Riparian management and its effect on aquatic macroinvertebrate communities at oil palm waterways in Perak

Abstract

A study on effects of riparian management on aquatic macroinvertebrate communities along three different oil palm waterways in Perak was carried out at Sungai Selinsing, Sungai Johan and Sungai Tumboh. The study aims in classifying riparian management of the study area, assess Biological Water Quality Index (BWQI) and evaluate physical characteristics of water along the oil palm waterways. Comparison of BWQI and physical analysis was conducted to determine their equivalence. Sungai Selinsing, Sungai Johan and Sungai Tumboh were classified as S5 refering to specified as a stream without fish and not in community watershed. For macroinvertebrate analysis, all three rivers shows presence of nymphs. Sungai Selinsing consists of three types of groups namely; nymphs, insects and molluscs. Sungai Johan consist of five types of groups namely; nymphs, insects, crustacea, molluscs and worms, meanwhile Sungai Tumboh consist of four types of groups namely; nymphs, insects, crustacean and molluscs. For Sungai Selinsing and Sungai Tumboh shows Class II a rather clean to clean water river, and Sungai Johan shows Class III a rather dirty water to average river. BWQI and physical characteristics of a river is in equivalent and related to effects of encroachment into the riparian management areas of the rivers, some indicator species are very sensitive to disturbance into their territory and level of pollutants, while others do endure disturbance and pollutants in the river. This shows that riparian management area class S5 with absence in the reserved zone and an encroached riparian management area have a negative impact on aquatic macroinvertebrate communities in rivers along it. This study shows that the future dependence of BWQI in examining water quality along an encroached riparian management area and riparian management area with absence in reserved zone is at stake and aquatic macroinvertebrates are important component used in analyzing environmental quality.