Exploring the biodiversity of aquatic insects in wetlands near conventional and organic agriculture areas : A descriptive pilot study with field- and laboratory work conducted in rice crop areas in the southern Brazilian Pampas biome. A study with aquatic insects used as bioindicators together with water parameters, to discuss future sustainable agriculture and the Agenda 2030 goals

The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of how agricultural activities in rice cultivation areas in southern Brazil’s Pampas biome in affect biodiversity. Aquatic insects and water parameters such as pH, oxidation reduction potential (ORP), dissolved oxygen and conductivity are used as bioindicators and are measured in field sampling and analyzed in laboratory studies. Research questions have been used to further discuss how water near rice cultivation areas and sustainable agriculture should be used for the future. Three different sampling points were used for the study, organic (OR) rice fields, conventional (CON) rice fields and natural wetlands (NA). Results show no significant influence of nitrogen on the insect richness or abundance, nitrite shows significant influence but not enough to draw any strong conclusions from the result. Water parameters with the highest correlation to the insect community in this study are pH, ORP, conductivity and total dissolved solids. Both the measured pH value and ORP are strongly correlated to the chemical status of the water and the insects that live there. Too high or too low pH value is not favorable for aquatic insects or the waters biodiversity, nor a too low value of ORP. Results could not show a significant difference among the aquatic insect composition between the three measured sampling sites. Although when measuring difference in insect composition, values from PERMANOA and NMDS indicates that the measured organic areas have a higher similarity to the natural areas than the conventional areas. This study is strongly linked to a sustainable development and Agenda 2030s goal 4 and 15 since biodiversity is a fundamental thing on this earth and needs to be preserved.