SFS Annual Meeting

5/21/2019  |   09:15 - 09:30   |  151 DEF

BIOMONITORING OF LAKES USING MACROINVERTEBRATES: RECOMMENDED INDICES AND METRICS FOR USE IN WEST AFRICA AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Lake systems are under heavy pressure impacting on their biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. This is especially acute in West Africa and developing countries which lack resources and technical capacities for waste disposal, water puri?cation, as well as suf?cient scienti?c capacities for biomonitoring and integrated management. The preservation, monitoring and improvement of lake quality in these countries are, however, of paramount importance. Throughout the developed world, an array of indicators and multimetric indices have been incorporated into lake biomonitoring and assessment. Here, we assess the numerous procedures, metrics and indices using macroinvertebrates as indicators for lake quality and assess applicability in West African lakes and in developing countries more generally. We propose a framework for macroinvertebrate-based monitoring adapted to these countries, including recommendations for developing new indices and adapting tolerance scores of taxa to local conditions. This work underlines the importance of macroinvertebrates for biomonitoring of lake health in West African lakes and developing countries more generally.

Olaniran Hamed Odountan (Primary Presenter/Author), CAPEBio NGo/ University of Abomey-Calavi, hamed.odountan@capebio-benin.org;


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5/21/2019  |   09:30 - 09:45   |  151 DEF

DIS-ENTANGLING ECOLOGICAL NICHE PATTERNS OF NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE FISHES WITHIN AN INVADED AFRICAN RIVER SYSTEM Ecological niche theory predicts that spatial organisation for species in natural communities is driven by niche differentiation arising from both physical and biotic interactions. By comparison, successful invaders are assumed to override this theory because they are considered to be driven by niche opportunities that facilitate the invaders to exploit a wide resource range. We tested these hypotheses by comparing environmental and isotopic niches of native and non-native fishes within an invaded African river system. For the native fishes, we found contrasting environmental niches that varied from being small to being large, and that overlapped for most species. Stable isotope analyses revealed isotopic niche segregation for species with overlapping environmental niches. Most non-native fishes were found to have broad environmental niches, with high tolerance to environmental conditions, which partly supported the niche opportunity hypothesis. These fishes, nevertheless, exhibited isotopic niche segregation, which suggested that resource utilization was either non-random or was explained by trophic niche conservatism. Based on these distribution and isotopic patterns, we inferred the likelihood of negative interactions between native and non-native fishes. Such effects are likely exacerbated by altered flow regime that may affect the native ichthyofauna.

Wilbert Kadye (Primary Presenter/Author), Rhodes University, South Africa, w.kadye@ru.ac.za;


Tony Booth (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Rhodes University, South Africa, t.booth@ru.ac.za;


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5/21/2019  |   09:45 - 10:00   |  151 DEF

FIGHTING WATER POLLUTION AND RESTORING OUR LAKES: A LESSON TO BE LEARNT FROM GHANA Ghana had serious water pollution challenges in its rivers, lakes and streams such as Pra, Birim and Ankobra. The rivers were unsafe for human consumption; fishermen were not able to fish, the rivers posed a threat to aquatic ecosystems due to illegal mining of gold in the rivers beds and the discharge of untreated mercury, cyanide, excreta into the rivers. Ghana Water Company shut down its treatment plants at Osino, Sekyere, and Daboase because of high cost of purification. To clean and sustain Ghana’s rivers, US$ 400 million was needed. However, due to an aggressive political, economic and environment measures adopted by the Government in 2018 in line with the UN SDGs goals 6, 11 and 13, the rivers and lakes are now restored to its natural states. The Government established a joint Military Task Force to control the illegal mining activities and streamline their operational. Thousands of illegal miners, including Chinese nationals were arrested and deported, 2,044 equipment used were destroyed. It is based on this outcome that, this paper recommends other countries should learn from Ghana environmental, ecological, political, social lessons to restore their polluted rivers and lakes.

