International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET)
Volume 10, Issue 04, April 2019, pp. 1949–1956, Article ID: IJCIET_10_04_204
Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/ijmet/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=10&IType=4
ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316
© IAEME Publication
Scopus Indexed
MACROZOOBENTHOS ROLE AS A
BIOINDICATOR OF QUALITY IN BILAH RIVER
LABUHANBATU
Arman Harahap, Ternala Alexander Barus, Miswar Budi Mulya, Syafruddin Ilyas
Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences,
Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia
ABSTRACT
Bilah River is the largest river in Labuhanbatu District, Sumatera Utara Province.
Many community activities, such as sand mining, local water companies, agriculture,
fisheries, transportation, palm oil mills and source of drinking water occurred in this
river area. The research was conducted for 12 months from December 2016 to
October 2017. The analysis result of water quality in the upstream of Bilah river
(stations 1, 2 and 3), were classified as good quality; stations 4, 5 and 6 as medium
quality; while the downstream (stations 8, 9 and 10) were classified as not good. Two
phylas, 4 classes, 11 orders, 20 families and 27 species of macrozoobenthos were
obtained. The insect class is the mostly found group in the sampling location consisted
of 19 species. Diversity Index values ranged from 0.9872-2.441 and the Biotic Index
value ranged from 0-15. Bioindicator species in the upstream were of orders:
Coleoptera (Psephenus texanus), Ephemeroptera (Heptagenia diabasi), Plecoptera
(Neoperla sp, Swelstsa sp) and Trichoptera (Chimarra sp). In the moderate polluted
part of the river, bioindicator macrozoobenthos were of orders: Odonata (Aphylla
angustifolia, Ceriagrion tenellum, Macrodiplax balteata, Macromia illinoiensis).
Furthermore, bioindicator species in the downstream with heavy pollution were
Gastropoda (Pleurocera canaliculate).
Key words: direct restoration, indirect restoration, inlay, thermal cycling, abfraction
defect
Cite this Article: Arman Harahap, Ternala Alexander Barus, Miswar Budi Mulya,
Syafruddin Ilyas, Macrozoobenthos Role as a Bioindicator of Quality in Bilah River
Labuhanbatu, International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology 10(4), 2019,
pp. 1949–1956.
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1. INTRODUCTION
The Bilah River is the largest river in Labuhanbatu District, Sumatera Utara Province. In this
river there are many community activities, such as sand mining, local water companies,
agriculture, fisheries, transportation, palm oil mills and also a source of drinking water for
people in Labuhanbatu district, hence it was suspected that this river has been polluted.
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Arman Harahap, Ternala Alexander Barus, Miswar Budi Mulya, Syafruddin Ilyas
Changes in the quality of river waters as a result of community activities can be measured
using various parameters such as the biophysical-chemical properties measurement.
Bilah River is a river that empties into the Malaka Strait, has a water discharge between
90-100 m/sec, a groove length of ± 80 km and a river width between 16 to 75 m. At present,
there is no clear information about the quality of the Bilah River and the type of
Macrozoobenthos or its role which can be used as a bioindicator for the quality of the river
waters. Benthic organisms such as starfish, shellfish, sea cucumbers, brittle stars and sea
anemones, play an important role as a food source for fish and humans. The main food source
for benthos is plankton and organic rainwater from land (rivers). Most of these benthic
animals act as first-level consumers to second-level consumers. Later, these animals are eaten
by third-level consumers, such as fish (Izmiarti, 2010).
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
Macrozoobenthos sampling was carried out using the purposive sampling method by
determining 10 observation stations with quarterly sampling, which was carried out in
December 2016, February 2017, May 2017, August 2017 and October 2017.
Macrozoobenthos sampling was carried out 9 times replications at each station.The tools used
in this research were Ekman grap, sechii chips, surber mesh, film bottles, cool boxes, duct
tape, label paper, pencils, markers, bottles of alcohol, DO Meter and GPS (Global Positioning
System). While the materials used were formalin and alcohol. Samples were sorted by hand
for large-sized samples and used floatation methods for small samples. Then the samples were
taken to the laboratory to be identified using books.
