Distribution and composition of benthic macroinvertebrates functional feeding groups and ecosystem attributes under different land use patterns in Kipsinende River, Kenya

Abstract

Functional feeding groups in tropical rivers helps in understanding organic matter processing, energy flow, trophic relationship and management activities. This study aimed to describe the general distribution and composition of benthic macroinvertebrates functional feeding groups and ecosystem attributes under different land use in Kipsinende River. A total of 20,040 macroinvertebrates individuals belonging to five feeding groups (FFGs) were collected. The dominance was as follows; predators (54.4%), collector- gatherer (28.6%), collector- filterer (11.7%), scraper (3.6%) and shredders (1.8%), respectively. Predators were the dominant group (81.18%) in agricultural land use and least (11.02%) in forested site. However, collector- gatherer (57.53%), scraper (11.9%) and shredders (4.16%) were dominant in forested site. All zones were strongly heterotrophic, non-performing and presence of plentiful loading of fine particulate organic matter. Thus, it is important that watershed management practices and further research be done to limit the ecosystem damage on the surrounding of the river.