The Use of Macroinvertebrate Biotic Indices for Water Ecological Quality (case study: Bakhtegan Basin)

macroinvertebrates communities are very sensitive to environmental pollution. Therefore, we can use to derive the pollution load entering to the ecosystem via their ecological structures. This study aimed to identify macroinvertebrates as well as indicator to evaluate the ecological health of water in the Eghlid.

Thirteen physicochemical parameters have been measured including BOD, COD, NO3, NO2, PO4, NH4, Fecal Coliforms, Temperature, pH, EC, DO, Total Hardness and Turbidity in Eghlid Rivers (Sefid and Gavgodar parts), Fars province- Iran. 

Based on the results, 8161 macroinvertebrates were identified from 14 orders and 24 families with 66 % frequency of Gammaridea belong to Amphipoda order as the most collected family.

With regard to Spearman correlation (r=0.81), the BMWP/ASPT index had the most dependency with the abiotic parameters. Although, the results didn’t show any significant differences between references and impaired stations (sig > 0.05), but the category of water ecological quality was in moderate to low in all studied stations. This study concluded the ecological status of water in the studied area is not desirable.