Pongpan Leelahakriengkrai

• Biodiversity Journal, 4 (3): 399-406

  Pongpan Leelahakriengkrai
  Diversity of freshwater benthos in the ecotourism area at Chiang Dao District in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand

  ABSTRACT
  The diversity of benthic diatoms and aquatic insects in the ecotourism areas of Mea Lu and Tong Ta Streams at Chiang Dao District in Chiang Mai Province in the north of Thailand were investigated during the months of July and September 2012 and January 2013, from the upper, middle and lower parts of each stream. A total of 53 taxa of benthic diatoms and 46 families of aquatic insects were found. Forty-seven and thirty-one taxa of benthic diatoms were found from the Mea Lu and Tong Ta Streams, respectively. Thirty-eight and twenty-eight families of aquatic insects were found from the Mea Lu and Tong Ta Streams, respectively. The diversity index of benthic diatoms ranged from 1.17 to 2.66, while the aquatic insects ranged from 0 to 2.14. In the upstream sites of this study, a high abundance of benthic diatoms, such as Navicula cryptotenella, Planothidium rostratum and Planothidium lanceolatum, and aquatic insects, such as Caenidae and Elmidae, were found. At the downstream sites, a high abundance of benthic diatoms, such as Nitzschia palea and Mayamaea atomus and aquatic insects, such as Corixidae, Baetidae, Chironomidae, Simuliidae and Hydropsychidae, were found.

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