Community Structure of Macrobenthos in Maludam River, Betong, Sarawak

• Main Author: Nur Aina Syuhaida, Binti Rusli
• Format: E-LPTA
• Language: English; English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, (UNIMAS) 2014
• Subjects: Q Science (General)
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/8252/1/Community%20Structure%20of%20Macrobenthos%20in%20Maludam%20River%2C%20Betong%2C%20Sarawak%20%2824pgs%29.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/8252/2/Community%20Structure%20of%20Macrobenthos%20in%20Maludam%20River%2C%20Betong%2C%20Sarawak.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/8252/

Survey was conducted in the Maludam River to record the community structure of macrobenthos. Samplings were done in six stations using Van Veen Grab sampler. There were eight parameters of water measured in-situ namely temperature, pH, turbidity, salinity, transparency, depth, dissolved oxygen and water current. Four phylla of macrobenthos (Mollusca, Annelida, Arthropoda and Nematoda) were recorded. There were one species of gastropod, one species of bivalve, five species of polychaetes, seven species of oligochaetes, eight species of aquatic insects, one species of crustacean and one species of nematode. The density of macrobenthos recorded in Maludam River range from 37 to 757 individuals per m2 . The Shannon Weaver diversity and Pielou’s Evenness indices range from 0.7316 to 1.4977 and 0.5278 to 0.8333 respectively. The species richness for all stations ranged from 0.4525 to 1.9386. High number of species was found assemblages in upstream of the river where reflects the clean water of peat swamp area near the Maludam National Park. Overall, macrobenthos found in Maludam River are common species found in tropical water ecosystem.