caa a22 4500 605509212 CHVBK 20210128100640.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150901xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10452-015-9525-4 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10452-015-9525-4 Biological assessment of water quality and biodiversity in Rwandan rivers draining into Lake Kivu [Elektronische Daten] [Torsten Wronski, Marie Dusabe, Ann Apio, Bernhard Hausdorf, Christian Albrecht] This study aimed at assessing the biological water quality and biodiversity of Rwandan rivers draining into Lake Kivu using benthic macroinvertebrates as indicator organisms. We tested the hypothesis that biological water quality and biodiversity are negatively affected by direct human perturbations and land-use changes in the surrounding habitat. Fifty-three rivers from 29 catchment areas were investigated using the ‘Average Score Per Taxon' and the ‘Baur Biotic Score' as indices for assessing water quality. The Shannon index and the Pielou's evenness index were used to measure biodiversity and evenness, respectively. Multiple linear regressions were applied to test the impact of hydromorphology, physical parameters, direct human perturbations and land-use change in the surrounding habitat on water quality and biodiversity. Baur Biotic Score and Average Score per Taxon indicated strong variation in the water quality of the investigated rivers. Best biological water quality was found in the rivers south of Kibuye/Karongi. Diversity was found to be moderate, but slightly increased south of Kibuye/Karongi. Evenness was also lowest south of Kibuye/Karongi. Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that the biodiversity estimations might be affected by the sampling time, but that the assessment of water quality was not. Water velocity significantly influenced water quality as well as biodiversity. Together with pH, it has also the strongest effect on the composition of macrozoobenthos assemblages. We showed that discharge of industrial waste water in the Burehe River resulted in an alarming deterioration of water quality that demonstrates the necessity of effective wastewater treatment for a sustainable usage of water resources. Long-term water quality monitoring is highly recommended to be established in Rwanda using a combination of physicochemical, bacteriological and biomonitoring data. Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht, 2015 Macrozoobenthos nationallicence Biodiversity nationallicence Albertine Rift Valley nationallicence Average Score Per Taxon nationallicence Baur Biotic Score nationallicence Wronski Torsten College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, 712100, Yangling, People's Republic of China aut Dusabe Marie Department of Wildlife and Aquatic Resources Management, College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture, University of Rwanda, P.O. Box 57, Nyagatare, Rwanda aut Apio Ann Department of Wildlife and Aquatic Resources Management, College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture, University of Rwanda, P.O. Box 57, Nyagatare, Rwanda aut Hausdorf Bernhard Centre of Natural History, Zoological Museum, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King Platz 3, 20146, Hamburg, Germany aut Albrecht Christian Department of Animal Ecology and Systematics, Justus Liebig University Giessen, H.-Buff-Ring 26-32, 35392, Giessen, Germany aut Aquatic Ecology Springer Netherlands 49/3(2015-09-01), 309-320 1386-2588 49:3<309 2015 49 10452 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-015-9525-4 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-015-9525-4 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Wronski Torsten College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, 712100, Yangling, People's Republic of China aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Dusabe Marie Department of Wildlife and Aquatic Resources Management, College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture, University of Rwanda, P.O. Box 57, Nyagatare, Rwanda aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Apio Ann Department of Wildlife and Aquatic Resources Management, College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture, University of Rwanda, P.O. Box 57, Nyagatare, Rwanda aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Hausdorf Bernhard Centre of Natural History, Zoological Museum, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King Platz 3, 20146, Hamburg, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Albrecht Christian Department of Animal Ecology and Systematics, Justus Liebig University Giessen, H.-Buff-Ring 26-32, 35392, Giessen, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Aquatic Ecology Springer Netherlands 49/3(2015-09-01), 309-320 1386-2588 49:3<309 2015 49 10452