author(s)
T Kubendran and M Ramesh

abstract
The anthropogenic activities on aquatic insect communities in two freshwater streams (Kurangani and Valiparai) in Theni district, Tamilnadu, India were analysed. A total of 7473 aquatic insects belonging to 21 genera, 17 families from 8 orders were collected from August 2009 to July 2012. There is minimum significant difference was find out for the total dominance of aquatic insects between Kurangani (0.09197) and Valiparai stream (0.08774) respectively. Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Tricoptera (EPT) were the most dominant groups collected in two streams. The EPT showed that the pollution indicator group were highly abundant and more diverse at the upstream stations, but higher numbers of pollution-tolerant taxa Simulium was recorded at the downstream stations in both streams. In the present study revealed that distribution of aquatic insect communities could provide useful bioindicators of the biomonitoring approach in relation to water quality parameters to assess classify and compare the water quality of freshwater streams in southern Western Ghats, India.