Benthic Macroinvertebrates of Pangani River Basin, northeastern Tanzania

Located along the slopes of the highest mountain in Africa Mt. Kilimanjaro (5,985 m.a.s.l) and Mount Meru (4,566 m.a.s.l), Pangani River Basin is endowed with considerable freshwater resources that include lakes, rivers, wetlands, ponds, and man-made reservoirs (PBWO/IUCN, 2007a; IUCN Eastern and Southern Africa Programme, 2009). The basin forms an important hotspot of freshwater biodiversity with an outstanding reservoir of freshwater plant and animal species (PBWO/IUCN, 2007b; URT, 2014; Seeteram et al., 2019). The Pangani River Basin covers approximately 43,650 km2, with 95% of this area being in Tanzania and the remainder in Kenya (PBWO/IUCN, 2007a; IUCN Eastern and Southern Africa Programme, 2009). The basin is a home to Arusha national park, Kilimanjaro national park, Mkomazi national park, Amani Nature Reserve (Key Biodiversity Area) and the extensive Eastern Arc mountain forests (PBWO/IUCN, 2007b; URT, 2014). Given that Pangani River basin is of high ecological importance to the region (PBWO/IUCN, 2007); renowned for high species richness and endemism across multiple taxonomic groups (VPO, 2015; Seeteram et al., 2019). Therefore, access to reliable, and ready to use freshwater biodiversity data is vital to guide policy formulation and decision-making processes for sustainable utilization and management of the freshwater resources in the basin. This dataset presents data on the occurrence of freshwater macroinvertebrates from rivers and stream in the Pangani River Basin in the northeastern-Tanzania. The macroinvertebrates occurrence data were obtained from river assessment programs with the aim of assessing the ecological integrity of the Malala River, Tengeru River, Makumira River, Magadirisho River, Ghona River, Dehu River, Soko River, Ruvu River, Ngaresero River, Usa River, Maji ya chai River, Kikafu River, Rau River, Umbwe River, Karanga River, Weruweru River, and Lumbanga River of the Pangani River Basin (Mwaijengo et al., 2020). In total, the dataset covers the period between 2014 and 2018, and contains 18459 records and 71 observed (families). Since biological water-quality monitoring programs based on macroinvertebrates aim to assess the ecological water quality for decision-making, this dataset presents vital information for the conservation and management of river ecosystems in the northeastern Tanzanian region. The mobilization and preparation of this dataset was funded by JRS Biodiversity Foundation through Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).