TITLE:
Investigating Temporal Variation of Water Quality and Benthic Macroinvertebrates in Taudaha Lake, Kathmandu, Nepal
AUTHORS:
Sagar Shrestha, Puspa L. Adhikari
KEYWORDS:
Taudaha, Lake, Water Quality, Macroinvertebrates, Productivity
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Water Resource and Protection,
Vol.8 No.13,
December
15,
2016
ABSTRACT: Taudaha Lake is one of the important wetlands in Nepal, as it provides critical habitats for thousands of migratory birds and fishes. Despite being a critically important water body, there is a lack of detail chemical and biological studies on this lake. The present study investigates the effects of seasonal water quality variations in distribution and abundance of macroinvertebrates in Taudaha Lake, during four different seasons in 2006. The results indicate that all the water quality parameters, except secchi depth, and total alkalinity, significantly varied among seasons. The gross primary productivity of the lake also significantly varied among the seasons, with highest primary production during summer (3.92 ± 0.18 gC/m3/day) and lowest during spring (2.44 ± 0.67 gC/m3/day). A total of 2166 individual benthic macroinvertebrates from 10 families and 7 orders were collected during the study period. Unlike water quality parameters, the macroinvertebrate species composition did not vary significantly among the seasons. The results suggested that the change in lake water quality did not have significant impacts on community metrics such as species diversity, species richness, and species evenness.