Ecosystem service implications on the ecologicalstatus of korok,amodojodo, bobo and akidi wetlandsin abolwereda, gambella region, western part of Ethiopia

Abstract

Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystem services environments in the world and are critical for supporting human livelihoods in Africa. Provide to human populations include food, water quality maintenance, agricultural production, fisheriesand recreation.Wetlands are areas where water is the primary factor controlling the environment and the associated plant and animal life. If water table is at or near the surface of the land.The main objective of this study was to assess the ecosystem servicesand identified physicochemical and biologicalcharacteristics on Korok, Amodojodo, Bobo and Akidi wetlands in Abol wereda Gambella region.Focus group discussion (FGD) was conducted separately in six groups: males, females and youth each have 8 to 12 membersof participants. In total six FGDs were made from both groups for ecosystem services providing to the surrounding communities. Among the four wetlands Korok and Amodojodo are providing the ecosystem services to the surounding communities such as crop production, fishing, grazing, domestic purposes and vegetable (tomato) cultivation and raw materials (such as thatching grass, medicinal plants and firewood) during dry season. These two wetlands were much closed to the communities. Physicochemical, macroinvertebrate and birds samples were collected from 18 sampling sites. Physicochemical parameters such as DO,pH, water temperature,sludge depth and water depth were measured on field used astandard methodMultiParameter Digital probe andfor other chemical paramere water samples were collected, stored in a refrigerator at 4 ͦC transported to jimma and analysed in the laboratory were follow according to the procedure set by APHA. Qualitative data analysis, data from FGD was transcribed, coded and manually to identify the ecosystem services and associate it with the wetlands water quality,macroinvertebrates diversity and birds.PCAbiplot analysiswas applied used PASTsoftware to identify factors influencemacroinvertebrate assemblages.Finally, it concluded that the wetlands thatwerehigher ecosystem services there were lower macroinvertebrate assemblages. Environmental variables such as phosphate, ammonia,TN, phoshphate, chloride, TSS, EC,water tempereture, sludge depthand pH disturbances structure were predominantly affecting the macroinvertebrate assemblages and birds under the study area in the area. Macroinvertebratemetrics and birds biotic indices ( FBI andBMWP ) were lower at most sites of the fourwetlands. Conservation of wetlands is needed from government.