Resumen

MUNOZ, Elsa; MENDOZA, Gabriel  y  VALDOVINOS, Claudio. RAPID BIODIVERSITY ASSESSMENT IN FIVE LENTIC SYSTEMS OF CENTRAL CHILE: BENTHONIC MACROINVERTEBRATES. Gayana (Concepc.) [online]. 2001, vol.65, n.2, pp. 173-180. ISSN 0717-6538.  doi: 10.4067/S0717-65382001000200009.

In a lentic ecosystem the trophic levels are usually accompanied by structural changes in the biota. One of the ways to establish such changes in a short time is the rapid biodiversity assessment, based on the discrimination of morphospecies instead of the identification of the genera and species levels. We evaluated the biodiversity of the benthic community of five lakes of the VIII Region of Chile (Chica y Grande de San Pedro, Lleu-Lleu, Quiñenco y Lanalhue), and we discuss its association with distinct trophic levels. A total of 44 morphospecies were recorded, and found that the majority of them corresponded to Insecta larvae (39%), Acari (25%), and "other taxa" (35%), including Annelida, Crustacea, Mollusca and Platyhelminthes. The number of morphospecies was similar to other South American temperate lakes. The data suggest that the abundance of Acari is incremented from oligotrophy to eutrophy, suggesting that they are potential bioindicators in lakes of central Chile

Palabras clave : Rapid biodiversity assessment; benthic macroinvertebrates; lentic ecosystems; eutrofication; Chile.