URBAN RIVERS: USE OF BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATE ASSEMBLAGES AS BIOINDICATORS OF WATER QUALITY

CALDERON MIRIAN; NIEVAS ROMINA; GALLARDO MILAGROS; MARIANA JOFRE

San Luis

Congreso; XXXVII Reunión Científica Anual de la SBCuyo; 2019

Sociedad Biológica de Cuyo

The expansion of cities and the inappropriate treatment of wastewater and effluents, both domestic and industrial, have caused thedecline of the water quality of streams all around the world. The most frequent water quality monitoring methods are those that include physicochemical and bacteriological analysis; however, this approach has extensively known limitations. Biomonitoringprograms, based on the assemblages inhabiting an aquatic ecosystem, are considered a complement to the traditional pollutant-basedapproach. The goals of this study included: (i) assess the water quality of 12 sites along an urban gradient in Trapiche River (TR),Volcan River (VR) and Potrero de los Funes River (PFR) using benthic macroinvertebrates assemblages as bioindicators; (ii) explorethe interrelationships of physicochemical, bacteriological and physical habitat quality (HMA) parameters with the assemblage-basedmetrics; and (iii) determine the ordination of the sites based on the aforementioned characteristics. Taxa richness showed a negativecorrelation with PO43-(r = -0.477; p