Nematodes as indicators of wetland pollution.

ABSTRACT

Since diversity suggests that changes in nematode populations or communities may be useful indicators of environmental changes including anthropogenic disturbances, in this study the following measurements were done pH, predominant plant taxa, nematode density and diversity at different wetland points along La Tapera creek. A random sampling was carried out and data were subject to analysis t-test. In this work, neither the diversity nor the pH changed, however the latter was high and nematode density and taxa were small but without significative oscillations between stations. However, other population indices showed consistent differences between sites, which are pointing out environmental alteration throughout the creek. These preliminary results from the wetland present a description of nematode communities existing under a particular set of conditions that have not been reported previously.