Abstract

SANTACRUZ DE LEON, Germán  and  AGUILAR-ROBLEDO, Miguel. Estimates of ecological flows in the Río Valles with the Tennant method. Hidrobiológica [online]. 2009, vol.19, n.1, pp.25-32. ISSN 0188-8897.

The ecological flows are defined as the fluvial regime in a water body needed to function fluvial ecosystem. The environmental legislation in Mexico establishes the importance to setup ecological flows in water; however they are few rivers with established ecological flows. In this research were set two points (Micos and Santa Rosa) on the mainstream River Valles, San Luis Potosí; on these points was applied Tennant method for estimating ecological flows. Results showed that over the past thirty years ecological flows have declined between 10% and 11%. We conclude that in terms of water flow, the most adverse conditions for aquatic life are presented from March to May in the Micos-Santa Rosa section.

Keywords : Ecological flow; Tennant method; Río Valles.