Aquatic Insects as Biomonitors of Freshwater Ecosystem: A Review (original) (raw)
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Aquatic Insects for Biomonitoring Freshwater Ecosystems: A Report
2017
Aquatic insects may considered model organisms in analyzing the structure and function of the freshwater ecosystem because of their high abundance, high birth rate with short generation time, large biomass and rapid colonization of freshwater habitats. Aquatic insects are the major groups of arthropods that spend some parts of their life cycle in the water. Class Insect has many potential representatives that can be used as environmental bioindicators, among which are from the Coleoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera. Water insects or aquatic beetles are biological indicator. The use of bioindicators is essential for environmental monitoring. This study deals with diversity and Importance of aquatic beetles in fresh water ecosystem and their role in water quality assessment as pollution indicator.
Developments in aquatic insect biomonitoring: a comparative analysis of recent approaches
Annu. Rev. Entomol., 2006
Key Words bioassessment, benthic invertebrates, rivers, ecosystem health, human impact ■ Abstract Aquatic insects and other benthic invertebrates are the most widely used organisms in freshwater biomonitoring of human impact. Because of the high monetary investment in freshwater management, decisions are often based on biomonitoring results, and a critical and comparative review of different approaches is required. We used 12 criteria that should be fulfilled by an "ideal" biomonitoring tool, addressing the rationale, implementation, and performance of a method. After illustrating how the century-old but still widely used Saprobian system does not meet these criteria, we apply them to nine recent approaches that range from the suborganismal to the ecosystem level. Although significant progress has been made in the field, no recent approach meets all 12 criteria. Given that the use of biomonitoring information has important financial consequences, we suggest that societies and governments prioritize how these criteria should be ranked.
Ecological factors affecting aquatic beetle species (Insecta: Coleoptera)
Iranian Journal of Animal Biosystematics, 2019
Aquatic Coleoptera plays a major role in freshwater ecosystems and is regarded as an effective bioindicator. While being widely distributed in Iran, there are few studies that use aquatic Coleoptera to determine environmental quality and conditions. With ample water resources, the province of Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari, Iran, offers an excellent opportunity to explore the effect of environmental characteristics on aquatic beetles. The purpose of this research was to investigate the structure of the community and to determine the dominant factors regulating aquatic beetles in Borujen and Lordegan (as two major provincial towns). Sampling was conducted seasonally for one year (between September 2017 and July 2018) at six stations using standard sampling tools (small net and soft paintbrush), ecological factors such as water temperature, water pH, water electrical conductivity and air temperature were also calculated at each station using appropriate tools. A total of 12 species have been described that belong to 11 genera and 4 families. The largest number of described species was contained in the Dytiscidae family and the smallest number in the Hydrophilidae family. Two species of Agabus were the most common insects, namely Agabus conspersus and Agabus bipustulatus. The study of linear regression found that water temperature with a correlation coefficient of 1,685 was the most powerful factor in the distribution of aquatic Coleoptera and the least important factor was the air temperature with a correlation coefficient of 0,39. Furthermore, canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) revealed that water pH, water electrical conductivity (EC), water temperature (WT) and air temperature (AT) had an impact on aquatic beetle distribution. Our results suggest that water quality plays a key role in aquatic beetle species abundance and can, therefore, be viewed as a freshwater ecosystem health indicator organism.
The Impact of Aquatic Insect As A Biomarker of Environmental Pollution
The frequent discharge of effluent mainly from industrial and agricultural site has been one of the major factors causing water pollution nowadays. For that reason, benthic macro invertebrate were studied as a target factor for assessing water quality level of polluted water channel. This might proved to be cheaper and eco-friendly means to strengthen ecological integrity of water body than the other forms of assessment. The sample of macro invertebrate was collected from water channel of Zoological garden Gombe State University (GSU) using five minute kicking techniques preserved and identified. Three sampling station were pointed out in the study and a total of 105 aquatic invertebrate were recorded of which most species belong to Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT) taxa. Six physicochemical parameters were studied and their variation changes the composition and distribution of aquatic insect in the station. This study shows that the water channel of GSU is fairly good harboring different species of aquatic insect. Pollution tolerant insect such as Odotana were also found in the sampling station.
Insects as bioindicator: A hidden gem for environmental monitoring
Frontiers in Environmental Science
Environmental contamination research has been quite interesting in bioindicators recently. The basic objective of bioindicator research is to find species that can reliably detect environmental disturbances and demonstrate how those disturbances affect other species or biodiversity as a whole. Since they frequently come into contact with the harmful substances found in soil, water, and air, insects are particularly valuable for evaluating how human activities affect the terrestrial ecosystem, the aquatic system, and the atmosphere. In this review article, we’ve emphasized the use of insects as a resource for assessing contaminants and monitoring environmental contamination. Insects have been our main focus since they are key indicators of changes in soil, water, and air quality. The majority of insects, including beetles, ants, honey bees, and butterflies are employed in this study as biological indicators since they are sensitive to even the slightest environmental changes and are ...
