Water Quality Analysis in a Subtropical River with an Adapted Biomonitoring Working Party (BMWP) Index
Guillermo Magallón Ortega,
Carlos Escalera Gallardo,
Eugenia López-López,
Jacinto Elías Sedeño-Díaz,
Martín López Hernández,
Miriam Arroyo-Damián,
Rodrigo Moncayo-Estrada
Affiliations
Guillermo Magallón Ortega
Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigación para el Desarrollo Integral Regional, Unidad Michoacán, Justo Sierra 28, Jiquilpan 59510, Mexico
Carlos Escalera Gallardo
Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigación para el Desarrollo Integral Regional, Unidad Michoacán, Justo Sierra 28, Jiquilpan 59510, Mexico
Eugenia López-López
Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Prolongación de Carpio y Plan de Ayala, Col. Sto. Tomás, Ciudad de México 11340, Mexico
Jacinto Elías Sedeño-Díaz
Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Coordinación Politécnica para la Sustentabilidad, Av. Wilfrido Massieu esq. IPN, Col. Zacatenco, Ciudad de México 07738, Mexico
Martín López Hernández
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de México 04510, Mexico
Miriam Arroyo-Damián
Universidad de La Ciénega del Estado de Michoacán de Ocampo, Avenida Universidad 3000, Col. Lomas de la Universidad, Sahuayo 59103, Mexico
Rodrigo Moncayo-Estrada
Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, Avenida Instituto Politécnico Nacional S/N, Col. Playa de Santa Rita, La Paz 23096, Mexico
Subtropical rivers in developing countries often lack adequate monitoring, which makes it difficult to comprehensively determine their water quality when faced with different anthropic impacts. There are no proper protocols in the regulations to incorporate indicators and adapt them to different biogeographic regions, limiting the potential success of conservation and restoration of river ecosystems. This study proposes implementing macroinvertebrates as bioindicators of water quality in river ecosystems, and modifying the calibration of the widely used Biomonitoring Working Party (BMWP) index for its adaptation in a subtropical river. The Duero River, Mexico, was used as an example in this study. Data were explored with multivariate statistics, and the water quality and habitat values were averaged to obtain the families’ bioindication values and the index categories. The BMWP adequately described a deterioration gradient from the origin to the river mouth (from fair to extremely polluted), with some intermediate recovery points related to the presence of springs. Its performance was compared with other biological indices and exhibited a positive relationship with all of them. In addition, how BMWP changed over time was analyzed by examining previous samples, and highlighted increased river deterioration over time. A calibrated BMWP will allow for long-term monitoring at a low cost.