Historical Biological Integrity Index (IBIh) based on the fish from selected coastal river plains of the state of Chiapas, Mexico

Authors: Romero-Melchor, Diana Lizeth, Lourdes-Vilano, María de Lourdes, GarcÍa-RamÍrez, MarÍa Elena, Contreras-Balderas, Armando Jesũs

Year: 2015 (xlvii)

Abstract

Chiapas is one of the states of the Mexican Republic with greater diversity, more than 200 species of fish are housed in this state. The IBI is used as a methods to assesst environmental health of a body of water and complementary to the monitoring, management and conservation programs. The hypothesis is that fish communities in the rivers have not had changes over time. The present study uses historical and current records of the icthyofauna of the coastal plain of Chiapas to estimate the biological integrity of the sites, in order to address the problems associated with anthropogenic degradation of aquatic ecosystems. There were analyzed the available information of 5 sampling sites distributed on the coastal plain of Chiapas. 18 samples were analyzed to develop de IBIh; the main parameters used were the number of native and non-native species, type of food, source, environmental group and tolerance for change of habitat. According to information obtained, the five sites show ecological deterioration of aquatic environments, changing the composition of the community of fish species in the rivers related with diversity and abundance. Non native species were found, indicating that the quality of rivers in terms of environment conservation, has not been altered in large proportions, however, the intervention of weather phenomena may be the cause of changes in the species composition, due to have been significantly modified the riverbeds. Therefore, it is proposed that management plans and conservation aquatic environments in this area should consider variables involved in the dynamics of rivers, such as the hydrological and hydrographic.