Isaac Nyameke (Primary Presenter/Author), Ghana Aquaculture and Fish Network, isaacnyameke@gmail.com;


Daniel Obeng (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Ghana Aquaculture and Fish Network, danielyobeng@yahoo.com;


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5/21/2019  |   10:00 - 10:15   |  151 DEF

FRESHWATER ENVIRONMENTS AS RESERVOIRS FOR ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANT BACTERIA AND GENES DISSEMINATION TO HUMAN PATHOGENS Freshwater environments are susceptible to possible contamination with residual antibiotics that are released through different sources, such as agricultural run-offs, sewage discharge and leaching from nearby farms. Unavoidably, they become reservoirs where antibiotics impact microorganisms that are indigenous to the environment. This has an important public health implication. This study evaluates the fate and persistence of antibiotic resistance bacteria and their resistance genes in freshwater environments. Factors that influence the antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistant genes (ARG) selection, development and persistence of ARBs and ARGs are poorly understood. Despite dilution and natural degradation process generally expected to reduce the level of ARGs in freshwater environment, yet there are important knowledge gaps to be filled. In order to improve risk assessment studies, the abundance and diversity of resistance genes is fundamental in order to estimate the actual risk of their dissemination from freshwater reservoirs to human pathogens (ii) Comprehend the causes and mechanisms driving the preservation and selection of antibiotics in freshwater habitats. Lastly, in this work suitable mitigation strategies are identified for freshwater environment antibiotic resistance development.

Chika Nnadozie (Primary Presenter/Author), Institute for Water Reaseach, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa , c_nwaneri@yahoo.com;


Miracle Osoh (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Institute for Water Research, miracleosoh@gmail.com;


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5/21/2019  |   10:15 - 10:30   |  151 DEF

MACROINVERTEBRATE DIVERSITY, COMMUNITY AND TRAIT COMPOSITION OF SELECTED RAMSAR WETLANDS IN SUBTROPICAL SOUTHERN AFRICA Wetland macroinvertebrates and biological traits have not been widely studied in South Africa with studies mostly being region-specific. Trait literature is also limited and generally only focusses on selected traits and selected regions. The research aim was to compare macroinvertebrate communities and trait compositions (ten biological traits) of specific Ramsar wetlands in South Africa using a multivariate statistical approach. Macroinvertebrates were collected at five Ramsar wetlands in South Africa from 2014 to 2016 and selected sites included various floodplain, valley bottom and depression systems from different ecoregions. Statistical analyses included diversity indices, beta-diversity, non-metric multidimensional scaling and correspondence analyses using R packages and Canoco Version 5. The overall identified diversity indicated 80 different families and approximately 200 different species from the five Ramsar wetlands. The results indicated that the community composition at each Ramsar wetland was distinct, as was expected. However, the biological traits for the macroinvertebrate community indicated a high similarity between the various Ramsar wetlands, irrespective of ecoregion, wetland type and altitude. This study, one of the largest spatial studies in South Africa, highlighted how macroinvertebrate traits could potentially be used in monitoring Ramsar wetlands across South Africa.

Wynand Malherbe (Primary Presenter/Author), Unit for Environmental Science and Management, North-West University, Wynand.Malherbe@nwu.ac.za;


Armin Lorenz (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Aquatic Ecology, University of Duisburg-Essen, armin.lorenz@uni-due.de ;


Martin Ferreira (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Unit for Environmental Science and Management, North-West University, Martin.Ferreira@ricardo.com;


Johan HJ van Vuren (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Unit for Environmental Science and Management, North-West University, jjvanvuren@gmail.com;


Victor Wepener (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Unit for Environmental Science and Management, North-West University, Victor.Wepener@nwu.ac.za;


Bernd Sures (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Duisburg-Essen, Aquatic Ecology, bernd.sures@uni-due.de;


Nico Smit (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Unit for Environmental Science and Management, North-West University, Nico.Smit@nwu.ac.za;


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