assessment of the ecological status and threats of welala and shesher wetlands, lake tana sub-basin (ethiopia)评估welala和shesher湿地的生态地位和威胁,塔纳湖sub-basin(埃塞俄比亚).pdfVIP

Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 2011, 3, 540-547 doi:10.4236/jwarp.2011.37064 Published Online July 2011 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/jwarp) Assessment of the Ecological Status and Threats of Welala and Shesher Wetlands, Lake Tana Sub-Basin (Ethiopia) 1 2 3 Negash Atnafu , Eshete Dejen , Jacobus Vijverberg 1 Amhara Tourism and Culture Bureau , Bahir Dar, Ethiopia 2Food and Agricultural Organization, Subregional Office for Eastern Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 3Department of Aquatic Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, The Netherlands E-mail : negashatinafu@, Eshete.Dejen@, dejeneshete@, j.vijverberg@nioo.knaw.nl Received April 27, 2011; revised May 29, 2011; accepted July 2, 2011 Abstract The ecological status of the Welala and Shesher Wetlands, on the eastern side of Lake Tana, were studied during pre-rainy, main-rainy, post-rainy and dry seasons from May 2009 to January 2010. Species composi- tion, diversity and abundance of macrophytes, benthic macro-invertebrates and birds were assessed and phy- sico-chemical parameters were measured. Phosphate and silicate concentrations, conductivity, TDS and tur- bidity varied significantly (p 0.05) between dry and wet seasons in both wetlands. Physico-chemical para- meters did not differ (p 0.05) between the two wetlands. The values for dissolved oxygen and pH ranged between 4.8 - 7.8 mg/l and 6.7 - 7.6, respectively. The values for nitrate and phosphate ranged between 0.2 - 3.1 mg/l and 0.2 - 3.3 mg/l, respectively. A total of 274 benthic macro-invertebrate individual