Estuaries are highly productive ecosystems with a large diversity of species. They are barriers that protect the coast from the onslaught of storm surges and other events such as hurricanes, tidal waves and tsunamis. Additionally, estuaries are used for commercial and recreational purposes by local communities. The Caño Boquilla Natural Reserve is the first natural coastal reserve designated in the Municipality of Mayagüez, on the west coast of Puerto Rico. The Reserve consists of about 173 acres of land and extends 9 nautical miles off the coast, from Punta Algarrobo in Mayagüez to Caño La Puente in the Municipality of Añasco. It includes three estuarine ecosystems named: Caño Maní, Caño Boquilla, both in Mayagüez, and Caño La Puente in Añasco. These “caños” are small estuaries that change their coastal geomorphology by opening and closing to the sea in accordance with sand movement cycles. Monitoring water quality in the “caños” provides information that helps preserve these important ecosystems and their neighboring communities. This is the first study of the variability in the chemical and bacteriological composition of all estuaries of the Caño Boquilla Natural Reserve. Physical-chemical parameters (dissolved oxygen, percent of saturation of issolved oxygen, pH, phosphate, nitrate, turbidity, salinity and temperature) and bacteriological conditions (total and pathogenic coliforms) were recorded weekly for five months or twenty samplings in 2018, after Hurricane María passed through the island. Results show that salinity, temperature and turbidity in the three estuaries have a direct relationship with coastal geomorphological changes and the presence or absence of rainfall during the sampling period.

Comparison of water quality and geomorphology changes of estuaries of the Natural Reserve Caño Boquilla in Mayagüez-Añasco, Puerto Rico

2019 Spring National Meeting

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