Biotic indexes for the evaluation of environmental quality in stretches of the Correntoso river, Pantanal do Negro, Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil - doi: 10.4025/actascibiolsci.v33i3.1478

Abstract

This work aimed to research the aquatic insect community structure using this community as a bioindicator of the environmental quality in a stretch of the Correntoso river, in Pantanal do Negro, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Six collections were taken in different seasonal periods; ebb, dry and wet. The organisms were collected using a 300 µm mesh D net sweeping five times through the roots of macrophyte banks at each sample. Three environments were compared (open, intermediary, closed) by adding the information from six collection sites. Family richness, absolute and relative abundance of insect samples and an evaluation of water quality were analyzed by using the BMWP index, BMWP-ASPT index, IBF index and Shannon diversity index, with log₂. A total of 60 families from 12 orders of Insecta Class were recorded, totaling 19,773 individuals. Among the indexes applied, the BMWP index was the one that best represented the conditions of the studied environment.