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

Abstract

<p><strong>Objective. </strong>To determine the trophic structure of an aquatic insect assembly associated to eight streams in the Colombian coffee-growing ecoregion. <strong>Materials and methods. </strong>Aquatic insects were collected in eight forested streams located in La Vieja river basin. The taxa collected were assigned to dietary groups according to a regional classification based on the gut content analysis of aquatic insects associated to forested streams of the Otún river basin. <strong>Results. </strong>2019 individuals belonging to 73 taxa were collected and 60 were classified into dietary groups. The most abundant group was collectors (55%), followed by shredders (31%) and predators (10%). Scrapers represented only 0.05% of the sample and the remaining 3.95% could not be classified due to lack of information. <strong>Conclusions. </strong>The dominance of collectors and shredders reveals the importance of coarse particulate organic matter (leaf litter) as a food resource for the insect fauna. Similarities between the trophic structure of this community and other communities studied in similar streams, suggest the possibility of a common pattern for Andean streams. This study evidenced the absence of knowledge on trophic ecology of tropical aquatic insects; 50% of the taxa collected had no associated information for the tropics and 20% had no information neither for the tropics nor temperate zones.</p> <p><strong>Key words</strong>: Andean streams, aquatic insects, dietary groups, trophic structure, tropical ecosystems.</p><br />