A tool to assess the ecological condition of tropical high Andean streams in Ecuador and Peru: The IMEERA index

Villamarín, Christian; Rieradevall, María; Paul, Michael J.; Barbour, Michael T.; Fornells, Narcís Prat

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2012.12.006

Cited by 58 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…During the high rainfall months the Trichoptera order was dominant; represented by the Hidropsychidae, Leptophlebiidae and Chironomidae families, and its genders Smicridea Thraulodes, and Chironomus respectively, which are indicators of oligomesotrophic water (Lock et al 2011, Villamarín et al 2013.…”

Section: Water Quality Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Effects of Productive Activities on the Water Quality for Human Consumption in an Andean Basin, a Case Study

Ruiz

Idrobo

Sarmiento

et al. 2017

Rev. Int. Contam. Ambie.

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Productive activities such as agriculture and livestock have transformed the Andean basins in South America. In accordance with this statement, the objective of this study was to assess the water quality of "Las Piedras" river located in an Andean basin with 6626 ha in Colombian Highlands. This study analyzed nutrient inputs from agricultural production, spatial crops distribution, human activities and their influence on the ecological state of the river. The evaluation integrated physicochemical and biological parameters in the indexes of water quality, pollution and the aquatic macroinvertebrates community. Results showed that aggregated crop fields occupy 25.2 % in the basin and the biological water quality through the Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP) index denotes the presence of tolerant-pollution organisms, additionally the biodiversity was low (Shannon H´1.1). The water quality in the river satisfies the Colombian regulation criteria for human consumption, even higher concentrations of nutrients in the lower area with 2.20 mg/L nitrates and 1.49 mg/L of phosphates, besides the loss of nutrients by runoff, which was 2.57 mg/L nitrates in the middle area and 0.18 mg/L phosphates in the upper area. In this sense, the nutrient concentration input increases toward the lower area of the basin because of the crop distribution. The agricultural land use modified the hydrological ecosystem services by decreasing the basin water regulatory capacity and nutrients input to the main stream.Palabras clave: contaminación hídrica, agricultura, distribución espacial de los cultivos, biodiversidad, agua potable RESUMENLas actividades productivas como la agricultura y la ganadería han transformado las cuencas andinas de América del Sur. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la calidad del agua en la cuenca del río Las Piedras (6626 ha), localizada en la alta montaña colombiana. Se analizaron los aportes de nutrientes a partir de la producción agrícola, distribución espacial de cultivos, actividades humanas y su influencia en el estado ecológico del río. La evaluación integró los parámetros físicos, químicos y biológicos en índices de calidad del agua, de contaminación y de macroinvertebrados acuáticos. Los resultados mostraron que los cultivos ocupan el 25.2 % de la cuenca, la calidad biológica del agua según el 362índice del Grupo de Trabajo de Monitoreo Biológico (BMWP, por sus siglas en inglés) evidenció la presencia de organismos tolerantes a la contaminación y baja biodiversidad (Shannon H' 1.1). La calidad del agua es apta para consumo humano según los estándares establecidos por la normatividad Colombiana. Sin embargo, se encontraron altas concentraciones de nutrientes en la zona baja del río con 2.20 mg/L de nitratos y 1.49 mg/L de fosfatos, adicionalmente los aportes de nutrientes en escorrentía superficial fueron de 2.57 mg/L de nitratos en la zona media y 0.18 mg/L de fosfatos en la zona alta. En este sentido, se observó que el ingreso de nutrientes aumenta hacia la zona baja de la cuenca deb...

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Section: Water Quality Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To calculate diversity and biological indexes for water quality was studied the composition of the EAM community. Samples were taken manually by using nets as indicated by Villamarín et al (2013). Surface runoff was obtained using rainfall simulators (Otero et al 2011).…”

Section: Water Quality Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Productive Activities on the Water Quality for Human Consumption in an Andean Basin, a Case Study

Ruiz

Idrobo

Sarmiento

et al. 2017

Rev. Int. Contam. Ambie.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Other studies used macroinvertebrate richness and composition to define temporal and spatial changes [8,14]. A biological index for the region is still lacking, despite several new indices that have been developed to better study the water quality, such as the Índice Multimétrico del Estado Ecológico para Ríos Altoandinos (IMEERA) [15], the Andean Biotic Index (ABI) [16] and the Neotropical Low-land Stream Multimetric Index (NLSMI) [2]. Moreover, water quality studies in the tropics, especially in South America, are still lacking; thus, the relationship between macroinvertebrate communities and habitat disturbance is poorly understood in these regions [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generalized Linear Models to Identify Key Hydromorphological and Chemical Variables Determining the Occurrence of Macroinvertebrates in the Guayas River Basin (Ecuador)

