Evaluación ecológica de la calidad del bosque de ribera de la microcuenca del río Cebadas

Abstract

The aim of the research is to evaluate the ecological quality of the riparian forest in the micro-basin of the Cebadas river through the application of ecological and quality indices such as: Andean Riparian Forest Index (QBR-And), Andean Biotic Index (ABI), River Habitat Index (RHI), Water quality index (WQI), Biodiversity Index. Twenty monitoring points were determined and classified into four zones which are: Atillo, Ozogoche, Yasepan and Cebadas, these were sampled from September to November 2021 during the drought season. It was necessary to apply geographic information systems techniques, collection protocols and identification of macroinvertebrates, standardized methods for water and soil analysis and finally the field guides to determine the ecological indices. Once the research finished, it was possible to determine that the land use in the riparian forest of the micro-basin changed in 23.06% from 1990 to 2008, where the most predominant ecosystem was the paramo with an extension of 58.69% according to the multitemporal analysis and the supervised classifications which ratified the same tendency. The ecological and quality indices reflected the following evidences: The Cebadas area presented a greater degradation obtaining poor and regular quality ranges, the Atillo and Ozogoche areas, regular and the Yasepan area presented a good ecological quality in contrast with the physicochemical and microbiological water quality which presented a good conservation level in the whole micro-basin. The level of conservation of Cebadas river micro-basin water system decreases from the recharge and formation area downstream with prevalence in populated areas with high agricultural incidence, prevailing families of macroinvertebrates such as Baetidae, Blepharoceridae and Hyalellidae for good quality areas and Chironomidae for poor quality areas. Therefore, it is important to establish conservation measures for these riparian paramo ecosystems due to the importance they have for mitigating climate change.