Assessment of darkling beetle fauna after implementation of an environmental restoration program in the Southern Iberian Peninsula affected by the Aznalcóllar toxic spill

Ana M. Cárdenas1a*, José L. Bujalance2b, and Juan M. Hidalgo3c

1Department of Zoology, University of Córdoba. Campus Universitario Rabanales. Edif. Darwin. E-14071-Córdoba, Spain
2Pl. Blas Infante, 1. 14850 BAENA, Córdoba, Spain
3Department of Zoology, University of Córdoba. Campus Universitario Rabanales. Edif. Darwin. E-14071-Córdoba, Spain

Abstract

This study is part of the Follow up Restoration Program of animal communities that colonize the Guadiamar River Basin. In 1998, the area was affected by a release of toxic sludge after the retention walls of the Aznalcóllar Mines (southern Iberian Peninsula) broke. The main objective of this study was to assess the current state of the population of Tenebrionidae, one of the most representative groups of edaphic Coleoptera inhabiting the Guadiamar River Basin. This paper analyses the progress made by the darkling beetle community six years after the disaster occurred and the Restoration Program was implemented. The study is based on faunistic data from systematic sampling carried out for six years to monitor plots distributed across the damaged area. To make an overall assessment of the tenebrionid fauna in relation to adjacent areas qualitative and quantitative ecological indices were applied, and temporal follow up and biogeographical comparisons were also made. The results indicate that, on the whole, tenebrionid fauna was somewhat affected by the Aznalcóllar Mine spill, and that a greater loss of fauna was detected closer to the accident site. The analysis of the temporal population dynamic suggests that the most affected zones are undergoing a process of re-colonization. However, this process varies widely by species and has not yet reached the expected levels of a non-affected river basin in the southern Iberian Peninsula.

Keywords: Coleoptera; Edaphic insects; Environmental recovery; Guadiamar; Tenebrionidae; mine accident

Abbreviations: PICOVER, Green Corridor and Guadiamar Restoration Project; SECOVER, Eco-Regional Monitoring of the Guadiamar Green Corridor

Correspondence: a* ba1cataa@uco.es, b scaurus@wanadoo.es, c zo2himaj@uco.es, *Corresponding author

Received: 24 March 2010 | Accepted: 1 October 2010 | Published: 4 May 2011

ISSN: 1536-2442 | Volume 11, Number 58

Cárdenas AM, Bujalance JL, Hidalgo JM. 2011. Assessment of darkling beetle fauna after implementation of an environmental restoration program in the Southern Iberian Peninsula affected by the Aznalcóllar toxic spill. Journal of Insect Science 11:58 available online: insectscience.org/11.58


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