Habitat Features Influence Aquatic Macroinvertebrates in the Cruces Wetland, a Ramsar Site of Southern Chile

Pablo Fierro (), Ignacio Rodríguez-Jorquera, Carlos Lara, Stefan Woelfl, Jorge Machuca-Sepúlveda, Carlos Vega and Jorge Nimptsch
Additional contact information
Pablo Fierro: Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y Limnológicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Independencia 631, Valdivia 5090000, Chile
Ignacio Rodríguez-Jorquera: Centro de Humedales Río Cruces (CEHUM), Universidad Austral de Chile, Independencia 631, Valdivia 5090000, Chile
Carlos Lara: Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Alonso de Ribera 2850, Concepción 4090541, Chile
Stefan Woelfl: Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y Limnológicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Independencia 631, Valdivia 5090000, Chile
Jorge Machuca-Sepúlveda: Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco 4811230, Chile
Carlos Vega: Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y Limnológicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Independencia 631, Valdivia 5090000, Chile
Jorge Nimptsch: Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y Limnológicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Independencia 631, Valdivia 5090000, Chile

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-17

Abstract: Coastal wetlands are highly threatened by human activities, leading to water quality degradation and biodiversity loss. This study assessed spatial variation in 27 water quality parameters, sediment organic matter, and macroinvertebrate assemblages across 12 sites in the estuarine Cruces River wetland (CRW Ramsar site, southern Chile) during summer 2019. Our analysis identified three areas of sampling stations in the wetland, categorized by trophic gradient and salinity: freshwater ( n = 5), mixed ( n = 3), and estuary ( n = 4). Freshwater sites were characterized by low salinity, turbidity, and high nitrate concentrations. Estuarine sites were characterized by higher salinities and turbidity and low nitrates and total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations, and mixed sites had low salinities, high turbidities, high TOC, and low nitrates. Throughout the CRW, the richness and densities of different invertebrates were recorded. Freshwater stations had higher species richness, and estuary stations had higher abundance. Macroinvertebrates found in the lower reaches of the CRW included species characteristic of estuarine environments, whereas the upper stations were dominated by invertebrates inhabiting low-salinity environments. According to the ordination plot of distance-based redundancy analysis (dbRDA) and distance-based linear model (DistLM), our results indicate that macroinvertebrate assemblages differ significantly among areas of the CRW, primarily due to physicochemical variables (i.e., salinity, total carbon, and dissolved phosphorus). Total organic matter content in sediments was higher in freshwater sites and lower in estuarine sites. Our findings will be used to monitor the wetland and implement appropriate management measures for human activities, thereby protecting and conserving the estuarine Cruces River Ramsar wetland.

Keywords: bioindicators; biodiversity; coastal wetland; estuary; salinity pattern (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/9/1890/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/9/1890/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:9:p:1890-:d:1750588

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().