CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Iloilo River, fifteen (15) km long, is the longest running estuary in the province that passes through
the city and flows from west to east. It maintains high level of productive biological activities and serves as
nursery for many important fish; and the rise and fall of the tide makes it possible for nutrients, such as
planktons and detritus, to circulate in and out of the Iloilo River (Hechanova, 2010).

Benthic organisms are important part of the marine ecosystem and play a decisive role in
maintaining ecological balance. These organisms form a major link in the food chain as most estuarine and
marine fishes, birds and mammals depend directly or indirectly on the benthos for their food supply
(George et al, 2009). Water quality can influence benthic organisms abundance, composition and
distribution (George et al, 2009; Imevbore, 1967; Odiete, 1999).

The growing population near coastlines increases pressure on marine ecosystems nearby to urban
areas through over-exploitation of marine resources and destruction of coastal habitats by development
and pollution (Burt et al, 2009). The protection of aquatic habitat from damage due to contaminants needs
proper assessment of the degree of ecosystem degradation and understanding of both the sensitivity of
aquatic organisms to contaminants and their ecological requirements (Lagrana et al, 2011). Benthos
influence chemistry of bottom-water and sediments (Rhoads et al. 1977; Aller 1980, 1982) and alter
sediment organic content (Pearson and Rosenberg 1978).

In the brackish water ecosystem, they include several species of organisms, which cover different
phyla including annelids, coelenterates, molluscs, arthropods and chordates. These organisms play an
important role in the circulation and recirculation of nutrients in aquatic ecosystems (George et al, 2009).
The study is proposed to identify the number, kind and density of benthic organisms found in the
different sites of Iloilo River. The results of this study may serve as information for the different institution
related to this study.

B. Research Framework
The independent variables of the study are the three different sites of the Iloilo namely, Site A at Parola,
Lapuz, Site B at 7.5 km away from Parola, Lapuz and Site C at Oton, Iloilo. The dependent variable is the
different benthic organisms located at the said sites.
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE

DEPENDENT VARIABLE

Different sampling sites

The number of Benthic Organisms

(Parola, Lapuz, 7.5 away

from Parola, & Oton, Iloilo)

Figure 1. Paradigm of the Study

C. Statement of the Problem

This study aims to know the benthic organisms that can be found in the different sites of
the Iloilo River.
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Specifically, this study aims to answer the following questions:

1. What are the benthic organisms present in the three different sites of Iloilo River?
2. What is the number of benthic organisms in the different sites for Iloilo River?
3. What is the density of each of the benthic organisms in each phylum?
4. Is there any significant difference in the number of benthos from each sampling site?
D. Hypothesis
There is no significant difference in the number of benthic organisms from different sampling sites
of Iloilo River.
E. Definition of Terms

Benthos- the community of organisms which live near the seabed, also known as the benthic
zone. Because light does not penetrate in very deep ocean-water, the energy source for deep
benthic ecosystems is often organic matter where contaminants are bound (Lagrana et al, 2011).
In this study, benthos will be collected, identified, and classified.

Iloilo River- a 15 km long estuarine that derives fresh water from the rivers and creeks that are
connected to it and saline water from the sea that feeds it. It maintains a high level of productive
biological activities (Hechanova et al, 2010).
This is the body of water where the benthic organisms will be collected.

Ecological distribution- area of biology that deals with the abundance and distribution of organisms

F. Delimitations
This study is limited only to the three sampling sites in the Iloilo river namely, Site A at Parola,
Lapuz, Site B at 7.5 km away from Parola, Lapuz and Site C at Oton, Iloilo. The benthic organisms will be
collected and analyzed for comparison during one Saturday in October.
G. Significance of the Study

This study aims to know the different benthic organisms present in the Iloilo River. The information
to be gathered in this study may be used by the local government for the facts and details of the Iloilo River.
Also, it can help institutions like the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to have
more data about the Iloilo River. The data gathered here may also be used for future studies or programs
for the river.

CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. Introduction
The Review of Related Literature will be the discussion of the previous studies done about Benthic
Organisms and Iloilo River. This review will cover benthic organisms characteristics, relative abundance
and ecological distribution. It will be followed by the review about Iloilo River.
B. Review
Benthic organisms
Benthic organisms are typically comparatively immobile, thus indicating local conditions. Many
benthic organisms having life spans covering a year or more are good integrators of environmental
conditions. Benthic organisms are always present and abundant in an aquatic ecosystem, they are
relatively easy to collect and identify without using expensive equipment (Chapman, Jackson and Krebs,
1996). The most widely used group of aquatic organisms are the benthic macroinvertebrates (Koeh, 1999).

Benthic organisms are important links in the food chain, which serve as food source for other
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organisms such as fishes, birds and mammals and play an important role in the transmission of nutrients
(Adeogun, Fafioye et al, 2011). In the brackish water ecosystem, they include several species of
organisms, which divide different phyla including annelids, coelenterates, mollusks, arthropods and
chordates (George, Abowei, Daka et al, 2009).
They not only act as a major food source for many fish species but humans also consume some of
the large sized bivalves and crustaceans. Polychaetes, bivalves and crustaceans are dominant among the
macrobenthic forms and are considered as environmental indicators (Gray and Ventilla, 1971).
The most popular biological method in assessment of freshwater bodies receiving domestic and industrial
wastewaters is the use of benthic macro-invertebrates (Odiete, 1999). Studies showed that oligochaetes
can be used as an indicator to organic and industrial pollution. The water is unpolluted if benthos occurs in
a density of 100-999 individuals/m 2; moderately polluted, 10005000 individuals/m 2; more than 5000
individuals/m2 shows heavy pollution. Benthic organisms are highly sensitive to environmental stress due to
trace metal pollution. (Bu-Olayan and Thomas, 2005).