The sampling location was done by purposive sampling along the Bilahriver. Station 1
(2°2'33.94"Nl/99°44'58.87"El) which is located at an altitude of 18 m above sea level, is an
upstream river flow that is influenced by community activities in the form of agricultural
areas and liquid waste disposal from Palm Oil Mill. Station 2 (2°6'25.33"Nl and
99°48'46.93"El) which is located at an altitude of 17 m above sea level, is a river flow in the
upstream area which is influenced by community activities in the form of agriculture and
Labuhanbatu District Local Water Company 'Tirtabina' water collection site. Station 3
(2°7'11.74"Nl/99°54'44.14"El) which is located at an altitude of 15 m above sea level, is a
river flow where sand mining and community baths are located. Location sampling in station
4 (2°9'12.50 "Nl/99°58'48.28"El) which is located at an altitude of 12 m above sea level, is a
sand mining site and the flow of transportation of the surrounding community.Station 5
(2°12'17.83 "Nl/100°3'10.12"El) which is located at an altitude of 9 m above sea level, is
much influenced by the activities of surrounding communities such as water transportation,
sand mining, agricultural areas, baths and others. sampling location in station 6
(2°13'22,36"Nl/100°3'24,66"El) which is located at an altitude of 8 m above sea level, is used
by the community as a bathing location, sand mining and also influenced by agricultural
activities found along river banks.
Station 7 which is located at coordinates 2°15'20,77 "Nl/100°2'51,44"El (5 m asl), is a
place for sand mining and agriculture. The sampling location of station 8
(2°20'34.98"Nl/100°5'17.33"El) which is located at an altitude of 4 m above sea level, is the
location of agricultural activities and community baths. The sampling location of station 9
(2°25'16.43"Nl/100°4'42.89"El) is located at an altitude of 3 m above sea level. This location
is located in the lower reaches of the Bilah river and is heavily influenced by agricultural
activities and sand mining by surrounding communities. Besides that, it is also used by the
community for daily domestic needs.
The sampling location of station 10 (2°30'1.91"Nl/100°7'22.78"El) is located at an altitude
of 2 m above sea level. This station is the most downstream part of the Bilah river before it
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Macrozoobenthos Role as a Bioindicator of Quality in Bilah River Labuhanbatu
empties into the Malacca Strait on the east coast of Sumatera. This location is much
influenced by various community activities, especially as water transportation routes and
fishermen to catch fish. The data obtained was processed by calculating the diversity index,
Shannon Wiener H' and the Evenness index (E).
3. RESULTS/AND DISCUSSION
The results of measurements on temperature parameters of Bilah river water vary between
25.04 - 29.02 o C, with the lowest values obtained at station 1 and the highest at station 10 (as
in Table 1). The temperature of the water tends to be higher towards the downstream of the
river. This correlates with increasing air temperature in the lower part of the land.Increasing
on the value of water temperature downstream of the river is also influenced by the condition
of the river body which is more open and wide in the lower reaches of the river hence
exposure to sunlight is also higher.
Table 1 The Value of Physical-Chemical Parameters of Water at Each Sampling Location.
Parameter
Temperatur
DO
pH
TDS
Light
Penetration
Turbidity
Conductivity
C-Organic
Unit
o
C
mg/l
mg/l
Sta1
25,06
7,50
7,46
34,68
Sta2
25,04
7,21
7,63
32,11
Sta3
25,36
7,01
7,65
32,72
Sta4
26,12
6,96
7,55
33,28
Sta5
26,60
6,53
7,61
35,23
Sta6
26,08
6,50
7,70
32,11
Sta7
26,28
6,30
7,49
37,57
Sta8
27,16
5,93
7,23
50,31
Sta9
28,16
5,63
7,11
54,08
Sta10
29,02
4,82
7,01
59,19
cm
46,00
37,80
34,80
35,40
37,80
36,80
35,20
26,00
18,00
9,80
NTU
µS/cm
%
64,61
45,62
1,93
76,14
49,38
2,43
72,21
50,86
2,51
75,74
52,18
2,23
73,74
54,86
2,35
56,77
52,64
2,52
73,50
61,14
3,05
119,02
81,65
2,53
148,23
89,20
3,14
221,15
91,96
3,26
Based on the results of dissolved oxygen measurements obtained the values ranging from
4.82 - 7.5 mg/L, the lowest value was obtained at station 10 at the most downstream part of
the overall sampling point, and the highest at station 1 in the upper part of the Bilah river
flow.In general, the results obtained were illustrating that the river flow in the upstream area
has a higher DO value compared to the DO value in the downstream river flow. In terms of
water quality, the range of dissolved oxygen values obtained was illustrating that the
condition of water quality at the sampling location was still good, except for the downstream
at stations 8, 9 and 10.As it is known that the value of dissolved oxygen is a good indicator to
determine whether there is pollution in an aquatic ecosystem.
