ABSTRACT

This study presents a comprehensive analysis of the Aghuakuari River, Edo state, Nigeria, emphasizing its physical and chemical characteristics, the composition of Erosional biotope invertebrates, and the intricate relationships between environmental factors and invertebrate communities. This study was carried out for four (4) months across three (3) stations from April 2023 through July, 2023.The Aghuakuari River exhibited remarkable environmental stability, with key findings including mean air temperatures of 28°C ± 2.415, 29.5°C ± 1.323, and 27.5°C ± 2.327 for Stations 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Water temperature ranged from 26.25°C ± 0.75 to 26.5°C ± 0.5 across stations. Flow rates, ranging from 8.62 cm/s to 50.00 cm/s, displayed mean values of 6.70 cm/s, 0.17 cm/s, and 11.41 cm/s for Stations 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The study also assessed several chemical parameters, including pH, electrical conductivity (EC), suspended solids (SS), dissolved oxygen (DO), and more. Across these parameters, the analysis consistently revealed no significant spatial differences (P>0.05) across all stations. The overall taxa composition, distribution and abundance of macrobenthic invertebrates collected during the study period was composed 19 taxa comprising of 394 individuals were recorded during the study. Hemiptera accounted for 1%, Coleoptera accounted for 7%, Odonata accounted for 1%, Diptera accounted for 57%, Ephemeroptera accounted for 3%, Decapoda accounted for 5%, Amphibia accounted for 26%, and Araneae accounted for 0.1%. The total number of taxa in station 1 were 8 with 181 total number of individuals. The least number of taxa (6) was recorded in station 3, station 2 had the highest (13) and station 1 had 9 taxa. The study contributes to the understanding of aquatic biodiversity in erosional biotopes of the Aghuakuari River.