USO DE LARVAS DE CHIRONOMIDAE (DIPTERA) NA ANÁLISE DA INTEGRIDADE ECOLÓGICA DE LAGOS URBANOS NO OESTE AMAZÔNICO

The family Chironomidae (Diptera) is the main group of living beings of this order, with the ability to colonize environments different, which allows to present different responses to environmental oscillations ranging from sensitivity to impacts to tolerance to more severe environmental changes. The objective of this study was to analyze the ecological integrity of urban lakes from the use of attributes of Chironomidae assemblages (Diptera) in the western Amazon, in Rio Branco (AC). Three lakes were selected, of which two were located within the Zoobotanical Park of the Federal University of Acre (UFAC): Piaba Lake and Viveiro Lake. These lakes are located in a secondary forest region, and it is currently the largest urban forest fragment in the state capital, with good conservation status. The third sampling point was the FUNDHACRE lake, which is characterized by the presence of anthropic activities such as recreation, fishing, food sales. Significant differences in community attributes were recorded among the studied lakes. The dominance was greater in the altered lake whereas the diversity, estimated richness and equitability were higher in the preserved lakes. The t test confirmed that the variation in abundance and diversity among lakes is significant indicating that community attributes reduce by the presence of anthropic activities. In addition, our results increased the importance of using insects to assess ecological integrity in urban lakes. Assemblage-based analyzes revealed greater efficacy than analysis based only on abiotic variables. Keywords: aquatic insects; Amazon; lentic systems.