Macroinvertebrate communities associated with littoral zone habitats and the influence of environmental factors in Malilangwe Reservoir, Zimbabwe

The aim of our study was to investigate macroinvertebrate communities so as to understand factors and processes structuring macroinvertebrate communities in a small reservoir, Malilangwe reservoir over seven months (April to October). Sampling was performed by active sweep netting and searching soil sediments. Water temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, ammonia, nitrogen, phosphorus, chemical oxygen demand and macrophyte cover were determined. In total, forty-two macroinvertebrate families belonging to 10 orders were identified amongst 13 macrophyte species and sediments. Thiaridae and Physidae (Mollusca) were the dominant and most abundant taxa (57.71%) and there were followed by the Hemiptera (27.31%). High indices for sites 1 to 3 for the Simpsons index, the Shannon-Weaver index and evenness were recorded, while low indices were observed for sites 4 to 5, with significant differences being observed among the study site using the Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA test (p < 0.05). Redundancy Analysis revealed that among environmental factors, hydrologically linked parameters such as conductivity, water level and macrophyte cover had the strongest influence on macroinvertebrate distribution.