Macroinvertebrates as indicators in tropical streams with different land use in southern Costa Rica
Guardado en:
| Autores: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Formato: | artículo original |
| Fecha de Publicación: | 2019 |
| Descripción: | Costa Rica is one of the countries with the highest species richness worldwide and forms an important land bridge between North and South America. In the past, Costa Rica suffered from deforestation due to conversion of primary forests into plantations or pastures, which caused degradation and destruction of natural habitats. To evaluate the potential influence of anthropogenic land use on tropical river ecosystems, we compared macroinvertebrate assemblages of forested and impacted reaches of three rivers near the Tropical Field Station La Gamba. Water quality was evaluated with the BMWP-CR index, which resulted in excellent water quality for both forest sites and impacted sites. Nevertheless, the effects of land use and deforestation were apparent in the latter, as evidenced by high abundances of only few taxa, such as chironomids and oligochaete worms, and low macroinvertebrate diversity. Our results indicate that intact riparian vegetation reduces the impact of anthropogenic influence significantly and should be established to avoid ongoing stream degradation. |
| País: | Kérwá |
| Institución: | Universidad de Costa Rica |
| Repositorio: | Kérwá |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:kerwa.ucr.ac.cr:10669/80401 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://www.univie.ac.at/zoobot/wordpress/?page_id=1930 https://hdl.handle.net/10669/80401 |
| Palabra clave: | Golfo Dulce region Freshwater habitats Human impact Water quality index Central America Costa Rica |