Student Research Reports
WATER QUALITY IN NEARBY AREAS TO CANELONES CITY THROUGH THE USE OF MACROINVERTEBRATES AS BIOINDICATORS
Organization(s):Escuela No. 88 Alfredo B. Nobel
Country:Uruguay
Student(s):Belén Viera
Nicolás Verde
Mariano Aguiar
Grade Level:Middle School (grades 6-8, ages 11-14)
GLOBE Educator(s):Darío Greni
Contributors:María José Manivesa
Emanuel Machín
Patricia Piriz
Facultas de Ciencias del Uruguay
CLAYSS
Report Type(s):International Virtual Science Symposium Report
Protocols:Freshwater Macroinvertebrates, Water Temperature, Water Transparency, pH
Presentation Poster:
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Date Submitted:04/04/2019
The situation of Canelón Chico creek was evaluated in three different study sites: before (Cascadita de los Monjes), next (Artigas Park) and after Canelones city (Pacífico creek), with the aim of verifying whether the activities of the inhabitants of this city affect the quality of freshwater of the mentioned stream in the same way.
The research question says: Due to human activities of the inhabitants of the city of Canelones, is the freshwater quality of the stream studied affected differently along a spatial gradient according their proximity to the population?
Therefore, these objectives were established: Analyze the state of water quality in Canelón Chico creek in three different sites, through the study of macroinvertebrates as bioindicators during the winter season in June.
Inform the population and the authorities concerned so that they intervene on the results achieved while maintaining or improving water quality.
This unique monthly assessment was done using MACROINVERTEBRATES as these beings are BIOINDICATORS of water quality according to its biotic index that is obtained from the sum of the scores assigned to the families that have been identified in the samples. The findings were supplemented with water physicochemical measurements (pH, transparency and temperature) using GLOBE protocols.
In the three different sampling points, 3 repetitions were made. At the end of the monitoring and after the establishment of correlations between the evaluated variables, it is concluded that in the PACIFICO CREEK water quality is VERY CRITICAL since it has a lower number of biotic index with respect to the other two sites. The results of this research will serve to raise awareness among residents of the area of influence of the creek, communicating the research results through different means.