COMUNIDADES DE MACROINVERTEBRADOS BENTÓNICOS DE QUEBRADAS DEL ÁREA DE INFLUENCIA DE LA CARRETERA IQUITOS-NAUTA, LORETO-PERÚ.

The construction of roads can generate threats to the biodiversity of an important hydrological network made up of streams known as quebradas in the Peruvian Amazon. The objective of the study was to determine the composition, richness, abundance, diversity, dominance, and similarity of habitats of benthic macroinvertebrate communities of five streams located around the Iquitos-Nauta highway axis (Loreto, Peru). The collections were made in four periods (empty, dry, growing, and full), using a D-net type network. The benthic macroinvertebrate community was composed of 68 taxa and 4556 individuals, distributed in 4 phyla (Arthropoda, Annelida, Mollusca and Nematoda). The similarity analysis indicates that there were significant differences (p < 0.05) between the empty-dry seasons and the growing-full seasons; The dry season being the one with the greatest value of wealth, abundance, and diversity; and increasing the one with greater dominance. Chironomidae, Leptophlebiidae, Elmidae and Palaemonidae; were the most dominant taxa. The present work is a contribution to the knowledge of the macroinvertebrate communities that inhabit the small lotic ecosystems of the Peruvian lowland forest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]