%0 Journal Article
%T Bioindicators of climate and trophic state in lowland and highland aquatic ecosystems of the Northern Neotropics
%A Liseth P谷rez
%A Julia Lorenschat
%A Julieta Massaferro
%A Christine Pailles
%J Revista de Biolog赤a Tropical
%D 2013
%I Universidad de Costa Rica
%X Chironomids, diatoms and microcrustaceans that inhabit aquatic ecosystems of the Northern Neotropics are abundant and diverse. Some species are highly sensitive to changes in water chemical composition and trophic state. This study was undertaken as a first step in developing transfer functions to infer past environmental conditions in the Northern lowland Neotropics. Bioindicator species abundances were related to multiple environmental variables to exploit their use as environmental and paleoenvironmental indicators. We collected and analyzed water and surface sediment samples from 63 waterbodies located along a broad trophic state gradient and steep gradients of altitude (~0-1 560m.a.s.l.) and precipitation (~400-3 200mm/y), from NW Yucat芍n Peninsula (Mexico) to southern Guatemala. We related 14 limnological variables to relative abundances of 282 diatom species, 66 chironomid morphospecies, 51 species of cladocerans, 29 non-marine ostracode species and six freshwater calanoid copepods. Multivariate statistics indicated that bicarbonate is the strongest driver of chironomid and copepod distribution. Trophic state is the second most important factor that determines chironomid distribution. Conductivity, which is related to the precipitation gradient and marine influence on the Yucat芍n Peninsula, is the main variable that shapes diatom, ostracode and cladoceran communities. Diatoms, chironomids and cladocerans displayed higher diversities (H=2.4-2.6) than ostracodes and copepods (H=0.7- 1.8). Species richness and diversity were greater at lower elevations (<450m.a.s.l.) than at higher elevations in Guatemala. Distribution and diversity of bioindicators are influenced by multiple factors including altitude, precipitation, water chemistry, trophic state and human impact. Los quiron車midos, diatomeas y microcrustaceos que habitan ecosistemas acu芍ticos en el norte de los Neotr車picos son abundantes y diversos. Algunas especies son altamente sensibles a cambios en la composici車n qu赤mica del agua y en el estado tr車fico. Este estudio se realiz車 como el primer paso para desarrollar funciones de transferencia para inferir condiciones ambientales en el norte de las tierras bajas de los Neotr車picos. Es por esto que las abundancias de especies bioindicadoras se relacionaron con m迆ltiples variables ambientales con el fin de explotar al m芍ximo su uso como indicadores ambientales y paleoambientales. Recolectamos y analizamos muestras de agua y de sedimento superficial de 63 cuerpos de agua, ubicados a lo largo de un gradiente tr車fico y de gradientes marcados de altitud
%K microcrust芍ceos
%K quiron車midos
%K diatomeas
%K ecosistemas acu芍ticos
%K norte de los Neotr車picos
%K autecolog赤a
%K diversidad
%K microcrustaceans
%K chironomid
%K diatom
%K aquatic ecosystems
%K bioindicators
%K Northern Neotropics
%K autecology
%K diversity
%U http://www.scielo.sa.cr/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-77442013000300012