Abstract
Subtropical rivers in developing countries often lack adequate monitoring, which makes it difficult to comprehensively determine their water quality when faced with different anthropic impacts. There are no proper protocols in the regulations to incorporate indicators and adapt them to different biogeographic regions, limiting the potential success of conservation and restoration of river ecosystems. This study proposes implementing macroinvertebrates as bioindicators of water quality in river ecosystems, and modifying the calibration of the widely used Biomonitoring Working Party (BMWP) index for its adaptation in a subtropical river. The Duero River, Mexico, was used as an example in this study. Data were explored with multivariate statistics, and the water quality and habitat values were averaged to obtain the families’ bioindication values and the index categories. The BMWP adequately described a deterioration gradient from the origin to the river mouth (from fair to extremely polluted), with some intermediate recovery points related to the presence of springs. Its performance was compared with other biological indices and exhibited a positive relationship with all of them. In addition, how BMWP changed over time was analyzed by examining previous samples, and highlighted increased river deterioration over time. A calibrated BMWP will allow for long-term monitoring at a low cost.
Highlights
One of the most commonly used biological indices to monitor the quality of lotic aquatic ecosystems is the biological monitoring working party (BMWP) [1,2,3,4,5]
The calibrated BMWP was defined according to the community structure associated with the river’s environmental conditions
The physicochemical quality index (Pcq) index showed higher values at sites with an transformed habitat, such as Etúcuaro and Antes de la Central, which placed them in a higher quality interval than expected
Summary
One of the most commonly used biological indices to monitor the quality of lotic aquatic ecosystems is the biological monitoring working party (BMWP) [1,2,3,4,5]. The BMWP is a biotic approach because it includes taxonomic groups, considering their sensitivity or tolerance to pollution, and both aspects are incorporated into an index [3]. The application of the BMWP and other indices that use bioindicator organisms provides complementary information on biotic and abiotic conditions of lotic ecosystems in addition to traditional monitoring techniques (physical, chemical, and bacteriological variables). The development of such indices, arises from the need to systematically reflect changes in riparian and fluvial ecosystems and to express the environmental and habitat factors in an integral way, with the expectation of long-term management [8]
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