THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WATER QUALITY AND BLACK FLY (DIPTERA: SIMULIIDAE) ABUNDANCE IN TAMBUNAN DISTRICT, SABAH.

Abstract

Black flies (Diptera : Simuliidae) have been extensively studied
almost worldwide (Hamada & Grillet, 2001). This is because
blackflies are among the best-known aquatic insects and
globally distributed (Adler et al., 2004). Black flies in Malaysia
are less known and research about this aquatic insect is still
scarce especially in Borneo region. Most of the earlier studies
on black flies in Sabah were related to taxonomy (Takaoka,
2001). However, studies on ecology and the role of black flies
as bio-indicator has so far not been well reported yet. The aim
of this study is to determine the relationship of water quality
against the abundance of black flies pupa (Simuliidae).
Regression test shows that relationship between dissolve oxygen
(r2=0.57, p=0.02), total dissolve substance (TDS) (r2=0.18, p=0.04) and conductivity (r2=0.14, p=0.04) appeared significant to the abundance of black flies pupae. All the study sites (6 rivers) were classified into Class 1 based on Water Quality Index Classification (DOE, 2006).