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Submitted December 12, 2025
Published 2026-01-13

Artículos

Vol. 28 No. 1 (2026): Tecnociencia

Physical-Chemical and Biological characterization of the main rivers adjacent to the gulf of Montijo, Veraguas, Panama


DOI https://doi.org/10.48204/j.tecno.v28n1.a8953

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References
DOI: 10.48204/j.tecno.v28n1.a8953

Published: 2026-01-13

How to Cite

Viterbo Rodríguez, Rodríguez-Morales , J. and Bonilla-Franco, D. (2026) “Physical-Chemical and Biological characterization of the main rivers adjacent to the gulf of Montijo, Veraguas, Panama”, Tecnociencia, 28(1), pp. 129–157. doi: 10.48204/j.tecno.v28n1.a8953.

Abstract

To perform the physicochemical and biological characterization and diagnose the water quality of the Torio, Mariato, Tebario, Suay, Ponuga, San Pedro, San Pablo, and Caté rivers, the physicochemical characteristics of the water were assessed from January to December 2024. These characteristics included: temperature, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, turbidity, total solids, salinity, pH, color, sulfate, silica, sulfide, phosphates, total chlorine, nitrates, and ammonium. Additionally, aquatic insects were collected monthly from January to May 2024, for a total of 5 trips. For the environmental quality diagnosis, the Environmental Quality Index (EQI) was used, and for the biological quality diagnosis, the BMWP index adapted for Veraguas was applied. In the rivers' physicochemical characterization, the groupings made with PCA (Principal Component Analysis) were confirmed by a cluster analysis, which differentiated two conglomerates when evaluating the sampled rivers. The biological characterization, using the similarity in the genus structure of the aquatic insect communities with the Jaccard similarity coefficient, formed two groups. Group 1 was composed of the Suay River, and Group 2 was composed of the San Pablo, Tebario, Mariato, San Pedro, Caté, Ponuga, and Torio rivers. The Torio, Suay, and San Pablo rivers were diagnosed with doubtful biological water quality using the BMWP/Veraguas index, while the Mariato, Tebario, Ponuga, Cate, and San Pedro rivers, with the highest percentages of collector-filterers and collector-gatherers and the lowest percentages of predators, were diagnosed as rivers of acceptable biological quality.

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