Macro invertebrate communities: bio-indicators of water quality in the Rama – Creole Indigenous Territory

Abstract

Macroinvertebrates are organisms that due to their intolerance to disturbances in the environment can determine the health of aquatic ecosystems through their diversity and distribution of families in their habitats. In this study, the current conditions of water quality in Chacalín, Limonero and Moga watersheds of the Rama-Creole Indigenous Territory were analyzed by means of the presence and distribution of macroinvertebrates as bio-indicators of these, since it is currently unknown which are the conditions of its main tributaries within the territory; With the use of the Ecosystem Evaluation and Monitoring Program protocol of the US EPA, 11 transects were established for each site, the sample of which was: 1-3, 5-7, 9-11. In this quantitative research with a descriptive and cross section approach, the collection was made with a hand net in each habitat of the established points; Later they were analyzed at BICU Aquatic Research Center Laboratory, using the taxonomic guides for the classification and identification of organisms, with these data the IBMWP was determined. The results show that the Chacalín and Moga watersheds have a regular water quality with little altered contamination, while the Limonero watershed, through the index, it was determined that the ecological health of the water is contaminated. This suggests that the conditions of these sites have been little affected and that there are optimal conditions for the establishment of macroinvertebrate families