Chironomidae (Diptera) species diversity of estuaries across a land use gradient on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica

Abstract

The family Chironomidae (Diptera) is the most widely distributed, most diverse, and often the most abundant of all families of benthic macroinvertebrates in aquatic ecosystems, including estuaries and other coastal marine ecosystems. Chironomid assemblages are likely to provide a useful measure of biotic integrity in estuaries of Costa Rica, which lack an intensive estuarine bioassessment tool to support environmental monitoring and regulatory programs. We characterized the taxonomic composition of Chironomidae, tested a Chironomidae Index of Biotic Integrity (CIBI) developed from extrinsic pollution tolerance values for its efficacy in evaluating the surface water quality and physical habitat, and made recommendations for increasing the sensitivity of the CIBI to detect differing degrees of stress across a range of estuaries in Costa Rica. Specifically, we selected nine estuaries within six different watersheds across a land use gradient located on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica and collected Chironomidae surface-floating pupal exuviae (SFPE) samples biannually for two consecutive years (July 2012, Jan. 2013, July 2013, Jan. 2014). We identified 228 morphospecies and 70 genera from 17 071 Chironomidae pupal exuviae collected from nine estuaries, which ranked in the following order from lowest to highest biotic integrity based on CIBI scores: Estero Negro, Laguna Cuatro, Laguna Jalova, Laguna del Tortuguero, Río Parismina, Laguna Barra del Colorado, Río Pacuare, Río Bananito, and Río Estrella. The CIBI successfully differentiated between estuaries with poor versus good biotic integrity, indicating that CIBI could be used to evaluate the surface water quality and physical habitat of Costa Rican estuaries. We recommend that future studies refine our approach by developing regionally accurate genus and corresponding species-level tolerance values to improve the sensitivity of the CIBI for biological monitoring of Costa Rican estuaries.

Factors Controlling Morphotaxa Distributions of Diptera Chironomidae in Freshwaters

“…The term was applied to organisms classified in the same species when they appear identical by morphological (anatomical) criteria. This concept was applied to species not reproducing sexually or to species known only from fossils and was also applied to chironomids in ecological studies [5]. In principle, one can expect that larvae of different species but with similar morphological characters should have similar ecological needs.…”

Calidad fisicoquímica y microbiológica del agua superficial del río Grande de Tárcoles, Costa Rica: un enfoque ecológico​

“…Con respecto a la abundancia en general de macroinvertebrados acuáticos, la familia Chironomidae fue la más abundante seguida de la subclase Oligochaeta. Los quironómidos son importantes desde el punto de vista cualitativo como cuantitativo, ya que colonizan todo tipo de ambientes acuáticos (Reiss, 1981) y es considerada como la familia más ampliamente distribuida, más diversa y a menudo más abundante de todas las familias de macroinvertebrados bentónicos en los ecosistemas acuáticos (Kranzfelder & Ferrington, 2018); además, las familias Chironomidae y Psychodidae son indicadoras de aguas mesoeutróficas, mientras que los oligoquetos son comunes en aguas eutroficadas, habitando sobre el fondo fangoso y con abundante cantidad de detritos (Roldán, 1988) lo cual parece haber favorecido su alta abundancia en el ambiente léntico del embalse de la represa hidroeléctrica Chucás (sitio 3).…”

Produktivitas Sekunder Organisme Bentik (Ordo Diptera) di Sungai Cigambreng, Desa Tapos, Kecamatan Tenjolaya, Kabupaten Bogor, Jawa Barat

“…dan Chironomidae (Krenopelopia sp.). Famili Chironomidae merupakan famili dari ordo Diptera yang memiliki penyebaran paling luas, beragam, dan yang paling melimpah dari seluruh famili makroinvertebrata bentik pada ekosistem akuatik terutama sungai pengunungan (Scheibler et al 2014), dan melingkupi estuari dan ekosistem pesisir laut (Kranzfelder & Ferrington 2018). Diversitas tinggi jenis chironomid Jurnal Pengelolaan Perikanan Tropis, Juni 2020, Volume 4 Nomor 1 Gambar 1.…”