Based on the results of pH value measurement obtained the values ranging between 7.01 7.70. The lowest value was obtained at station 10 while the highest value was obtained at
station 6. The results obtained illustrate that the river flow in the upstream area has a pH value
that is slightly higher than the pH value in the downstream area. The decreasing of pH value
in the downstream of Bilah River which approaches the neutral pH value indicated that the pH
buffer system in these waters functions optimally hence it can neutralize the pH value. TDS
values varied between observations locations, TDS values ranged from 32.11 - 59.19 mg/l. A
high TDS value was obtained at the sampling location in the lower part of the river, while a
low value was found in the upstream part of Bilahriver. The content of TDS in Bilahriver was
still relatively low based on water quality standards.
Conductivity values ranged from 45.62 - 91.96 µS/cm. The high conductivity value was
obtained at the sampling location in the downstream part of the river, while the low value was
found in the upstream part of Bilahriver. The value of TDS and Conductivity was an
illustration of the dissolved salts concentration in water which plays one of them for
conducting electricity and it was seen that at the downstream river, dissolved salt content tend
to increase hence the value of TDS and Conductivity also increased proportionally.Based on
the results of light penetration and turbidity measurement, it can be seen that the value of light
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Arman Harahap, Ternala Alexander Barus, Miswar Budi Mulya, Syafruddin Ilyas
penetration has decreased, while turbidity increases in the lower part of Bilah river. As a
result of the increase in turbidity in the water, the penetration of light into the water layer
becomes blocked this causes a decrease in the value of light penetration. Increasing turbidity
of water in river bodies is generally caused by sedimentation due to soil erosion. Land
conversion that occurs along river boundaries into agricultural areas, settlements and so on are
the main causes of erosion. The analysis results of C-organic content on the substrate at each
sampling station showed a tendency to increase at the observation station downstream of the
Bilahriver. Based on the measurements results of several water quality parameters, water
quality zoning can be made along the observation location on Bilahriver.
Zoning of Bilah river water quality was divided into 3 quality class categories namely
"good", "medium" and "not good". In the upstream part (stations 1, 2 and 3) of the Bilah river
the value of the water quality parameter was obtained as "good", then in the middle part of the
Bilah river flow (stations 4, 5, 6 and 7) are categorized as "medium" quality and in
downstream part of the river (stations 8, 9 and 10) were categorized as "not good".
The research results on the presence of macrozoobenthos in all sampling locations were
obtained as many as 2 phyla, 4 classes, 11 orders, 20 families and 27 species of
macrozoobenthos. The insect class is the most macrozoobenthos group found in the sampling
location of the Bilahriver, which was 19 species. The presence of insect species was mainly
found in the upstream part of the Bilah River. Abiotic environmental factors in the upper
reaches of the Bilah River which were still of good quality were the main factors of the
successful life for the insect group. The average pH value of water in the upper reaches of the
Bilah River was 7.46 with dissolved oxygen averaging 7.50 mg/l, and the average water
temperature was 25.06 ° C, which is an optimal condition for groups of insects to be able to
live and breed optimally.Especially for groups of insects from the ordo of Ephemeroptera,
Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT), habitat conditions in the upstream are very suitable for
their lives. From the Molluscum phylum, 2 classes of Macrozoobenthos were obtained,
namely Bivalvia and Gastropod classes. The most represented type is from the Gastropoda
class. Gastropods found to consist of Physa gyrina, Pomatiopsis lapidaria, Pleurocera
canaliculata, Brotia testudinaria, Thiara scabra and Melanoides tuberculate. Gastropoda class
was found in each research station with the highest abundance at station 1 which has a muddy
sand bottom substrate.Suitable habitat conditions for the development of gastropods on the
Bilahriver were encountered in the middle and downstream of the river. The rocky substrate
will cause water ripples which will cause more oxygen absorption process from the air into
the water body hence dissolved oxygen (DO) levels in the waters increase. The high DO in
the upstream area which averages of 7.50 mg/l was also one of the factors that cause large
number of individual insects to be found.
