Benthic macroinvertebrate communities as indicators of river environment quality: an experience in Nicaragua

Biotic indexes are one of several types of measures that are routinely used in biological monitoring in temperate streams and offer interesting possibilities to assess the environmental quality of rivers in the neotropics. Macroinvertebrate communities of seven southeastern Nicaraguan streams were monitored and seven ecological indexes were applied. The results suggest that information from the Indice Biotico Esteso (I.B.E.) is closely correlated to the results of other methods, but the I.B.E. index is easier to apply as well as avoiding high costs and time-consuming procedures. A calibration of the method is necessary for rapid assessment approaches in the neotropics.