No abstract

Yearly values of ecological indices were calculated for several key biological groups include macrophytes, macroinvertbrates, fishes and waterfowls during the period 2005-2007 in Huwaiza, West Hammar and East Hammar marshes in Southern Iraq. Ecological indices increase for the studied key biological groups in 2006 in the three monitored marshes in comparison with that of 2005. Ecological indices of macrophytes and waterfowls assemblages increase steadly from 2005 towards 2007. On the contrary macroinvertebrates and fishes suffer severe decline in 2007 mainly due to reduced water level. Continuous improvement in ecological indices of macrophytes and waterfowls in two of the restored marshes indicated that reduced water level was less harsh to them than to the other two groups. In spite of the slow recovery in ecological indices in the monitored marshes, diversity and richness values fluctuated between poor to moderate status and semi-integrated to disturbed, respectively. Cases of poor status and disturbed were more common and limited good ones were noticed. Most evenness values indicated absence of dominance cases, except two below the acceptable limit (0.5) were scored both were during 2007. What is clear is that the yearly hydrological period plays a major role in manipulating the biodiversity and repercussion ecological indices in the Southern restored marshes. Lower values of ecological indices indicated that the environment of Southern marshes still disturbed and need more time and care to be fully restored.  

The larvae of Coptodon zillii were surveyed in Shatt Al-Arab River and East Hammar marsh from January 2015 to December 2015. A total of 127 C. zillii larvae were collected from three stations. The highest number of C. zillii larvae was 78 recorded at station 1 in East Hammar marsh (Mansoury), comprised 61.41% of the total fish larvae collected, and the lowest number (23) was from station 3 in Shatt Al-Arab River near Abu Al-Khaseeb, comprised 18.11% of the total fish larvae collected. C. zillii larvae were found in the study regions from April to October. The peak of abundance was 22.8 larvae/10m² during July at station 1. The lower abundance of larvae was 0.7 larvae/10m² in June at station 2 at the confluence of the Garmat Ali River with Shatt Al-Arab River. Water temperatures in the three sampling stations were similar and ranged from 12°C in December to 32 °C in July. Salinity in station 1 ranged from 1.2‰ in August to 2‰ in June while in station 2 it ranged from 1.03‰ in October to 2.8‰ in July and in the station 3 ranged from 2.7‰ in April to 6.1‰ in December during the study period. Positive correlation was shown between water temperature and salinity in all stations with the number and abundance of C. zillii larvae. The results indicated that the Shatt Al-Arab River and East Hammar marsh are spawning grounds for this species.

Spatial and temporal variability of fish assemblage in Himreen Lake was studied from summer 2014 to spring 2015. Water temperature, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, transparency and potential hydrogen ion were measured from three sites in the Lake. Several fishing methods were adopted to collect fish including; gill nets, cast net, hook and line and hand net. The results showed that the fish assemblage consisted of 19 species representing seven families. Number of species increased in summer and spring and sharply decreased in winter. Luciobarbus grypus was the most abundant species comprising 23.6% of the catch, followed by Carassius auratus (20.07%) and Cyprinus carpio (11.39%). The dominance (D 3) value for the main three abundant species was 55.06%. The overall values of diversity index ranged from 1.71 in winter to 2.43 in summer, richness index from 2.4 in winter to 2.94 in summer and evenness index from 0.71 in winter to 0.84 in autumn. Associations between the distribution of fish species and the environmental variables were quantified by using canonical correspondence analysis (CCA).

Occurrence and abundance of fish larvae in southern Iraqi marshes were studied during 2005 and 2006. Monthly samples of fish larvae have been collected from three southern marshes (Al-Huwayza, Suq Al-Shuyukh and East Hammar).The results showed that the occurrence of fish larvae in the restored marshes exhibited strong seasonality, as the number of larvae increased slightly during February, peaked during March-April period, then decreased in May, and disappeared in June. The survey indicated that Al-Huwayza marsh seemed to be the better spawning habitat comparing with the other two studied marshes. However, larvae of alien species, C.auratus were the most dominant species in 2006 followed by native species L.abu. In 2005 larvae of native species, A.dispar dominated followed by L.abu. It seemed that the peak occurrence of fish larvae accompany more with zooplankton bloom than phytoplankton, especially in 2006. Three groups of larvae emerged, the first consisted of three species (A.dispar, A.mossulensis and A.vorax) shows close relation with zooplankton more than the other two groups. The second group constituted of two species (C.carpio and C.auratus) were more close to phytoplankton. The third group includes three species (L.abu, B.sharpyi and B.luteus) were in the middle level between the first two groups. We can conclude that the southern marshes of Iraq play a vital role in fish conservation and management by increasing aquatic habitat diversity via passive rehabilitation.