Development of Macroinvertebrate Water Quality Index For Central Pacific Region of Costa Rica

The purpose of this research project is to develop a region specific macroinvertebrate index for the Central Pacific Region of Costa Rica. Currently, the Biological Monitoring Working Party – Costa Rica (BWMP-CR) is the adopted monitoring index for use throughout Costa Rica. This index identifies families of insects and assigns values indicating tolerance to water pollution. If a particular insect family is present in a sample, the index records these values adding totals to eventually assign an overall stream health index. The abundance of insects is irrelevant, only the presence/absence is necessary. This index has limited prediction ability. Because of heightening concerns in Costa Rica over human health and development, the need to develop good working stream health indices is imperative. The overall the goal of this research study is to create an index that will use techniques measuring pollution by analyzing different biological, structural, and chemical changes within the river. We will develop specific IBI (Index of Biological Integrity) criteria to successfully create this usable index