Dynamic array of abiotic and biotic factors determine the structure of benthos communities in
running water ecosystem (Kumar, 1995, Austen and Widdicombe 2006). Benthic marine organisms
provide examples of the importance of incorporating information about the eld distribution and population
ecology of organisms in analyses of the functional consequences of their scaling as they grow (Koeh,
1999).
Macrobenthic invertebrates are useful bio-indicators providing a more accurate understanding of
changing aquatic conditions than chemical and microbiological data, which at least give short-term
fluctuations (Ravera, 1998, 2000; Ikom i et al., 2005).

Iloilo River
The Iloilo River is a 15 km estuary and maintains a high level of productive biological activities. The
river is a nursery to important fish species in the locality like tilapia and bangus and with the tides rise and
fall, it is possible for nutrients to pass in and out of the estuary (Hechanova et, al 2010). With this, the river
thus serves a source of income by the people of Iloilo who engage in the fishing industry.

The physical location of the river has greatly influenced the condition of the river throughout the
years. The majority of the current changes of the Iloilo River ecosystem originate from human activities.
Port facilities, storage facilities, commercial buildings, offices in combination with residential structures
surround the Quirino Bridge to Parola area. Land use along Iloilo River is a combination of residential,
commercial, institutional, open space, fishpond, transport facility and mangrove areas. The river
accommodates 22 out of the 35 mangrove species including the emerald shrimp species and
metapanauses insolitus (Hechanova et al, 2010).

CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY

A. Materials
The procedure of this study will include the gathering of the samples from the different sites of Iloilo
River and benthic organisms will be collected and determined. The following are the materials and
apparatuses needed for the study.
Eckman grab
Plastic container
Formalin solution
Rose Bengal dye
White enamel tray
Forceps
Pipette
Microscope

B. Procedures
Sampling Sites
The Site 1 is located at the shallow part of Iloilo River at Parola, Lapuz. The site is near the
opening of the river. The site is near the port of
The Site 2 is located 7.5 km away from Parola, Lapuz. The will be collected from the shallow parts
of the river.
The Site 3 is located at Oton, Iloilo.
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Sampling and preparation

The samples were collected (date and time)
Eckman grab of 10 cm diameter and 12 cm long was used in the collection of benthic samples for
analysis of benthos. The grab was sent down to the bottom of the three sampling sites having three
samples for each and messenger was use to close and grab some quantity of sediment. The grab was
removed under suction pressure. Composite samples were composed from each site and were labeled
polythene to determine the sediment particle sizes. The remaining benthic samples were washed through a
sieve of 1mm x 1mm mesh size to collect the benthos. The washed sediment with macro benthos was
poured into a wide mouth labeled plastic container and was preserved with 10% formalin solution to which
Rose Bengal(dye) was added. The Rose Bengal dye at strength of 0.1% selectivity colored all the living
organisms in the sample. (Claudiu et al.,1979; Zabbey, 2002; Idowu and Ugwumba, 2005). The preserved
samples were taken to a laboratory for further analysis.

In the laboratory, the washed and preserved sediment with benthic invertebrates will be poured into
a white enamel tray and will be sorted. The sorting will be made effective by adding moderate volume of
water into the container to improve visibility. Large benthos will be picked using forceps while the smaller
ones will be pipetted out. The organisms will be sorted into their different groups and preserved in 5%
formalin. The preserved animals will be later identified to their lowest taxonomic group under light and
stereo dissecting microscope and counted. The identification will be carried out using the keys by Day
(1967), Pennak (1978), Hart (1994) and Merrit and Cunnis (1996).

The abundance of macro benthos was estimated. The densities of abundant species were
analyzed for each of the sampling stations using the formula:

Total Number of Animals

Density=
Area of Sampling unit

Data gathering
The benthic organisms were gathered from three sampling sites of the Iloilo River, and were
analyzed in a laboratory.

Data analysis
For the descriptive analysis, the researchers will have the frequency count to get the mean and
standard deviation.
For the inferential analysis, F- test ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) will be used.

Table 1. Benthic Organisms Found In Each Site

Site 1

Name of Benthic Organisms

Site 2

Site 3

Table 2. Number of Benthic Organisms in Each Site

Name of Benthic
organisms

Site 1

Number of Benthic Organisms in Each Site

Site 2

Site 3

Table 3. Density of the Benthic Organisms in each site

Name of Benthic
organisms

Site 1

Density of Benthic Organisms in Each Site

Site 2

Site 3

CHAPTER IV
REFERENCES

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marine benthic dynamics, ed. by K. R. Tenore and B. C. Coull, 285-308. Columbia, SC: University
of South Carolina Press.

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Aller, R. C. 1982. The effects of macrobenthos on chemical properties of marine sediment and overlying
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Bu- Olayaan, A. H., Thomas, B. V., 2005, Validating species diversity of benthic organisms to trace metal
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Burt J., Bartholomew A., Bauman A, Saif A., Sale F., 2009, Coral recruitment and early benthic community
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Claudiu, T., H.G. Rogers, and H. Judith, 1979: Structure dynamics and production of benthic fauna in Lake
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Day, J.A., 1967. A monograph on the Polychaeta of Southern Africa Part I Errantia. British Museum of
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