Scientific basis for the esteem of the ecological flow considering different habitat scales, integrating eco-hydrology and eco-hydraulics

Worldwide, it is evident that the collection works have an impact on the conditions of the aquatic ecosystem and the structure and composition of the aquatic communities; Repercussions that are little documented in the Andean region. In Ecuador, the environmental flow is defined as a % minimum flow, an aspect that is not based on hydraulic/biological knowledge of the rivers. Therefore, the proposed project aims to establish the scientific basis to analyze the ecological response of the aquatic communities to hydrological changes (both natural and anthropic) and thus be able to estimate, in the future, ecological regimes of flows in the Yanuncay river basin under the complementary approaches of eco-hydrology and eco-hydraulics. The Yanuncay River was chosen for its importance for water supply for the city of Cuenca. The project expects to generate several results such as: hydrological characterization of the study site and its influence on aquatic communities; Space pattern of aquatic communities with respect to the variation of hydraulic, hydraulic, physical and substrate variables, and depending on both a natural flow regime and an altered flow; And identification of aquatic species for use in the esteem, future, of the environmental flow of the Yanuncay River (High Mountain). In relation to the identification of aquatic species for use and future application in the study of environmental flows, this result may be extrapolated to other high mountain regions of the country as a first valid approach.

15th UNIVERSITY RESEARCH COMPETITION