Diversity and Abundance of Zooplankton in River Aswa in Uganda

Abstract

Zooplankton community constitutes one of the keystone organisms that are crucial in understanding aquatic ecosystem responses to environmental distresses. The objective of this study was to contribute to the understanding of zooplankton ecological conservation status and assessment of potential impacts of the proposed Hydropower plant on the zooplankton community in River Aswa, Nwoya District, in Uganda. Baseline information on aquatic micro-invertebrate diversity, abundance and distribution along the affected river section was generated. Two copepods and four species of rotifers were recorded. The Intake site had the highest diversity (six species) while Powerhouse hadfour species. Of the species encountered, Keratella tropica registered the highest abundance—1,025 and 732 individuals m-2 at the Powerhouse and Intake sites, respectively. Total zooplankton densities were comparable with Intake (2,773 individuals m-2) and Powerhouse (2,311 individuals m-2). The zooplankton taxa do not appear in the IUCN Red List in the Catalogue of Life. Therefore, the proposed construction of a hydropower plant may not pose zooplankton conservation problems.
 Keywords: Biodiversity, Zooplankton, invertebrates, hydropower, River Aswa.

A georeferenced dataset for occurrence records of the phylum Rotifera in Africa

“…Ivory Coast Aka et al, 2000Arfi et al, 1987;Augustin et al, 2018;Berté et al, 2019;De Beauchamp, 1955;De Ridder, 1984b, 1985bDe Ridder and Pourriot, 1984;Diomandé et al, 2018;Etilé et al, 2009Etilé et al, , 2015Fofana et al, 2019Fofana et al, , 2020Monney et al, 2015Monney et al, , 2016N'da et al, 2015;Pagano et al, 2003;Rahm, 1964;Saint-Jean and Pagano, 1987;Soro et al, 2019;Yao et al, 2015;Yte et al, 1983Kenya Ahlstrom, 1940Beadle, 1932;Cannicci, 1940, 1941;Burian, 2010;Burian et al, 2013Burian et al, , 2014Burian et al, , 2016Burgis and Symoens, 1987;Chemoiwa et al, 2015;De Beauchamp, 1932a, 1932bDe Ridder, 1987aEpp et al, 2010;Finlay et al, 1987;Gichuki et al, 2006;Gophen, 2015;Gophen et al, 1995;Källqvist and Meadows, 1978;Kiggundu et al, 2020;Masai et al, 2006;Matagi, 2004;…”