Effects of land use on benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages at three rivers in Endau catchment area, Kluang, Johor, Malaysia

Study was conducted for six times from November 2008 to June 2010 to
determine the effect of land use on benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in
Mengkibol, Madek and Dengar rivers. Eight stations were selected which two stations
from each river except Dengar which has two sampling reach comprised of four stations.
A 500 meter reach of the stream was selected for each sampling site. One sampling
reach comprises of two sampling stations where one station is located at the upper
reach, while the other station is situated at the lower reach. Surber Net measuring 500
micron mesh size combined with a rectangular quadrat of 30 cm x 30 cm (0.09 m2) was
used to sample macroinvertebrates. The results showed that un-disturbed river has
complete sensitive taxa namely Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT).
Mean while, there were only two sensitive taxa namely Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera
were found in the river which flows through palm oil plantation. Similar scenario was
found in the river which flows through logging area where there were also two sensitive
taxa namely Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera found in this river. In addition, the results
obtained for urban river was the other way round where there was an absent of all three
sensitive taxa (EPT) in the river which flows through urban area. Most of the macroinvertebrate
taxa that were found in this station are pollution resistant taxa comprised
Diptera, Odonata, Mesogastropoda, Basommatophora, Hirudinea and Haplotaxida. The
results can be use as a biological indicator for river water quality assessment.