Macroinvertebrados bentónicos del humedal de Palo Verde, Costa Rica

benthic macroinvertebrates of the palo verde wetland, costa rica. palo verde, costa rica, is one of the most important wetlands in the region now recovering from some invasive plants, especially typha domingensis, and monitoring programs were started, including studies on the aquatic macoinvertebrate fauna. we sampled benthic macroinvertebrates monthly for more than a year with artificial substrates, and identified 116 taxa from 57 families and 18 orders, with 90 morfospecies of insects. the highest abundances were in the class conchostraca (typical in seasonal wetlands) and in the family chironomidae (diptera, insecta), which together represent almost half of all individuals collected. in contrast, 97 taxa were less than 1% of total abundance each. number of individuals and number of species were higher at lower water levels (dry season). cumulative species curves indicate that more species would be found if sampling had continued for more time. rev. biol. trop. 57 (suppl. 1): 275-284. epub 2009 november 30.