| Summary: | The aim of our study was to investigate macroinvertebrate communities so as to understand
factors and processes structuring macroinvertebrate communities in a small reservoir,
Malilangwe reservoir over seven months (April to October). Sampling was performed by
active sweep netting and searching soil sediments. Water temperature, conductivity,
dissolved oxygen, pH, ammonia, nitrogen, phosphorus, chemical oxygen demand and macrophyte
cover were determined. In total, forty-two macroinvertebrate families belonging to 10
orders were identified amongst 13 macrophyte species and sediments. Thiaridae and Physidae
(Mollusca) were the dominant and most abundant taxa (57.71%) and there were followed by
the Hemiptera (27.31%). High indices for sites 1 to 3 for the Simpsons index, the
Shannon-Weaver index and evenness were recorded, while low indices were observed for sites
4 to 5, with significant differences being observed among the study site using the
Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA test (p < 0.05). Redundancy
Analysis revealed that among environmental factors, hydrologically linked parameters such
as conductivity, water level and macrophyte cover had the strongest influence on
macroinvertebrate distribution.
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