Monitoring of aquatic environments
Monitoring of aquatic environments
Wetlands are places where the soil is saturated with water and according to the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention), there are various types such as: lakes, rivers, swamps, wet grasslands, underground aquifers, oases, among others. This type of ecosystem is considered to be of great ecological importance, due to the rich biodiversity that inhabits them and the ecosystem services they provide, such as water storage and supply, removal of pollutants, disaster mitigation and climate regulation.
Wetlands are considered worldwide to be the most productive ecosystems on Earth, with great biodiversity, providing a wide variety of ecosystem services such as water storage and supply, removal of pollutants, disaster mitigation, climate regulation, food production and recreation, in addition to providing a landscape function, contributing to water regulation, and acting as sinks for carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Mexico is the second country in the world with the most wetlands registered under the Ramsar Convention and the fifth with the largest extension of this type of ecosystems located in the tropics and subtropics of the American continent.
The aquatic ecosystems located in the Monterrey Metropolitan Zone (MMZ) present serious alterations in the structure and composition of the flora and fauna that inhabit its riparian zone and a decrease in water quality, caused by the contamination produced by the population and the industrial production systems that are located in the urban zone and its surroundings (Alanís, 2005; De la Garza, 1998; González de la Rosa, 2000). This situation is serious because the degradation and/or loss of the ecosystems located in the urban zone, especially the wetlands, contribute to accentuate the water supply crisis that the inhabitants of the MZZ are currently suffering.
For all the above, it is urgent to determine the environmental quality of the wetlands that still exist in the ZMM, due to the incalculable value they represent for the environment and society, identifying the possible alterations that they could be presenting and the causes of the same, in order to carry out the remedial actions that are required to improve the environmental condition in which they are found.
In this context, the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, through the Project Development Directorate of the Sustainability Secretariat, began in 2022 the Environmental Quality of Aquatic Environments Program located in the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, with the aim of evaluating the environmental quality of these types of environments through the periodic determination of water quality in situ, the identification of contaminants in sediment, the microbiological analysis of water and the use of plankton, which inhabits these ecosystems, as a bioindicator.
By the end of 2023, 8 monitoring sessions had been carried out in different aquatic ecosystems located in the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, in areas surrounding the campuses and university facilities, with the participation of 70 volunteers and social service workers from the Faculties of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry and Biological Sciences.
English 
Spanish