Abstract
Abstract Freshwater assessment studies have been used changes on individuals and populations of Chironomidae assemblages as bioindicators to assay aquatic ecosystems changes and environmental quality. To assess the contribution of the studies with this family to response aquatic environmental changes, we carried out a scientometric analysis of the papers published from 1992 to 2012. We imported papers from ISI Web of Knowledge database (Thomson Reuters) in November 2013. A total of 2967 papers were evaluated and we carried out descriptive analysis to assay the main trends on Chironomidae research in freshwater assessments. The main ideas and approaches in these studies were related to the impact of human influence on aquatic ecosystems and the status of conservation of this environments, as well as to limitations and difficulties in the applications of the assessments. In view of our results, we suggest some ideas to contribute to the conservation of aquatic ecosystems, mainly in threatened environments in southern Hemisphere countries. However, Chironomidae identification for assessing aquatic environments, as well as the limitations of suitable tools and metrics, which still are strong issues that need more attention to make more robust approaches to assay aquatic ecosystems.
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