Refining benthic macroinvertebrate kick sampling protocol for wadeable rivers and streams in Ethiopia.

Streams and rivers cover a larger proportion of the Earth's surface but are highly affected by human pressures. Conversely, bioassessment methods are in their infancy in developing countries such as Ethiopia. In this study, we compared 2- and 3-min macroinvertebrate kick samples at multiple locations for both riffle habitat (RH) and multihabitat (MH) approaches.

Environmental determinants of distribution of freshwater snails and trematode infection in the Omo Gibe River Basin, southwest Ethiopia.

Background: Determination of infection rates of snail populations is one of the basic tools for epidemiological studies of snail borne diseases. In this study, we opted to determine the trematode infection of freshwater snails in the Omo-Gibe River Basin, southwest Ethiopia.

Methods: We collected snail samples from 130 observation sites in lakes, wetlands, rivers, reservoirs and irrigation canals surveyed during the dry season (March to May) in 2016.