In (Figure 1.) can be seen the pattern of fluctuations in the number of species and the
number of individuals of each species at each observation station based on the observation
period. Leading downstream, the number of species and number of individuals decreased
significantly, likewise the value of the number of species and the number of individuals based
on the observation period fluctuated with a tendency to decrease during the dry season.This
was probably related to the decrease in river water discharge in the dry season, hence the
chances of macrozoobenthos proliferation decreased. When compared between the
observation periods in Figure 2, it can be seen that the observation period in October 2017 has
the best level of stability for the macrozoobenthos community.
This was because the average number of individuals in October 2017 was less than the
number of individuals on average in the December 2016 observation month, while the number
of species in the two observation locations was the same, namely 25 species each.Thus it can
be stated that the distribution of the number of individuals in October 2017 was more evenly
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Macrozoobenthos Role as a Bioindicator of Quality in Bilah River Labuhanbatu
distributed than in December 2016. The more even distribution of individual species who live
together in certain habitats is an indication that the condition of the habitat is suitable for the
lives of various types of organisms, balanced without any certain types that dominate.
Figure 1. Fluctuations Pattern in the Number of Species and the Number of Individual
Macrozoobenthos in Each Station on the Bilah River
Figure 2. Fluctuations Pattern in the Number of Species and the Number of Individual
Macrozoobenthos Based on Observation Periods in the Bilah River.
The existence of macrozoobenthos in the Bilahriver can be seen in Table 2. From the 29
species of macrozoobenthos obtained, each has a different number of individuals. Sampling
locations with the highest number of species were obtained at station 1 and the lowest at
station 9. The average number of individuals also varied at each research station. The highest
number of individuals was obtained at station 1 and the lowest in station 9. Abiotic
environmental conditions that are still good at station 1 which are the upstream parts of the
Bilah River was causing themacrozoobenthos organisms to adapt well and develop optimally.
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Arman Harahap, Ternala Alexander Barus, Miswar Budi Mulya, Syafruddin Ilyas
Table 2. The Average Number of Macrozoobenthos (Ind./M2) at Each Research Station.
Species
Aphylla angustifolia
Argia sp
Brotia testudinaria
Calopterys aquabilis
Ceriagrion tenellum
Chimarra sp
Corbicula fluminea
Corbicula javanica
Epicordulia princeps
Gerris remigis
Gomphus sp
Heptagenia diabasi
Macrobrachium
lepidactyloides
Macrodiplax balteata
Macromia illinoiensis
Melanoides
tuberculata
Neoperla sp
Palaemonectes
bulgaris
Palaemonectes
convexa
Palaemonectes varians
Parathelphusa convexa
Physa gyrina
Pleurocera
canaliculata
Pomatiopsis lapidaria
Psephenus texanus
Swelstsa sp
Thiara scabra
Number of Taxa
The average number of
individuals (per m2)
Shannon-Wiener
Diversity Index (H ’)
Evenness Index (E)
Sta1
17.71
15.15
20.58
9.11
2.96
17.55
18.20
Sta2
15.78
7.35
15.55
14.27
15.95
10.09
12.82
8.91
Sta3
13.33
5.20
14.95
13.98
11.27
-
Sta4
12.82
13.67
14.29
12.87
-
Sta5
2.22
12.49
13.71
15.35
6.67
-
Sta6
14.22
11.00
15.11
-
Sta7
10.15
16.55
-
Sta8
15.02
-
Sta9
15.84
17.80
-
Sta10
17.44
18.40
-
-
-
-
-
10.07
4.44
4.44
5.40
-
-
-
14.09
-
14.22
8.69
9.55
8.44
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
16.38
15.40
-
-
-
-
-
-
12.58
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
6.67
7.22
-
-
-
-
13.27
3.33
14.42
8.22
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
10.51
-
-
7.80
13.33
12.82
12.71
11.44
11.89
-
14.00
6.04
-
5.00
-
11.73
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
11.42
2.22
13.29
6.00
11.51
13
160.1
2
11
128.6
5
9
112.4
3
9
103.0
6
9
93.32
7
76.15
4
43.04
4
40.46
3
38.64
4
58.99
2,441
2,335
2,156
2,167
2,105
1,887
1,298
1,288
0,951
7
0,973
7
0,981
4
0,986
5
0,957
9
0,969
5
0,936
3
0,929
0,987
2
0,898
6
1,363
0,983
Furthermore, from the calculation of the diversity index and evenness index, various
values were obtained for each station (Table 2 and Figure 3). The highest diversity index
value was obtained at station 1 and the lowest at station 9. The Increasing of the number of
species and followed by the distribution of the number of individuals evenly on each species
will cause the diversity index value to be high.On the contrary, even though the number of
species is many, but if there is one particular species which has a very large number of
individuals while the number of other individual species is only a few, it will cause the
diversity index value to be low.
