Morphological and Ecological Characterization of Benthic Diatoms in Some Rivers of Bamenda, North-West Cameroon

Aims: Diatoms have been extensively studied by ecologists and taxonomists. They are used for monitoring water quality. Human activities more and more deteriorate the quality of rivers of the city of Bamenda due to rural exodus caused by the social crisis in the North-West Region in Cameroon. The objective of the study was to characterized benthic diatoms in some Rivers of Bamenda with the aim of restoring and monitoring them. Study Design: Diatoms are used for monitoring water quality. Place and Duration of Study: Study took place from January to December 2023 in the city of Bamenda. Methodology: Sampling of Diatoms was done by scrubbing macrophytes for periphyton and scrapping rocks for epilithon. Some physicochemical parameters of water in the study sites were measured. Results: The analyses were able to identify 44 abundant and dominant species were identified. Caloneis bacillum (Grunow) Cleve, Cymbella gamma (A. Schmidt) De Toni, Pinnularia gibba (Ehrenberg) Ehrenberg, Melosira varians (C.Agardh) Kützing and Aulacoseira granulata (Ehrenberg) Simonsen were frequent with the relative frequency located between 81 to 100%. Majority of genera were cosmopolitan and tolerated high level of salinity and nitrates. Conclusion: Some Diatoms species identified in the study area are resistant to pollution and others sensitive, and could be used for developing biological diatom indices. They could be proposed to local council and government for managing water from rivers.