Comparative analysis of Biotic Indices in water quality assessment: Case study at Sg. Bantang, Johor

Abstract

Biotic indices are very useful tools as a rapid water assessment since freshwater had became a global issues for a decade but most of biotic indices developed are based on data from Europe or North American region. Geographically, there might be different in term of composition of macroinvertebrates in tropical region. Moreover, lacking in information regarding the effectiveness techniques which limited the use of biologicl monitoring in developing countries. Study were conducted to compared between biotic indices that originately developed based on macroinvertebrate data from United Kingdom which is Biological Monitoring Warking Party (BMWP)) and several biotic indices which developed in tropical region which were BMWP-Thai, SingScore and BMWP-My. The purpose of this study is to know which index best reflects health of freshwater ecosystem in Malaysia. All indices were calculated based on data from Hutan Lipur Sungai Bantang (HLSB). HLSB ecosystem were provided a good physical and chemical variable which their water quality is ranging from moderately- good to excellent based on the composition of aquatic insects and water quality index (WQI). Despite of rapid development happened in Johor, we found 45 families of aquatic insects and half of them are clean water species and very useful in biological monitoring. From the result, BMWP-My was the most suitable biotic index to use in Malaysia water body since its give better reflect on the health of the river system. Finally, the uses of aquatic as biological monitoring tools were recommended because aquatic insects found almost in every freshwater habitat, their diversity and their sensitivity to environmental changes which make them a good biological indicator.