The Evenness Index value (E) obtained from 10 research stations ranged from 0.8986 to
0.9865. The highest evenness index was at station 4 and the lowest at station 9. If the value is
close to 1, then evenness is high and describes as no type that dominates, hence the division
of the number of individuals in each type is very uniform or even.The evenness index in
Bilahriver Labuhanbatu at 10 research stations generally showed an evenness value that was
almost close to the maximum value in other words the distribution of the macrozoobenthos
population was quite good, indicated by a large number of macrozoobenthos found at each
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Macrozoobenthos Role as a Bioindicator of Quality in Bilah River Labuhanbatu
station even though certain types of domination occur. This was likely related to the condition
of the waters with varied habitat conditions.
Figure 3.The Fluctuations Pattern of Macrozoobenthos Diversity Index and Evenness Index in the Bilah River
Based on the research results on the role of macrozoobenthos in the Bilah River, several
species were obtained which could function as bioindicators. This was based on the
adaptation of the macrozoobenthos to habitat conditions where the species can live and
develop well. For parts of the Bilah river flow that have not been contaminated i.e. in the
upstream were found several species of insects represented by the order of Coleoptera
(Psephenus texanus), Ephemeroptera (Heptagenia diabasi), Plecoptera (Neoperla sp, Swelstsa
sp) and Trichoptera (Chimarra sp). In the part of the Bilah river which was categorized as
moderate polluted, macrozoobenthos which can act as bioindicator was from the order of
Odonata (Aphylla angustifolia, Ceriagrion tenellum, Macrodiplax balteata, Macromia
illinoiensis). Furthermore, bioindicators in the downstream part of the river with heavy
contamination category was Gastropoda (Pleurocera canaliculate).
The research conducted by Effendi H et. al., (2013) on the Cihideungriver - Bogor also
showed that water temperature tends to increase in the part of the river flow towards the
downstream, the further downstream of water there is a tendency to decrease the quality of
water. According to Hakiki T F et. al., (2017) good quality waters usually have high species
diversity and vice versa in poor or polluted waters.According to Oktarina and Syamsudin
(2015) that groups of macrozoobenthos organisms generally can adapt well to aquatic
environments that have a pH value of around 7 (neutral). Thus in terms of pH value, the Bilah
river flow was a suitable habitat for the development of various types of macrozoobenthos.
According to Dewiyanti et al (2017) that C-organic is a growth determinant for benthic
animals. The macrozoobenthos community that lives in the substrate will remodel C-organic
into food ingredients used to maintain its survival and growth. Organic matter waste resulted
in restrictions on the variation of macrozoobenthos, which means that only a few species were
able to live in these conditions. One biota that can be used as a biological parameter
indetermining the condition of a waters is Macrozoobenthos (Yanigina L.,2017).
Macrozoobenthos diversity index showed synthetic expression of water quality (Yunitawati et
al., 2012). Furthermore, according to Mushthofa et al (2014) that there is a positive
relationship between organic matter and the abundance of macrozoobenthos, meaning that if
the content of organic matter is greater, the abundance of macrozoobenthos tends to increase.
The degree of acidity (pH) of water has a very large influence, especially on various types of
biota, including respiration, nutrient content and productivity as well as the resistance of
organisms (Kasry and Fajri, 2012).
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