Caracterización de la biodiversidad acuática en la cuenca andino-amazónica de Madre de Dios - Perú

Abstract

Knowledge of water bodies in the Neotropical region is revealed as a necessity that global society must face. The fish communities of the Amazon Neotropics basin, are the main reservoir diversity of inland water in the world, a region designated as high priority for conservation. However, even many gaps of knowledge with the added task of recording a significant decline in recent decades as a result of urban, agricultural expansion and uncontrolled extraction of natural resources. Much of this basin is empty of governance on the one hand, but a lack of studies that can support decision, making and implementing management policies to ensure the continuity of the resource which in turn cover the projected needs is registered. The region of Madre de Dios, in the south eastern jungle of Peru where elapses most of the study, unifies a number of factors that give it a great attraction for study. Its exceptional biodiversity nestled in the Andean-Amazon rim contrasts with unbridled development that was accelerated with the construction of the Interoceanic Highway that runs through the territory to connect the Pacific coast of Peru and the Brazilian Atlantic. Not surprisingly, this region has the highest rate of national immigration and neighboring countries, Brazil and Bolivia, which has quintupled its population in the last 30 years. The study was planned to gather all the information regarding water bodies and aquatic resources generated in the study area in the first, and in second place we characterize the most representative bodies of water in the region. To these propose the geography of the region of Madre de Dios was covered, assessing the main basins and significant habitats since 2009 until today. In the proposed study changing aquatic ecosystems major human activities are reviewed. The alluvial gold mining is the main anthropogenic impact recording studio area means half a million hectares concession and at least 70,000 hectares completely impacted. Mining, increased economic activity in the region transforms from water bodies and headers, implying a strong transformation of the landscape and generating waste acid products, air pollution and water with arsenic, cyanide and mercury among others. This work makes an update of the impact of mining and mercury levels in fish has been registered and population. The fisheries sector shows a lack of efficient management by the authorities. This paper is a compilation of statistics and corporate reports, while also sought the involvement of professionals by organizing workshops and surveys. The study of the effect of climate change on the Amazon fisheries and aquatic wildlife generally is a relatively new discipline, requiring much effort on research and broad knowledge gaps that hinder the prediction of events that will occur. This document compiled the most relevant ideas related to this subject, while recognizing the severe limitations that arose due to the lack of ecological studies in the Amazon biome. This paper gives a description of the diversity of water bodies, diagnosing his condition, and explained by environmental variables registered and assembly with fish communities. Specifically more detailed studies are presented in places where less extensive sampling effort is increased by incorporating a greater number of abiotic parameters (heavy metals) and other aquatic communities (macroinvertebrates, plankton and periphyton). On the one hand the study of bodies of water environment of the capital of the department, which concentrates most of the population, Puerto Maldonado and secondly participatory monitoring plan proposed within a protected area (ANP) managed by the state, Amarakaeri Communal Reserve, partly managed by the native ethnic group found this conservation area part of their ancestral territory. This work concluded with a high diversity of fish species, describing the peculiarities of the various communities related to ecosystems and their distribution along the altitudinal, horizontal gradients (rivers, tributaries and lakes), and types of water bodies (clear, black and white). This study found places with different levels of environmental impact and identified the characteristics observed in aquatic communities that characterized that impact. Finally it should be noted that the collaborative effort has materialized between different research organizations and which has enabled the existence of a need for the implementation of this work institutional framework, involving universities: Universidad Nacional Amazónica de Madre de Dios (UNAMAD) and Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM) in Peru and the Universidad de Huelva (UHU) in Spain. Initiative is still underway and is expected to generate synergies that approximate more so these institutions, generating relevant scientific papers.