Evaluación de la calidad de agua de tres sitios de visita de la Laguna Magtayan-Parque Nacional Sangay mediante macroinvertebrados bentónicos.

Abstract

The Magtayan lagoon located in Ozogoche sector, Alausí canton, province of Chimborazo, being a tourist area and freshwater reservoir, it was found to be subject to pollution problems, grassland burning, presence of camelid feces, among others, which deteriorated and changed the water quality of the lagoon. The objective of this investigative work was to determine the water quality of the lagoon, through benthic macroinvertebrates, in order to establish its condition and propose conservation measures. This work was divided into two phases, one in the field (collection of macroinvertebrates manually and by kick and waste collection) and the next in the laboratory (analysis of physical, chemical and microbiological parameters of the water and identification of macroinvertebrates), to determine the quality of water, the Shannon-Weaver diversity indices, Simpson dominance, Margalef richness, Jaccard and Sorensen similarity were used based on species diversity, and the BMWP/Col, ASPT, ABI, and EPT indices, for water quality, in the three sampling points (7A1-7A2-7A3), through biotic indices, the families of Chironomidae, Hyalellidae, Glossiphoniidae and Dugesiidae were determined as the most abundant in the three sampling points in both months, resulting in most indices indicating water quality as “bad”, “doubtful”, “critical”, and “acceptable”. Based on the waste found with the greatest amount of organic, inorganic and floating material origin, it was point 7A1 of the second sampling with 0.26 lb, 2.36 lb and 1.57 lb correspondingly. Indicating that the quality of the water was affected by the presence of floating material, and therefore the dominance of families with a high degree of tolerance to pollution, for which conservation measures are an alternative to improve the lagoon and its natural resources.