The vertical dynamics of larval chironomids on artificial substrates in lake lido (bogor, indonesia)

The composition and abundance of chironomid larval communities was studied on artificial substrates in Lido Lake, located in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia. The lake is organically enriched as a result of fish farming activity. Seventy two artificial substrates were deployed at three depths (2.0, 3.5 and 5.0 m) at two sites: a cage culture site and a non-cage culture site (control). Larval chironomid larvae were collected 7, 14, 28 and 56 days after the artificial substrates were deployed. In addition, selected physical and chemical parameters of the water were simultaneously measured. Three chironomid subfamilies, the Chironominae, Tanypodinae and Orthocladiinae, were found at both sites. At the cage culture site, both diversity and total abundance were significantly higher at the 2.0 and 3.5 m depths than at the 5.0 m depth, but this was not the case at the non-cage culture site. Based on pooling of the data from all depths, a Mann-Whitney U test showed that the non-cage culture site had a significantly higher diversity and total abundance than the cage culture site. Dissolved oxygen (DO) and turbidity showed significant differences between the 2.0 m depth and the 2 greater depths at the cage culture site, whereas none of the environmental parameters showed significant differences among the three depths at the non-cage culture site. A comparison of the environmental parameters at the same depth at the two sites showed significant differences in turbidity, pH and DO. A Spearman rank correlation analysis at the cage culture site showed that abundance and DO were positively correlated, whereas abundance and turbidity were negatively correlated. However, only pH was negatively correlated with abundance at the non-cage culture site.