GIRALDO, Lina Paola; CHARA, Julián; CHARA-SERNA, Ana Marcela    RAMIREZ, Yuly Paulina. Restoration of riparian corridors in cattle ranching landscapes of the Colombian Andes: Early effects on the aquatic environment. []. , 44, 171, pp.652-664.   15--2021. ISSN 0370-3908.  https://doi.org/10.18257/raccefyn.1063.

The restoration of riparian forests is a fundamental step for the recovery of aquatic environments affected by cattle production. To determine the changes in the aquatic environment in streams with early riparian restoration processes, four first-order streams of La Vieja River watershed (Colombia) were monitored for three years. In each stream, we analyzed water, habitat quality, and the aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblage. During the study period, there was a significant decrease in BOD5 values, the substrate composition and flow patterns changed, and the values of the habitat quality index increased. A total of 10490 macroinvertebrates were collected, distributed in 19 orders, 53 families, and 56 genera. The most important orders were Diptera (56%), Trichoptera (22%), and Basommatophora (7%). Chironomidae and Hydropsychidae were the most abundant families with 53% and 20%. Chironomidae decreased significantly through the years of monitoring and the values of the EPT and BMWP indexes increased. The exclusion of cattle from the riparian area and the beginning of the restoration process had a positive effect on water quality and habitat parameters, as well as on the community of aquatic macroinvertebrates, which constitutes a valuable alternative to recover aquatic environments in livestock landscapes.

: Restoration; Riparian forests; Aquatic macroinvertebrates.

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