Composition and distribution of aquatic insect communities in relation to water quality
The impact of human disturbance and agricultural activity on aquatic insect communities in two freshwater streams (Sungai Peres and Sungai Bubu) in Hulu Terengganu, Terengganu were studied. A total of 3409 individuals of aquatic insects representing 42 families from 9 orders were successfully collected from August until November 2006. No significant difference was detected for the total abundance of aquatic insects between Sungai Peres and Sungai Bubu (Mann-Whitney Test = -1.550, P = 0.121). However, total abundance of aquatic insects was significantly higher at the upstream stations than downstream stations in both streams (Kruskal-Wallis Test = 2.519, P = 0.012). Heptageniidae (Ephemeroptera), Perlidae (Plecoptera) and Hydropsychidae (Trichoptera) were the most abundant groups collected in both streams. The Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera (EPT) Index and EPT to Chironomidae ratio (EPT:C) showed that the pollution-sensitive group (EPT) were highly abundant and more diverse at the upstream stations, but higher numbers of pollution-tolerant taxa (Chironomidae) were found at the downstream stations in both streams. Unexpectedly, the Family Biotic Index (FBI), Biological Monitoring Work Party (BMWP) and Average Score Per Taxon (ASPT) indicated that the water quality of both streams varied from clean-to-excellent categories, even though both streams received pollutants from various anthropogenic activities. Width and pH of the streams were positively correlated with the total abundance of aquatic insects (R width = 0.360, P = 0.014; R pH = 0.509, P = 0.003), whereas lower abundance of aquatic insects was found in more turbid water with high total suspended solids (TSS) in both streams (R TSS = -0.291, P = 0.050). This study shows that distribution of aquatic insect communities could provide useful bioindicators of the biomonitoring approach in relation to water physico-chemical parameters to assess, classify and compare the water quality of freshwater streams in Malaysia.
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 2020
Since early studies about aquatic ecology, it has been found that changes in environmental conditions alter aquatic insect communities. Based on this, the combined study of environmental conditions and aquatic insect communities has become an important tool to monitor and manage freshwater systems. However, there is no consensus about which environmental predictors and facets of diversity are more useful for environmental monitoring. The objective of this work was to conduct a scientometric analysis to identify the main environmental predictors and biological groups used to monitor and manage lotic freshwater systems. We conducted a scientometric study on the Web of Science platform using the following words: stream, river, aquatic insect, Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, Odonata, Heteroptera, Chironomidae, bioindicator, environmental change, anthropic, and land use. Although most of the environmental predictors employed are local, intrinsic of freshwater systems using local environmental and associated landscape variables is a better strategy to predict aquatic insect communities. The facets of diversity most used are composition and richness of species and genera, which are not efficient at measuring the loss of ecosystem services and extinction of phylogenetic lineages. Although very important, these functional
Study Of Aquatic Hemipteran And Coleopteran With Their Ecological Impacts: A Review
Journal of advanced zoology, 2024
In the natural world, utilitarian diversification of the earthbound is predominantly composed of the amazing numerous and enormously sophisticated bugs and beetles. Investigation of biodiversity is one of the crucial ways of dealing with evaluating structure, overflow, and examination of occupying species in the different aquatic ecosystems. Aquatic bugs (water striders, water scorpions) and beetles (diving beetles, water scavenger beetles) are great signs of the organic soundness of an aquatic ecosystem since some of them are harmless and sensitive to contamination, while others can live in upset and incredibly dirtied waters. Hemiptera and Coleoptera are two significant orders that normally exist in oceanic frameworks, feeding on dead leaves or predaceous, interdependent for predation and competition, sometimes acting as a nuisance and structuring the foundation of aquatic habitats. Hence, there is need for a regular identification, habitat modification, monitoring, and conservation of these essential orders.
Aquatic insects and their societal benefits and risks
Journal of entomology and zoology studies, 2015
Information on the aquatic insects and their benefits and risks to the society are scanty among the general public, students and the scientific community, when compared with the same on the land forms. In this article, an attempt is made to overcome this deficiency. A brief description is furnished along with the representative photographs of eleven orders of aquatic insects. These orders are Collembola (springtails), Ephemeroptera (mayflies), Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies), Plecoptera (stoneflies), Hemiptera (true bugs), Megaloptera (dobsonflies and alderflies), Neuroptera (songillaflies), Trichoptera (caddisflies), Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Coleoptera (beetles) and Diptera (true flies). Detailed information is presented on the beneficial role of aquatic insects in food webs, biomonitoring, fishing and control of noxious weeds. The harmful impacts caused by these animals to the society and the ecosystem by way of general nuisance, transmission of diseases and dest...