Study of macroinvertebrate community in three constructed wetlands: Tancat de la Pipa,Tancat de Milia and Tancat de l'Illa (Albufera Natural Park, Valencia, Spain)

SACCÒ, MATTIA; RUEDA SEVILLA, JUAN; HERNÁNDEZ CRESPO, C; NAVARRO GÓMEZ, ANGEL; CALLICÓ FORTUNATO, ROBERTA; BENEDITO DURA, VICENT

Simposio; 9th Symposium for European Freshwater Sciences; 2015

Constructed wetlands are important systems for water supply, floodwater retention and nutrient removal. As the natural wetlands, they play a fundamental role in the restoration of habitat and the preservation of biodiversity. However, there is little knowledge about the biodiversity that exists in these artificial environments, especially at the invertebrate community level. Tancat de la Pipa, Tancat de Milia and Tancat de l?Illa are 3 constructed wetlands within the Albufera Natural Park (Valencia, Spain). Due to their protection level and features, they represent an optimum field to test and study ecological and conservation aspects. The objective of this research was to study the macroinvertebrate community of these 3 systems during a year. We also studied their water chemistry and other environmental characteristics. By means of the IMN index, a biological estimator based on the trophic structure, the ecological state of the environments was analyzed. The results showed that there was a seasonal variation of macroinvertebrates community in all three constructed wetlands. Factors as habitat heterogeneity, water quality and trophic structure were the most important in order to understand the ecological dynamics and value the biodiversity of systems.