Evaluación del ingreso y exportación de nutrientes en la cuenca de páramo andino del río Quinuas

Abstract

The wetlands system in El Cajas, is the main supplier of water for human consumption to Cuenca. In spite of its significance, data about the influence of the hydrological regime and type of land use in income and export of nutrients in this paramo area is scarce. In order to fill this knowledge gap, a temporal variability of nutrients (nitrates (NO3-N) and total organic carbon (TOC)) analysis was carried out in different types of water (precipitation, stream water and soil water), in the Quinoa River basin (91.3 km2), which is located between 3144 - 4429 m a.s.l. in southern Ecuador. In addition, the rates of income and export about these nutrients were determined, as well as the balance of the nutrients within the basin. The water samples were collected weekly, during the period from January 14 until 2015 to December 28, 2016. Results suggest: (1) there is no clear temporal variation for the studied nutrient concentrations in precipitation; (2) TOC concentrations in natural forest are high compared to the other transects; (3) NO3-N concentrations were low in the soil water samples under the land cover types studied; (4) the relationship between stream water and nutrient concentration is significant; (5) NO3-N didn’t presented variation during the passage through the studied catchment (income and exportation). These results allow a better understanding about leaching processes of Andean paramos