EPHEMEROPTERAN ASSEMBLAGE AS INDICATORS OF THE WATER QUALITY STATUS OF A TROPICAL RIVER IN NIGERIAMICHAEL OMOIGBERALE AND ROTIMI JOHNNYAbstract The Ephemeroptera (Mayflies) community in a stretch of Ikpoba River, Edo State, Nigeria, was investigated at five distinct stations over a 6-months period. Nine taxa belonging to four families were encountered in this study. The most dominant taxa were Baetis bicaudatus (27.65%), Cloeon bellum (20.21%) and Centroptilum sp (16.10%). The overall abundance was significantly different (p < 0.05) among the study stations. A Posteriori Duncan Multiple Range (DMR) test showed that abundance was significantly higher (p< 0.05) in stations 1, 2 and 3 than stations 4 and 5. The diversity indices showed that taxa richness, Shannon diversity and evenness were lowest in impacted stations 4 and 5. The macrophyte-rich stations 1, 2 and 3 water were clean and unpolluted compared to stations 4 and 5.
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