Ipeti River's Water Quality Based on the Aquatic Macroinvertebrates Community

This research is aimed to determine the composition and abundance of macroinvertebrates at the taxonomic order and family level, and the water quality in the Ipeti River with the use of the Modified Biological Monitoring Working Party Index for Panama. The site is located 115 km east of Panama City. Sampling was conducted upstream and downstream of a river section near the Ipeti-Embera indigenous community, between June thru September 2017. A total of 2508 aquatic macroinvertebrate individuals were registered, belonging to 8 orders and 28 families. The orders with the highest number of registered individuals are: Ephemeropetera with 1812, Coleoptera with 276, Hemiptera with 176 and Diptera with 127. It is reported that the water quality of the Ipeti River section studied ranges between contaminated and regular water categories.