Abstract:
The distribution of macroinvertebrates metrics were undertaken to assess the ecological
status and human impact in Kaffa natural Wetlands, south west Ethiopia. The study was
carried out two rounds (Mid-January, 2014 and beginning of January, 2015).
Macroinvertebrates, Physicochemical parameters of the water, human impact classes and
habitat condition were assessed at five sites in the wetland exposed to different
anthropogenic activities. The basic Prati index was also calculated based on the
concentration of ammonium, chemical oxygen demand and oxygen saturation.
Redundancy analysis (RDA) was applied to investigate relation between
macroinvertebrates metric and environmental variables. The RDA analysis demonstrated
that sensitive metrics such as EOT family richness and BMWP were positively associated
with good habitat condition. In contrast, FBI was associated with disturbed habitat
condition and high water electric conductivity. Furthermore, the Kruskal-Wallis test also
indicated EOT family richness and BMWP were significantly higher in low disturbed
habitats as compared to moderately to very highly disturbed sites (p<0.05).This study
demonstrated that human disturbances such as uncontrolled grazing and farming
contributed to the poor water quality and low abundance and richness of
sensitivemacroinvertebrate taxa. Hence, good land management practices are essential to
enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services of wetland ecosystems.