Damanik-Ambarita

Everaert

Forio

et al. 2016

Water

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Abstract:The biotic integrity of the Guayas River basin in Ecuador is at environmental risk due to extensive anthropogenic activities. We investigated the potential impacts of hydromorphological and chemical variables on biotic integrity using macroinvertebrate-based bioassessments. The bioassessment methods utilized included the Biological Monitoring Working Party adapted for Colombia (BMWP-Col) and the average score per taxon (ASPT), via an extensive sampling campaign that was completed throughout the river basin at 120 sampling sites. The BMWP-Col classification ranged from very bad to good, and from probable severe pollution to clean water based on the ASPT scores. Generalized linear models (GLMs) and sensitivity analysis were used to relate the bioassessment index to hydromorphological and chemical variables. It was found that elevation, nitrate-N, sediment angularity, logs, presence of macrophytes, flow velocity, turbidity, bank shape, land use and chlorophyll were the key environmental variables affecting the BMWP-Col. From the analyses, it was observed that the rivers at the upstream higher elevations of the river basin were in better condition compared to lowland systems and that a higher flow velocity was linked to a better BMWP-Col score. The nitrate concentrations were very low in the entire river basin and did not relate to a negative impact on the macroinvertebrate communities. Although the results of the models provided insights into the ecosystem, cross fold model development and validation also showed that there was a level of uncertainty in the outcomes. However, the results of the models and sensitivity analysis can support water management actions to determine and focus on alterable variables, such as the land use at different elevations, monitoring of nitrate and chlorophyll concentrations, macrophyte presence, sediment transport and bank stability.

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“…Esto es especialmente cierto en la región Andina tropical, cuyas singularidades orográficas causan una gran variabilidad fisionómica en cortas distancias. Las características geomorfológicas y climáticas de esta región determinan el desarrollo de pequeños ríos que transcurren sobre abruptos gradientes altitudinales (Villamarín et al, 2013). En ambientes muy pendientes, con sustratos rocosos, sombreados por especies arbustivas o forestales, con flujo de agua variable y con mayores velocidades de la corriente, se disminuyen las posibilidades de colonización y desarrollo de las plantas acuáticas vasculares (Willby, 2000;Bornette y Puijalon, 2011).…”

Section: Comunidades De Macrófitasunclassified

Comunidades de macrófitas en ríos andinos: composición y relación con factores ambientales

2017

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RESUMENLos pequeños ríos de los Andes tropicales se han estudiado escasamente y poco se conoce sobre la composición, diversidad y estructura de sus comunidades de macrófitas. En esta investigación se estudiaron las comunidades de plantas acuáticas de 18 pequeños ríos andinos pertenecientes a las cuencas de los ríos La Vieja (Quindío) y Otún (Risaralda) en la ecorregión cafetera colombiana, una de las más afectadas por actividades antrópicas en el país. Se buscó evaluar el efecto del uso del suelo sobre la estructura de las comunidades de macrófitas. Para ello se seleccionaron ríos que nacen y discurren exclusivamente en cada uno de los usos del suelo dominantes en cada cuenca. El muestreo se realizó en dos épocas climáticas distintas del año 2006. La vegetación acuática encontrada en las dos cuencas (54 especies, pertenecientes a 25 familias) presentó riqueza y abundancia menores que las reportadas en otros sistemas acuáticos tropicales y estuvo dominada por especies con alta capacidad de adaptación a ambientes cambiantes o alterados. Se encontró que variables ambientales de los ríos asociadas con el tipo de uso del suelo, como la temperatura, la conductividad y el tipo de sustrato, fueron las que principalmente explicaron la estructura de las comunidades de macrófitas. Los ríos de zonas ganaderas, con dominancia de sustrato fino y valores más altos de temperatura y conductividad, presentaron mayor riqueza y abundancia de especies que los ríos de zonas con uso forestal, caracterizados por una alta cobertura arbórea del cauce, menor temperatura, baja concentración de nutrientes y predominancia de sustrato rocoso.Palabras clave: Colombia, plantas acuáticas, ríos de montaña, ríos tropicales, usos del suelo. ABSTRACTSmall streams of tropical Andes have been poorly studied. Therefore, there is little information about the structure, dynamics and function of their macrophyte communities. In this research, aquatic plant communities of 18 Andean streams of La Vieja (Quindío) and Otún (Risaralda) river basins were studied; those are some of the basins most affected by anthropic activities in the country. Streams were selected according to their association with the main land's uses of the region in both basins. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of land use on the structure of macrophyte communities. Streams running exclusively through each land use were selected. Sampling was done in two different climatic seasons in 2006. Vegetation found (54 species belonging to 25 families) was dominated by species with high capability of adaptation to changing and disturbed environments. Richness and abundance of macrophytes were lower than those reported in other tropical aquatic systems. Variables associated with land use, such as temperature, conductivity and type of substrate of the streams mainly explained the structure of the macrophyte communities: streams running on meat-cattle areas -with higher temperatures, conductivity and dominance of sandy-slimy substrates-had higher macrophyte species richness ACTA BIOLÓG...

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A tool to assess the ecological condition of tropical high Andean streams in Ecuador and Peru: The IMEERA index

Cited by 58 publications

References 42 publications

Effects of Productive Activities on the Water Quality for Human Consumption in an Andean Basin, a Case Study

Effects of Productive Activities on the Water Quality for Human Consumption in an Andean Basin, a Case Study

Generalized Linear Models to Identify Key Hydromorphological and Chemical Variables Determining the Occurrence of Macroinvertebrates in the Guayas River Basin (Ecuador)

Comunidades de macrófitas en ríos andinos: composición y relación con factores ambientales

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