Clasificación trófica de insectos acuáticos en ocho quebradas protegidas de la ecorregión cafetera colombiana

• Main Authors: Ana M. Chará-Serna, Gloria X. Pedraza, María del Carmen Zúñiga, Julián D.Chará, Lina P. Giraldo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Pontificia Universidad Javeriana 2010-04-01
• Series: Universitas Scientiarum
• Subjects: andean streams; aquatic insects; dietary groups; trophic structure; tropical ecosystems
• Online Access: http://revistas.javeriana.edu.co/index.php/scientarium/article/view/1376/839
• ISSN: 0122-7483; 2027-1352

Trophic classification of aquatic insects in eight sheltered streams of the Colombian coffee ecoregion. Objective. To determinethe trophic structure of the aquatic insect assembly associated to eight streams in the Colombian coffee-growing ecoregion. Materialsand methods. Aquatic insects were collected in eight forested streams located in La Vieja river basin. The taxa collected were assignedto dietary groups according to a regional classification based on the gut content analysis of aquatic insects associated to forested streamsof the Otún river basin. Results. 2019 individuals belonging to 73 taxa were collected and 60 were classified into dietary groups. Themost abundant group was collectors (55%), followed by shredders (31%) and predators (10%). Scrapers represented only 0.05% of thesample and the remaining 3,95% could not be classified due to lack of information. Conclusions. The dominance of collectors andshredders reveals the importance of coarse particulate organic matter (leaf litter) as a food resource for the insect fauna. Similaritiesbetween the trophic structure of this community and other communities studied in similar streams, suggest the possibility of a commonpattern for Andean streams. This study evidenced the lack of knowledge on trophic ecology of tropical aquatic insects; 50% of the taxacollected did not have this kind of information for the tropics and 20% had no information neither for the tropics nor temperate zones.