This summary seeks to provide stakeholders with a preliminary indication of the health of Kabakwa Lake (hereafter, Kabakwa). This is done though explaining what the benthos community assemblage infers about the current water quality of Kabakwa. The objectives for 2023 include (1) collecting benthos through a modified OBBN sampling protocol; (2) identifying collected benthos in lab and sorting them into OBBN groupings; (3) quantifying each group using metrics to determine abundance, richness, and diversity; (4) interpreting the results to provide an assessment of Kabakwa’s water quality. ]]> Biology
Ecology ]]>
Amphipods were found to be the most dominate species at each site, representing over 50% of the benthic community. Results from functional feeding group analyses revealed that all sampling sites are collector-dominated, representing almost 80% of the benthic community, and were composed primarily of Amphipods. Site 1 was found to have the highest species richness and abundance across the three sites. Sites 2 and 3 species richness and abundance are relatively similar and not far from that of site 1. Based on the results of the Hilsenhoff Biotic Index, water quality is "fair" as determined by macroinvertebrate species assemblages. Studies have found that recolonization of other macroinvertebrates was reduced when Amphipod numbers were high indicating predation or some form of competitive exclusion (Waters, 1964) which could potentially explain why there are such large numbers of Amphipods found across sites sampled on Gull Lake. It is important that factors (such as landscape-level factors such as land use/cover, surficial geology, and surface area or geographic factors such as latitude (Richards et al,. 1997)) are further looked into in order to develop the real reasons as to why Amphipods are in such high abundance within Gull Lake.
]]> Helga Sonnenberg]]>