fecal coliforms (FC)pH temperature (T) 5-day biochemical oxygen demand(BOD

5) nitrate (NO

3) total phosphate (PO

4) turbidity total

solid (TS) and water flow (WF) were measured [11] Thequantification of these environmental variables is importantsince they can significantly influence the distribution andabundance of aquatic organisms in stream ecosystems [6]

Prior to the statistical analysis data were tested for thenormality (using Shapiro-Wilk) and the homogeneity ofvariance (using Levenersquos test) Significance of all tests wasaccepted at 119875 lt 005 Whenever data were normal andhomogeneous one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) wasused to test the differences values Tukeyrsquos test was usedto assess the significant differences among the sites Datafrom the three stations at each site (totaling 108 replicatesamples) were plotted separately and the sites were comparedNonmetric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) ordinationbased on Bray-Curtis similarity of species abundances wasperformed to visualize patterns of community similaritiesThese analyses were carried out using the SPSS version 16 andthe PAST version 209 According to Merritt and Cummins[12] identified macroinvertebrates were grouped into fivedifferent feeding guilds that use the same resources in asimilar morphological andor behavioral fashion includinggathering collectors filtering collectors predators shreddersand scrapers At each site the percentages of the feedingguilds were calculated and shown in the graph

3 Results

A summary description of the water quality parameters ofthe sampling sites is provided in Table 1 One-way ANOVAshowed significant differences in means of dissolved oxygenfecal coliforms 5-day biochemical oxygen demand nitratetotal phosphate and water flow There were no significantdifferences in means of pH temperature turbidity and totalsolid among sites

As a whole of 324 collected replicate samples a totalof 8117 individuals with 11 orders 18 families and at


580000 590000 600000 610000 620000 630000 640000 650000

3960000

3980000

4000000

4020000

4040000

4060000

0 7500 15000 30000(m)

580000 590000 600000 610000 620000 630000 640000 650000

3960000

3980000

4000000

4020000

4040000

4060000




















Diptera



Ephemeroptera








4 Discussion



48

minus04

0

minus03

2

minus02

4

minus01

6

minus00

8

000

008

016

024

Coordinate 1

TS

WFTurb

BODFC

DO

Site 3cSite 3b

Site 3a

Site 2cSite 2b

Site 2a

Site 1cSite 1b

Site 1a


PO4

NO3


3204 33174506

2893 22671269

1352 2262 2334

887849 829

1665 1305 1063

0

20

40

60

80

100




()








5 Conclusion




Acknowledgments


References









































Volume 2014

Zoology






















Advances in

Virolog y



Volume 2014




Enzyme Research



Microbiology


580000 590000 600000 610000 620000 630000 640000 650000

3960000

3980000

4000000

4020000

4040000

4060000

0 7500 15000 30000(m)

580000 590000 600000 610000 620000 630000 640000 650000

3960000

3980000

4000000

4020000

4040000

4060000




















Diptera



Ephemeroptera








4 Discussion



48

minus04

0

minus03

2

minus02

4

minus01

6

minus00

8

000

008

016

024

Coordinate 1

TS

WFTurb

BODFC

DO

Site 3cSite 3b

Site 3a

Site 2cSite 2b

Site 2a

Site 1cSite 1b

Site 1a


PO4

NO3


3204 33174506

2893 22671269

1352 2262 2334

887849 829

1665 1305 1063

0

20

40

60

80

100




()








5 Conclusion




Acknowledgments


References









































Volume 2014

Zoology






















Advances in

Virolog y



Volume 2014




Enzyme Research



Microbiology

















Diptera



Ephemeroptera








4 Discussion



48

minus04

0

minus03

2

minus02

4

minus01

6

minus00

8

000

008

016

024

Coordinate 1

TS

WFTurb

BODFC

DO

Site 3cSite 3b

Site 3a

Site 2cSite 2b

Site 2a

Site 1cSite 1b

Site 1a


PO4

NO3


3204 33174506

2893 22671269

1352 2262 2334

887849 829

1665 1305 1063

0

20

40

60

80

100




()








5 Conclusion




Acknowledgments


References









































Volume 2014

Zoology






















Advances in

Virolog y



Volume 2014




Enzyme Research



Microbiology


48

minus04

0

minus03

2

minus02

4

minus01

6

minus00

8

000

008

016

024

Coordinate 1

TS

WFTurb

BODFC

DO

Site 3cSite 3b

Site 3a

Site 2cSite 2b

Site 2a

Site 1cSite 1b

Site 1a


PO4

NO3


3204 33174506

2893 22671269

1352 2262 2334

887849 829

1665 1305 1063

0

20

40

60

80

100




()








5 Conclusion




Acknowledgments


References









































Volume 2014

Zoology






















Advances in

Virolog y



Volume 2014




Enzyme Research



Microbiology



5 Conclusion




Acknowledgments


References









































Volume 2014

Zoology






















Advances in

Virolog y



Volume 2014




Enzyme Research



Microbiology























Volume 2014

Zoology






















Advances in

Virolog y



Volume 2014




Enzyme Research



Microbiology








Volume 2014

Zoology






















Advances in

Virolog y



Volume 2014




Enzyme Research



Microbiology

Documents

Research Article Benthic Macroinvertebrates along the ...downloads.hindawi.com/journals/ijz/2014/145430.pdf · species, limited mobility, and relatively long lifespan, and so forth