A Quick Review of the Family Chironomidae (Order Diptera) with Effect on the Environment

Context: The Chironomidae family is more sensitive to changes in water environment quality. This taxon is tolerant in stream ecosystems. Thus, it could be used as a bio-indicator of freshwater to recognize the presence of contaminants with deleterious effects on human health. Evidence Acquisition: We searched keywords Chironomidae, bioindicator, environment, water stream, water quality, anthropogenic disturbance, pollutant, fossil, industrial waste, and aquatic habitats. Chironomidae was used once in single and again in combination with others. Google Scholar, Scopus, Springer, ScienceDirect, PubMed, ProQuest, JSTOR, EBSCO, BioOne, ResearchGate, Sage, Wiley Online Library, and SID were used as databases or search engines. Then, the results were sorted into four sections: Distribution and ecology, biotic indicators, food, and paleoecological studies. Results: The identification key of chironomids should be improved based on morphological and molecular data to determine this family more clearly. Identifying sub-fossil chironomid insects found in the sediments of lakes unravels the range of environments during the history of its aquatic habitat through paleoecological investigations. Conclusions: Chironomidae at genera or species has variations in traits in the ecosystems. Each species as a bio-indicator has different tolerable condition in its own habitat .Overall, the role of this family in all types of pollutants is ambiguous. More studies are needed to particularize the importance of Chironomidae based on genera and species.