Can Macroinvertebrate Assemblage Changes Be Used as Biological Indicator of Water Quality of the Nokoue Lake (Benin)?

Abstract

Investigations on biological capacity of water quality of macroinvertebrate community are very uncommon, and such as the amount of information available on the Nokoue Lake (the largest lake of Benin) is very limited. This information gap needs to be filled for better management of the Nokoue Lake. The goal of this study was to evaluate the possibility of using the macroinverte-brate community structures in Nokoue Lake and the environmental factors responsible for the maintenance of these structures. Nokoue Lake was studied over three months, during high flood period in which time subsurface water and macroinvertebrate samples were collected and analyzed. A study showed that the macroinvertebrate assemblages was done according to ecological gradients as pH, conductivity, TDS, salinity, chlorophyll a and probably to anthropogenic actions (nutriments). Better than the percentage of insects, the percentage of Chironomidae informed very well about macroinvertebrate assemblages. To assess the biological health of the environment , the Family Biotic Index (FBI) turns out to be more appropriate than diversity indices that do not take into account the intermediate pollution. Organic pollution revealed by the FBI probably affects the aquatic life.