Performance of selected macroinvertebrate-based biotic indices for rivers draining the Merendon Mountains region of Honduras

Abstract

Cusuco National Park, a cloud forest park situated in the Merendon Mountains region of Honduras, is home to considerable biodiversity with a very high degree of endemism. Like many other cloud forest parks in Central America, it was declared a protected area not because of its biodiversity, but mainly because of its function in protecting river water quality in the headwaters draining the park. Illegal and authorised forest clearance for agricultural activity such as coffee production and pasture for animals and diffuse inputs from settlements are expected to affect aquatic macroinvertebrate communities and the water quality of the rivers in the park. There is however very limited water quality monitoring, mainly because biological indices such as those in use in Europe and the United States have not been developed in Honduras. A research project based on macroinvertebrates was initiated in 2009 to develop a water quality index for the area. Sampling was undertaken between June and August 2009 and set out to study minimally disturbed upper catchments of reference rivers. This paper evaluates the performance of several indices. A version of the ASPT based on the BMWP calibrated for Costa Rica (BMWP(CR)) performed best. KEY WORDSBiomonitoring, Honduras, macroinvertebrates, neotropics, upland stream, water quality RESUMEN El Parque Nacional de Cusuco es un Parque ocupado en su mayor parte por un bosque de niebla que se localiza en la región de las montañas Merendon en Honduras y que alberga una considerable biodiversidad con un alto grado de endemismos. No obstante, este Parque Nacional, como muchos otros parques de bosque de niebla en Centro América, fue declarado Área protegida no por su biodiversidad, sino principalmente por su función en la protección de la calidad de las aguas fluviales de las cabeceras de las cuencas de drenaje del parque, al ser la fuente de agua potable para varias áreas urbanas de gran tamaño entre las que se incluye San Pedro Sula. Se espera que clareos de bosque, tanto ilegales como autorizados, para actividades agrícolas como la producción de café y pasto para los animales, y el aporte difuso desde los asentamientos, afecten a las comunidades de macroinvertebrados acuáticos y a la calidad del agua de los ríos del parque. Sin embargo, hay una monitorización muy limitada de la calidad del agua, debido principalmente a que los índicos biológicos como aquellos que se usan en Europa y en los Estados Unidos entre otros, no han sido desarrollados en Honduras. En 2009 se inició un proyecto de investigación con el fin de desarrollar un índice de calidad de agua basado en macroinvertebrados. Muestreo se llevó a cabo entre junio y agosto de 2009, y en ella se propuso muestrear captaciones superiores mínimamente alteradas de ríos de referencia. Este artículo evalúa el resultado (rendimiento) de una gama de índices de calidad de agua existentes, basados en macroinvertebrados bajo condiciones de referencia. Estos emplazamientos están en bosques primarios con poca o ninguna evidencia de influe...

Agrorural Ecosystem Effects on the Macroinvertebrate Assemblages of a Tropical River

“…The present analysis resulted in 53 collected families (Table 3). This number compares well with the number of families collected by Lorion and Kennedy [27] and O'Callaghan and Kelly-Quinn [58] in Costa Rican and Honduran neotropical rivers, who reported 56 and 60 families, respectively. The present study also identified a total of 98 genera (Table 3).…”

“…These studies usually have found this index to be satisfactory for reflecting water quality [10, Agrorural Ecosystem Effects on the Macroinvertebrate Assemblages of a Tropical River 25 http://dx.doi.org/ 10.5772/59073 12,22,[60][61][62][63], especially the Costa Rican adaptation [58]. Sánchez Argüello et al [61] undertook in their Panamanian study a comparison between the Colombian and Costa Rican adaptations of the BMWP index and found the latter to be more unforgiving in its water quality evaluation.…”

“…Sermeño Chicas et al [66] tried to implement the BMWP-CR index in El Salvador where rivers showed consistently high organic pollution conditions that were not reflected by the BMWP index [67]. In their analysis of selected macroinvertebrate-based biotic indices in Honduras, O´Callaghan and Kelly-Quinn [58] found that a BMWP-CR-based version of the ASPT index performed much better than the aforementioned index. Without doubt, more studies will be necessary in order to adjust the biotic indices used for aquatic biomonitoring in Costa Rica and Central America according to the different ecoregions.…”

Monitoring of Neotropical Streams Using Macroinvertebrate Communities: Evidence from Honduras

“…The development and implementation of effective biological methods for assessing water quality of lotic ecosystems in Honduras, and generally in Central America, is a topic of major importance, considering the growing environmental alteration that affects this region [25,26]. However, to our knowledge, only a few studies have been performed to date [9,[27][28][29].…”

“…The assessment of lotic system health is particularly important in developing tropical countries, where population and economic growth are threatening the exceptional regional biodiversity. Recently, many studies have underlined that biological biomonitoring methods may offer interesting possibilities of application in Neotropical streams [8,9]; may overcome logistic difficulties associated with traditional chemical-physical surveys; and appear advantageous from an economic point of view, providing synthetic information in a rapid way [10]. Besides, the collection and analysis of biological indicators, such as benthic macroinvertebrates, requires moderate training, especially when organisms are identified by family.…”