On-line version ISSN 1816-7950 Water SA (Online) vol.36 no.3
Pretoria Apr. 2010 Sukhmani K Mantel*; Nikite WJ Muller; Denis A
Hughes Unilever Centre for Environmental Water Quality Institute
for Water Research (UCEWQ-IWR), Rhodes University, PO Box 94,
Grahamstown, South Africa This paper investigates the cumulative
impacts of small dams on invertebrate communities in 2 regions
of South Africa the Western Cape and Mpumalanga. Previous
research found reduced discharge, increased total dissolved
salts, and a decrease in average score per taxon (ASPT;
collected using SASS4 methods) at sites with high density of
small dams in their catchment. These changes in ASPT are
investigated using the invertebrate abundance data available in
the River Health Programme. Multivariate analyses found
differences in invertebrate communities in rivers with high
densities of small dams in their catchment in foothill-gravel
streams (in both Western Cape and Mpumalanga) and in foothill-
cobble streams (in Western Cape only). Opportun